Short answer: No. Especially not this year. But Ross Ramsey is probably correct in saying that Kinky Friedman’s run for Agricultural Commissioner has a better chance of winning statewide than any other Democrat. Kinky has higher name recognition and fewer strong negatives than Wendy Davis or anyone else running.
Too bad for him that Democrats are still bitter at him over “ruining” their one chance to take out Rick Perry.
Kinky is a genuine Texas original, and there are a few Republicans I can see myself voting for Friedman over. Unfortunately for him, however, Sid Miller (the likely Republican runoff winner) isn’t one of them.
Of course all this talk may be premature, since Friedman still has to get past primary opponent Jim Hogan on May 27.
However, I believe that Ramsey is wrong when he states that “Friedman’s idea of legalizing marijuana and making it a cash crop in Texas is out of the mainstream and cannot possibly be a winning issue in a Texas election.”
In fact, there is significant sentiment for marijuana legalization on the “libertarian/Tea Party/Leave me the hell alone” right, partially on Tenth Amendment grounds, and there the “legalize it, regulate it, and tax it” sentiment has been respectable on the right at least since 1992 or so. