Where the candidates stand

Ten days ago, a survey was released by TexasTribune.org and the University of Texas at Austin on different election trends and popularity of the candidates for the Texas gubernatorial primary race in March 2010. This survey was discussed on the Web site of a Dallas-Fort Worth TV station, WFAA.

According to the survey, of the 800 registered voters who participated in the online survey, Rick Perry has the obvious lead in the Republican Party with 42 percent of self-identified Republican primary voters. Kay Bailey Hutchison is not far behind, with 30 percent. But Debra Medina is lagging quite far behind these other candidates, with only 7 percent.

In my opinion, it is pretty obvious that either Rick Perry or Kay Bailey Hutchison will win the primary vote this coming March. Both of these candidates are incredibly strong, have great leads over all of the other Republicans, and also (tend to) take strong positions on important topics. These two candidates are proving to both be unstoppable forces who are very popular with their publics. Unfortunately, I think Debra Medina may need to accept the fact that she is out of the race.

What I felt was the most interesting information that the survey revealed was information regarding the popularity of the Democratic Party candidates. According to the survey, of these 800 registered voters, the leading contenders are Kinky Friedmen with almost 20 percent, followed by Tom Schieffer with 10 percent. The other main candidate, Hank Gilbert, has only three-tenths of a percent. It was surprising that Kinky holds such a strong lead, but not that surprising at the same time.

Many people criticize Kinky Friedman, saying that he is utilizing his time and money just to generate publicity for his new products (his books, cigars, etc.) rather than promote his race for governor. But, obviously, this promotion is working for him and is promoting his popularity more and more to name him the leader for the Democratic Party.

Not only that, but I also feel that the other two candidates - Tom Schieffer and Hank Gilbert - are not strong candidates themselves. Tom Schieffer is best known as the George W. Bush-appointed Ambassador to Japan (until the inauguration of Barak Obama). He was also a former Democratic State Representative. The fact that he worked for the Bush administration is interesting, considering the fact that he is running in the Democratic Party. And Hank Gilbert was the 2006 Agriculture Commissioner candidate. So, as I said, neither candidate has a strong platform or an interesting biography or personality to push them in front of Kinky Friedman.

Does this mean the primary in March will result in a competition between Rick Perry and Kinky Friedman for governor? Who knows what will happen at this point. I am interested to see if there is a candidate that will jump in front of Kinky Friedman and take first place. And also if Kay Bailey Hutchison will end up pushing Rick Perry out of first place for the Republican Party. What do you think will happen?

Sometimes you just gotta get down and dirty

For the past couple of weeks, I have been working with a group in one of my public relations courses (PR 317) to give a political presentation to our class. One of my group members, Becky Dobyns, had discovered "smear Web sites" for both Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison. So, I decided to look into these two sites a little more in-depth today. Each Web site is employed by one of the candidates (such as Kay Hutchison) to "smear" their competing candidate (Rick Perry). Not only are these two sites entertaining, they both actually have helpful information.

The Web site that impressed me the most is Hutchison's smear site, which is devoted to Rick Perry and all of the reasons why you should NOT vote for him. When you first go to the Web site, you are barraged with multiple cartoon versions of Rick Perry playing in a big sandbox that is the shape of Texas.

As the snapshot from the Web site demonstrates, the miniature Ricks are doing all kinds of amusing things, such as picking petals off of a daisy and dancing around wearing big cowboy boots. You can't help but feel that you must have somehow accessed a children's Web site! But once you get passed the bright colors, the engaging click-able characters and the childlike quality, you realize this Web site actually is serving a very informative purpose.

If you click on one of the multiple bobble-heads, it redirects you to different information pages, each with information on different issues. For example, the Rick Perry with the crown holding a flag proclaiming "PU" (or "Perry University") is a link to information regarding Perry's treatment of Texas universities. In the words of the Dallas Morning News, "Perry's treating universities like they are his playground." This page on the smear site now contains multiple claims, backed up by statistics and facts from credible sources, on the topic. In this case, the site states that "Perry has stacked university regent boards with political supporters" and "[Texas] Tech regents were pressured to resign because they supported Kay Bailey Hutchison."

