Politics In Texas Could Get Interesting
Recent developments in the political ring in this state (which is a major player and influence in party and Congressional influence - for either good or ill) are bring up some very fascinating developments - and they do not include Congressmen Ron Paul.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson has announced she is stepping down from her Senate seat to battle current Republican governor Rick Perry, leaving her seat up for grabs in dog-eat dog contest. Rick Perry has recently been on the news attempting to bloc Obama's stimulus aid from being implemented in the state and has publicly sympathized with Texan secessionist groups. Before all of this Rick Perry had a very low approval rating among even the most conservative of Texan voters. Rick Perry had been pressing the Trans-National Corridor plan through which would build a superhighway connecting Mexico all the way up through the North of the state. The original plan being to connect Mexico to Canada with a massive interstate highway contract. In order to fund this, Perry recently began a series of privitization of various highways with the intention of setting up tolls on many of Texas' most important highways. These toll roads will seriously affect tourism, travel, and daily commuting. Perry, however, connects most of his influence through contracts such as these. In the mean time, the social infrastructure and especially the education system has been slipping further into abysmal lows in the state of Texas and his open sympathies for secession groups have garnered an even worse reputation for the state after Bush's most unpopular Presidency.
Republican Governor Rick Perry and Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Kay Bailey Hutchinson as many on these boards may know, is a strong power point for the GOP and is very popular with moderate Republicans and centrists. Her tenure in the Senate has garnered her national attention in several instances and she was even a strong likely candidate for McCain's VP spot. Had McCain have chosen Hutchinson instead of Palin, the election may very well have been much closer because Hutchinson does not sweat in the limelight, has no known embarassing history, and her biggest advantage over Palin is Hutchinson is known to have a statesmen-level intelligence.
To add more fuel to the fire, well known musician, social activist, and scholar Kinky Friedman is going to be throwing his hat in again in the 2010 governor election. Instead of running as an Independent, Kinky Friedman is going to bid for the Democratic ticket. For those who may not be familiar with Kinky Friedman, he is a self-proclaimed "Jewish cowboy". His unconventional methods and statements in the 2006 election got him a lot of attention and respect. He is a well known musician and a personal friend to Willie Nelson, but also well educated. He has a degree in Psychology and served in the Peace Corps for two years in Borneo. Unfortunately, the Independent vote was split when Republican Carole Keeton Strayhorn made her own Independent bid. Friedman has since abandoned the Independent route and is now going to take advantage of the current Republican rift between the social conservatives and moderate Republicans, idealized by the now rivalling tension between Hutchinson and Perry.
Democrat runner-up candidate Kinky Friedman
Friedman has a substantial support base. He has widespread appeal to Democrats, Independents, moderate Republicans, and even the Libertarians respect him. His various platforms which different from that of the array of Republican governors that have plagued the state of Texas is that Kinky Friedman proposed various plans that could help save the education system in the state of Texas. He also proposed widespread illegal immigration solutions, proposing to double the National Guard presence on the border and pledged to form a plan with the governors of New Mexico and Arizona to have a three state protection plan. He is also a supporter of investing more funding to biodiesel and wind power development. Not to mention, he would push as far as his governor powers could to bring the state and the nation closer to decriminalizing marijuana. And those are just a few of his proposals. His biggest goal is to substantially improve the social infrastructure of the state and "dewussify" the state. (Those are his own words)
2010 is going to be interesting year both on the national and state level for me.
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Originally Posted by Eien
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