Perry has been a partisan hack his entire time in office. Bell was nothing but fluff on Houston City Council. The Libertarian is a nonentity.
I was originally going to vote for Strayhorn, but the way she handled the ‘Grandma’ nickname issue on the ballot, using the courts for basically a publicity stunt, completely soured me.
Which leaves us with Kinky. Yes, he has made some rather outré statements. I don’t care. Both the Republicans and the Democrats have played fast and loose with the public trust given them in running things, both in Austin and Washington. They need to know that the people will not stand for it, from either the right or the left. Electing someone like Kinky will serve as a wake-up call, and they’ll either reform or be discarded.
Some have argued (like Bell) that a vote for Kinky is a wasted vote, because he will not win. With that line of reasoning, any vote that is not for the eventual winner is a wasted vote, so if your candidate is trailing in the polls, then there is no reason to vote. If we continue with this logic, then there is no reason to even have an election; the polls will tell us who will lead us.
Inform yourself, then go vote.
I voted with the Missus first thing this morning –and was surprised to have to stand in line for more than 60 seconds to do so. Very unusual, considering that at the same time in the 2004 Presidential election I waltzed in and was instantly boothed (which is not the same as being Boothed, to be sure….)
Being a minarchist, most of my vote was fairly obvious. However, I chose to forgive Grandma. I can accept the proposition that if we allow a rather obvious non-birth sobriquet such as “Kinky” on the ballot, then “Grandma” might not be that much of a stretch. OTOH history sides with Joe: “Pa” and “Ma” Ferguson were not listed as such on their respective ballots, although by the time of the latter’s campaign, they were publicly billing themselves as such. (NB The Fergusons have the distinction of being the only husband-and-wife team in any state [in this case, Texas]to serve as governors in successive terms).
The sun will still rise tomorrow. So, too, may your taxes. If the Senate breaks for the Democrats, Bush’s remaining time in office is irrelevant (no more SC nominations). OTOH there are persistent rumors that several moderate Democrats running in Republican strongholds (e.g. Nick Lampson) may switch caucuses in 2007 if Pelosi allows a “cut off the war” vote to hit the House floor.