After viewing all of this demeaning and insulting information on Rick Perry, the user beings to truly consider Kay Hutchison as the preferable candidate. The cherry on top of this hilariously informative Web site is the interactive option at the bottom which allows users to share their embarrassing Rick Perry moments with the rest of the world. It even has a link to a video clip that allows you to hear one of the most embarrassing Rick Perry moments of all time - when Rick Perry said "Adios, mofo" on national television. I have attached the video the Web site gives for you to enjoy it yourself! This Web site definitely does not disappoint!

Of course, Rick Perry also has his Hutchison smear site for the public to view and play around with, but I find his Web site not nearly as inviting or engaging. His Web site has a much more serious feel and appeal to it, since he is trying to portray Hutchison as a coldhearted and overly-serious politician. Whereas his Web site does not have fun, dancing caricatures of Hutchison, it does have an overwhelming amount of information. He also does utilize video clips, some funny images, and clever wording throughout the site. An example is the dollar-bill titled "Bailout Bucks," which have an unflattering picture of Kay Hutchison on the front, along with information regarding the current economic crisis, such as the fact that Kay voted for a $700 billion bailout.

Since these two sites are poking fun at the competition of each respective candidate, I feel that Hutchison's smear site of Perry does a much better job. It is engaging, interactive, and playful yet serious. Her web site clearly is accomplishing the goal of mocking Perry and indirectly calling him ignorant (adios mofo!). I also really liked the fact that her Web site would be able to attract the attention of and engage someone who may not be necessarily very interested in politics. The playful Web site allows some of the less-passionate voters to obtain information and, fortunately for Kay Bailey Hutchison, this information is in opposition to Rick Perry!

High-profile endorsement for Kay Hutchison

Although I am a die-hard Democrat, I am constantly becoming more and more intrigued by the "competition" between Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. The social media Web site that I utilize the most is facebook, and I am a follower of both Hutchison and Perry (just to keep up with the current events of course). I was comparing their two facebook pages this morning and there was one post on Hutchison's page that snagged my attention.

Today, former Vice President Dick Cheney announced he will campaign for Hutchison starting next month. Hutchison posted this information, as well as a link to the news article from the Austin-American Statesman, about her endorsement by Cheney. He will officially throw his endorsement behind Hutchison at an event in Houston, Texas, on November 17.

Dick Cheney is the highest profile endorsement that Hutchison has received so far in her campaign. I think that Hutchison is incredibly lucky to recieve support from Cheney, since he still has a great deal of popularity with the Republican Party. His popularity is substantially lower with the Democratic Party, and that's not just because he is a Republican. Many Democrats feel that Cheney was slightly pushing for war in Iraq, and feel it was a bit "questionable" that Halliburton (which Cheney was CEO of before he became Vice President) received so many contracts and so much money when we began rebuilding Iraq. Nonetheless, Hutchison couldn't ask for a better endorsement.

But this does not necessarily mean that Hutchison is a step above Rick Perry. Back in February of this year, Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin announced her support of Rick Perry's campaign for re-election. So, he has had the endorsement of a high-profile Republican, just as Hutchison now has. Even though Rick Perry may have had this advantage over Hutchison in the past months, they BOTH now they both have a high-profile endorsement. This could make things a bit more interesting in months to come.

I could not decide which politician I think could potentially be a better endorsement. I believe that Dick Cheney is very popular with a certain population segment (older, middle/upper class, white males), whereas Palin is popular with a different segment (probably younger, middle/upper class women). I do think it is interesting that Perry is receiving endorsement from a powerful FEMALE politician and Hutchison is recieving endoresement from a powerful MALE politician. So it looks like both candidates may be able to appeal to males AND females equally.

I do not think that either of the endorsements have a strong advantage over the other. I think it will help Perry that Palin has became popular recently (only within the last year) and therefore has received very recent media-coverage. On the other hand, Cheney's most recent widely publicized event was the hunting accident that occurred in 2006. So, maybe Palin actually will continue to attract the media-attention that Perry is wanting.

