TX Gov: Strayhorn falls second to Kinky in ballot collection

[adam]

http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/2006/06/its_official.html

The campaign delivered 170,258 signatures to the Secretary of State's office on May 11. Of those, 137,154 signatures were considered valid, an 81 percent validity rate. (The state comptroller, who is also running as an independent, submitted 222,514 signatures of which 108,512 were valid, a 49 percent validity rate.) The signatures for Friedman's campaign, which were collected during a 62-day period almost entirely by volunteers, represented voters in all 254 Texas counties.

Run Kinky Run!

[Virginian87]

The Texas gubernatorial race is beginning to resemble the California recall election circus of 2003.  With a '70s country western singer and a grandma running as independents against an incumbent governor, this is pretty crazy stuff, especially since the independent candidates seem to be actually gathering support.

[jimrtex]

http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/2006/06/its_official.html

Press Release from the Texas Secretary of State

Steve Stockman failed to get enough signatures to run for Congress in Tom DeLay's district, and the Green Party failed to submit enough signatures to gain ballot access as a political party.

The Democrat candidate for Governor, Tony Sanchez, who spent beaucoup
bucks in losing, has endorsed Strayhorn.

[adam]

http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/2006/06/its_official.html

Press Release from the Texas Secretary of State

Steve Stockman failed to get enough signatures to run for Congress in Tom DeLay's district

Wow. I actually thought he would make an impact.

[adam]

For Congress, the signature requirement is only 500 vs. the 45,000+ for statewide office.  Stockman was reported to have filed petitions, so I wonder what happened.  Maybe some people who voted in the Democratic or Republican primary signed.

Probably. I mean, he seemed to have a real following going on over there...500 shouldn't have been anything. My best guess is that he stopped collecting too soon.

[Sam Spade]

For Congress, the signature requirement is only 500 vs. the 45,000+ for statewide office.  Stockman was reported to have filed petitions, so I wonder what happened.  Maybe some people who voted in the Democratic or Republican primary signed.

Probably. I mean, he seemed to have a real following going on over there...500 shouldn't have been anything. My best guess is that he stopped collecting too soon.

My best guess is he stopped collecting sigs when DeLay said that he was leaving Congress and recognized that a Republican who's not DeLay would be almost assured of winning if he weren't on the ballot.

Stockman was in this game because he hates Lampson more than say, Satan, not because of especially strong negative feelings towards DeLay (I'm not going to say he didn't have them).  This feeling goes always the way back to the 1996 Congressional races, which have been documented here numerous times.

He also thought that enough conservative voters would choose him over DeLay so that he could beat Lampson.  It's pretty much what his statements laid out.

Anyway, when and if the Republicans get a new candidate on the ballot, I will probably move the race to Likely R, unless the candidate is below average or cuckoo.  The lean of the CD is still about 60-40 Rep and that's a tough task for a Dem to overcome, even with a lot of money.

[minionofmidas]

What's wrong with so many of Strayhorn's signatures?

[Sam Spade]

What's wrong with so many of Strayhorn's signatures?

Could be any one of three reasons:

1.  Signatures voted in Republican or Democratic primary or runoff.
2.  Signatures were collected by another candidate prior to her collection.
3.  Signature were not registered voters.

Doesn't really matter, though.  The point is to get on the ballot.  By how much is really irrelevant.

[Alcon]

I'm surprised that Kinky's validation rate was so much higher.

[adam]

Doesn't really matter, though.  The point is to get on the ballot.  By how much is really irrelevant.

While this is true, it doesn't change the fact that Strayhorn used oodles of corporate soft dollars and PAC contributions during her ballot drive where as Kinky used only volunteers. If she can't beat him in ballot collection with all of that help, how can she beat him in the general? Kinky now looks like a serious contender, where as Strayhorn looks like a complete dork.

[Sam Spade]

Doesn't really matter, though.  The point is to get on the ballot.  By how much is really irrelevant.

While this is true, it doesn't change the fact that Strayhorn used oodles of corporate soft dollars and PAC contributions during her ballot drive where as Kinky used only volunteers. If she can't beat him in ballot collection with all of that help, how can she beat him in the general? Kinky now looks like a serious contender, where as Strayhorn looks like a complete dork.

Unless either can start breaking into the Perry 40% of the vote, neither will be a serious contender.  Sorry to break the bubble again. 

