Chris Bell (D): "Weak on Security, Will Raise Taxes; Too Liberal for TX"

[The Cleaner]

This is the ad I keep seeing on TV. It is so stupid I was just about to throw my banana across the room. The Repubs really don't have anything else to go on but fear and obfuscation!

Chris Bell seems like a good candidate to me. Kinky Friedman is a good contender also - but I fear his laxadaisacal mannerisms and his humor will fade as he is faced with the pressures of being the new Governor. I like his independent way of thinking, but I just don't see him as a serious contender.

Rick Perry (R), our current Governor is annoying me incessantly with his fake "tough on border security" and "money for public schools" commercials. He's a shill and there's no way (obviously) I'd consider him.

Then there's "Grandma," Carole Keyton Strayhorn (I). Her commercials are touching and funny, and she seems like she'd do a pretty good job as our next Governor. The only problem is, before she announced her run for Governor, she pulled a reverse Joe Lieberman and switched from Repub to Independent.

I think I'll vote Chris Bell. Anyone else from TX care to put in your 2 cents?

[saltpoint]

1. As well, Chris Bell, the moment he assumed office, would

order all nursing homes and orphanages to be burned to the ground.

He's a monster, that Chris Bell.

_________________________

My god the Republican Party is made up of some awfully dark-souled people. I agree with you -- in the absence of thoughtful consideration of issues, they just smear and lie and frighten.

[Avalux]

2. Is it the ad where Bell's giant sitting on the Capitol building?

Yeah, it's stupid. The other two candidates - Friedman is a joke (I'm sick and tired of seeing his campaign signs) and "Grandma" is a Republican - her sons are in tight with Bushco - one of them is none other than Scott McClellan, former press secretary to Bush.

I, of course, will be voting for Bell - but unless something unexpected happens, we're stuck with schmuck Perry again.

[The Cleaner]

8. Whoa - Scottie McClellan is Carole Keyton Strayhorn's SON?

n/t

[Avalux]

9. Yep - and another son, Mark, is Director of Medicare

Carole Stewart Keeton was born September 13, 1939 in Austin. She is the second child and only daughter of Werdner Page Keeton and Madge Anna Stewart. Her father was the longtime Dean of the University of Texas Law School and a renowned expert on tort law.

Strayhorn's first marriage was to attorney Barr McClellan, whom she divorced in 1978 during her first term as mayor. In 1983, she married Curtis H. (Hill) Rylander; that marriage ended in divorce in 1995. She married high school sweetheart Ed Strayhorn in 2003. Strayhorn told reporters that Ed Strayhorn proposed to her while both were attending the University of Texas, but her parents thought she was too young to get married.

She is the mother of:

* Scott McClellan, former White House Press Secretary and who was Strayhorn's campaign manager three times;
* Mark McClellan, current Medicare director and former Food and Drug Administrator;
* Brad McClellan, Strayhorn's gubernatorial campaign manager and former Texas Assistant Attorney General
* Dudley McClellan, an Austin attorney and Brad's identical twin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carole_Strayhorn

[jobycom]

3. lackadaisical... sorry, pet peve of mine

Perry only has to get about a third of the vote to win, maybe less. He's playing to his base, and they will buy his message. That might just give him the third he needs.

Friedman has no chance, and Strayhorn has very little chance. The only person who can beat Perry is Bell. To win, Bell has to get votes from Friedman and Strayhorn. So he can't go negative, or he will just drive votes from one candidate to another. He has to deliver a better message.

Polls are trending well for him, and Perry is not going to improve. He could fall a bit. Bell has a good chance. I think he's got a better chance than the polls show, because I think a lot of Perry's supporters will bail on him at the last minute, maybe even in the polling both, as they really think about what he is like. Any vote that Perry loses, no matter who it goes to, helps Bell, since he's in second in the polls right now.

Gonna be closer than people think. We need every vote. Fight for them.

[texasleo]

4. I'm convinced that a Perry ally talked Kinky into running.

Most of the people whom I hear talking about voting for kinky are college types and older hippie-types.
That's a group that would be voting for the (D).

[NewJeffCT]

5. You should hear Nancy Johnson's ads here in CT

You would think her opponent, Chris Murphy, favored raping children, having drug pushers on every corner and terrorists on every cell phone.

[blogslut]

6. Dick (Kinky) Friedman is a joke.

Vote for Bell

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vb_VjfMvMSs

http://www.chrisbell.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnDfcsz9lJA&eurl=

[Cosmocat]

12. And who has gotten national play ???

Friedman ... Been on Hardball more times than I can count, other shows too ... The guy comes across as a complete moron - always with the cigar ... And, somehow, in the hairbrained minds of the MSM politicos, he is a "breathe of fresh air" ...

Jesus ...

[blogslut]

13. Well, you said it yourself

He's a freak. Freakshows always get airplay.

[Skink]

7. Early voting starts today.

even though that ad could be seen as libelous since it offers no facts at all it may be very effective.

I voted kinky anyway with a Democratic Liuetenant Gov and a side of David Van Oz for AG.

[lastliberalintexas]

14. You voted for Kinky?

[Buzz Clik]

10. Same stupid commercial running in Indiana for some GOP asswipe.

[lcordero2]

11. Bell should put in a commercial

"Perry: Weak on economic security and supporter of economic terrorism"

Not from Texas

[Catherine Vincent]

15. Chris Bell.

I hope my vote counts!