Who do you think may prove to be the better endorsement? Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin or former Vice President Dick Cheney? Or do you think they will both have their benefits and it may not make a great difference in the long-run? Or do you think that one has a distinct advantage over the other?

What about the Hispanic community Gov. Perry?

Earlier this morning I was perusing through Kay Bailey Hutchison's Web site and Gov. Rick Perry's Web Site to see how technologically-savvy these two Republicans are.

Upon first glance these two Web sites appear to be both equally impressive. But the first thing that caught my eye on Hutchison's page was a big blue link at the top that say "En Espanol," meaning "in Spanish." By clicking on this link, you are redirected to the Spanish version of Hutchison's Web site.

Granted, Hutchison's Spanish version of the Web site does not contain as much information or interactivity as the English version of her Web site. But the most important thing to note is that by using this version of the Web site, Spanish-speakers are now able to navigate through her page by clicking on different links written in the Spanish language.

So, I was very impressed that Hutchison, or the people who run her Web site, decided to include this option for the viewers. This was a very smart move for Hutchison since she is running in a state with nearly 40% of its population being Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Hutchison is showing her recognition of the large target segment and is using her Web site to appeal directly to them.

I then moved over to Gov. Perry's Web site, expecting to see the same link, possibly at a different location but still obvious and accessible. After looking through his page for several minutes, there was no such link to be found. I even tried searching for a Spanish version of his site by using Google and Yahoo! but found nothing.

After examining his Web site a little closer I realized that some of his articles, such as one regarding the H1N1 virus, did offer many resources in both the Spanish and English language. But if you decided to look at some of Gov. Perry's priorities, such as promoting Texas tourism, you could not find this information available on his Web site in the Spanish language.

Although I am not of Hispanic origin, I found this discovery rather frustrating, especially since Rick Perry is currently the Texas governor. I was surprised that he would not have his Web site more accessible to people that speak Spanish, especially in a state with such as large population of Spanish-speakers.

Therefore, I feel that Kay Hutchison was being more strategic with her Web site - possibly even looking at Perry's Web site to see what he lacked and what she could include in her own to make it better than Perry's site. What do you think of this discovery? Do you think Perry should open his eyes and see that he is isolating a large segment of the Texas population? Or do you think offering his site in the Spanish language is not that necessary for his campaign?

Kinky Friedman hosts cigar party tonight

Kinky Friedman announced on his Web site that he will be hosting one of his famous cigar parties at 5 tonight at the Spindletop Restaurant in Beaumont, TX. The event will include a meet-and-greet with Kinky himself, a showcase of his cigars and a signing of his new book.

Kinky hopes to be chosen as the nominee for the Democratic Party in the 2010 election for Texas Governor. He has frequently held these meet-and-greet parties in order to drum up publicity for his campaign. Kinky tries to truly make a connection with the citizens of Texas by holding personal events such as these, a technique I do not see the other candidates utilizing as frequently.

Kinky is a man of many talents - not only is he a politician, but he is also a musician, humorist, cigar-enthusiast and author. At the event this evening, he will also be showcasing his new book, Heroes of a Texas Childhood, for purchase and signing. This is a non-fiction work by Kinky himself, describing heroes of his childhood. The people mentioned in the book range from his father to Barbara Jordan to cartoonist Ace Reid.

The main attraction of the event, other than Kinky himself, is his cigars. Kinky Friedman Cigars are handmade in Honduras and are sold throughout Texas. Kinky prides himself on his passion for good cigars. I am not a smoker myself and I know very little about cigars, but by researching through Web sites devoted to Kinky's cigars, I have been lead to believe they truly are wonderful cigars. They come in many different types and flavors and are popular among many different types of people. He also sells them in bundles known as "The Kinksters," a name I thought to be quite clever!

I feel that Kinky Friedman takes a truly different approach to his campaign. While the other nominee-hopefuls are busy fundraising and holding press conferences, inky is out mixing with the people of Texas. He takes on the image of a true-blooded Texan and seems to really want to a make a connection with his audiences.

What do you think of Kinky's image and approach to the campaign? Does it help give him a distinction from the rest of the potential nominees? Or does it show a lack of professionalism/seriousness about the race?