I do agree that committed volunteers are much more important than simple cash in signature collection (look at the success of the Libertarian party in getting on the ballot in Texas for many years).  I question whether it is more important in the general election, though.

Still, committed volunteers are one reason why I'm fairly confident Kinky will receive more votes than Bell this year, frankly.

Another interesting note:  The Green Party failed to receive ballot access in the Governor's race this year.  I wonder if the mass of signature-getting by Kinky contributed to this.

[adam]

Doesn't really matter, though.  The point is to get on the ballot.  By how much is really irrelevant.

While this is true, it doesn't change the fact that Strayhorn used oodles of corporate soft dollars and PAC contributions during her ballot drive where as Kinky used only volunteers. If she can't beat him in ballot collection with all of that help, how can she beat him in the general? Kinky now looks like a serious contender, where as Strayhorn looks like a complete dork.

Unless either can start breaking into the Perry 40% of the vote, neither will be a serious contender.  Sorry to break the bubble again. 

I do agree that committed volunteers are much more important than simple cash in signature collection (look at the success of the Libertarian party in getting on the ballot in Texas for many years).  I question whether it is more important in the general election, though.

Still, committed volunteers are one reason why I'm fairly confident Kinky will receive more votes than Bell this year, frankly.

Another interesting note:  The Green Party failed to receive ballot access in the Governor's race this year.  I wonder if the mass of signature-getting by Kinky contributed to this.

Well of course he'll beat Bell . It's really funny if you look at their websites. Kinky has raised nearly 200k on his, and Bell has raised about 5k. Way to "knock em out" kiddo .

I think it's too early to really call this election either way, Perry's numbers are starting to slip little by little as Kinky's are rocketing up...I will say that this is a two person race - however neither Strayhorn or Bell are in the equation. The real difference is that Kinky's supporters are mainly supporters because they love Kinky, Perry's supporters are supporters because they're Republicans. Kinky wins hearts and I think that if he works hard enough that he can break the concrete that is party loyalty.

The main reason the Greens didn't make the ballot is because the Democrat poses no immediate threat. That's the only reason 45,000 texans would sign a Green party petition, to screw the Democrats.

[CARLHAYDEN]

I'm surprised that Kinky's validation rate was so much higher.

I suspect that the differency in the rates of valid signatures is a function of who is collecting ther signatures.

Paid circulators have a much lower rate of valid signatures than true volunteers.

[jimrtex]

For Congress, the signature requirement is only 500 vs. the 45,000+ for statewide office.  Stockman was reported to have filed petitions, so I wonder what happened.  Maybe some people who voted in the Democratic or Republican primary signed.

Probably. I mean, he seemed to have a real following going on over there...500 shouldn't have been anything. My best guess is that he stopped collecting too soon.

In a news articles, he is said to have been caught by surprise.  He turned in about 600, but fewer than 500 qualified.

[Sam Spade]

For Congress, the signature requirement is only 500 vs. the 45,000+ for statewide office.  Stockman was reported to have filed petitions, so I wonder what happened.  Maybe some people who voted in the Democratic or Republican primary signed.

Probably. I mean, he seemed to have a real following going on over there...500 shouldn't have been anything. My best guess is that he stopped collecting too soon.

In a news articles, he is said to have been caught by surprise.  He turned in about 600, but fewer than 500 qualified.

That is interesting, but I can't believe he was not smart enough to know that there was a good chance a certain percentage of his signatures would be invalidated and get a much larger amount than 600.  Even Kinky lost about 20%-25% of his signatures.

Sort of like Wilson in OH-06, it makes no sense to me.

[jimrtex]

I do agree that committed volunteers are much more important than simple cash in signature collection (look at the success of the Libertarian party in getting on the ballot in Texas for many years).  I question whether it is more important in the general election, though.

To maintain ballot access, a party has to have a candidate get 5% of the vote in a statewide race.  The Democratic Party typically doesn't field candidates for all of the seats on the Supreme Court or the Court of Criminal Appeals, and a Libertarian candidate will get 15-18% of the vote when running against an otherwise unopposed Republican.

In 2000, the only year the Green Party qualifed, their candidates received 7-9% of the vote in the judgeship races.

In 2002, the Democrats ran candidates for all the court seats, and both minor parties lost ballot access.   The Libertarian Party, repetioned for access in 2004 and maintained it in that election.

In 2006, the Democrats only have candidates for 2 of 8 open court seats.

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They qualified in 2000 as part of the effort to nominate Ralph Nader.