Kinky Friedman on the campaign trail in 2006. (Getty)
Richard "Kinky" Friedman, the iconoclastic musician who won 12 percent of the vote as an independent candidate for the Texas governorship in 2006, is laying the groundwork to run for the governorship next year as a Democratic candidate.
In a letter on his Web site that was addressed to "fellow Texans," Friedman said he could stitch together a winning coalition of Democratic and independent voters to wrest from Republican control an office that a Democrat last won in 1990.
"I intend to run a serious campaign, one that grows the party," Friedman said. "I intend to visit and listen to the voices of neglected communities, small towns, suburbs, and rural areas, often where Democrats have lately feared to tread."
Friedman, known for his black cowboy hat and the campaign slogan "Why the hell not?", finished fourth in the 2006 Texas governor's contest, which Republican Gov. Rick Perry won with 38 percent of the vote. Democrat Chris Bell, a former U.S. House member, won 30 percent of the vote, and independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn took 18 percent.
The Democratic primary next spring could include Tom Schieffer, a lawyer and former U.S. Ambassador to Australia and Japan who has formed an "exploratory" committee, and state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, who is weighing a campaign. The Republican primary will pit Perry, who's seeking a third full term, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
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