The Next Governor of Texas

I wish I was still registered to vote in Texas:

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Writer and musician Kinky Friedman, who once sang "They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore," may include the name by which he is best known on the ballot to choose Texas' next governor in November, the state's top election official said on Monday.

Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams said Friedman's nickname was not a slogan and thus did not violate state law. His name will appear on election ballots as Richard "Kinky" Friedman.

But Williams, a Republican, said Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who is also running as an independent against incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry, cannot include "Grandma" as a nickname on the ballot.

Strayhorn's campaign advertising calls her "One Tough Grandma."

Williams said Strayhorn, the state comptroller who left the Republican Party to challenge Perry, never used "Grandma" as a nickname before the campaign.

Perry is leading the polls but if either Friedman or Strayhorn win, it would be the first time an independent won a race for Texas governor since Sam Houston did it in 1859. Friedman would be the state's first Jewish governor.