Who wants to dance a Texas Sidestep in November?

Well, it looks to be an interesting election in Texas this year, as we have five candidates on the ballot for governor. It would appear that for the first time since Ann Richards beat Clayton Williams and Jeff Daiell in 1990 the Governor of Texas will be elected by plurality, rather than majority.

Here are the contestants:

Rick Perry, incumbent candidate representing the Republican Party.

Chris Bell, the representative of the Democratic Party.

James Werner, the representative of the Libertarian Party.

Carolyn Keeton Strayhorn, on the ballot as an Independant.

Kinky Friedman, on the ballot as an independant.

Werner, Strayhorn and Friedman all managed to gather enough signatures to challenge the Big Two, and are the three candidates that I will be choosing from. There is no way in hell I will vote for Chris Bell or Rick Perry. I am leaving it to the Lib and the Indies to win me over.

It's hard to say which candidates will "take votes" from others. Usually when discussing that you are talking about the Big Two losing votes to third party and indy options. In this election I can see these three "taking" votes from both Perry and Bell, but ultimately I feel that Perry will not be filling out a change of address form come January.

Now, this had the potential to be the most amazing (and to me, heartbreaking) gubanatorial election in Texas several months back. At one point I thought that we would see an election between Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Houston mayor, Bill White. Kinky would have been there, but not as big in the picture. I say that is heartbreaking because I would have been forced to choose between two of the only politicians in this country that don't make me sick to my stomach. Hell, they may be the only two! Senator Hutchinson was talked into staying in the Senate one more term, and Mayor Bill is still running the city of Houston better than it has been in ages.

So...instead we get this. Like I said - I'm not paying attention to the Big Two, but I am eager to see what the Little Three have to say. More on this as it develops!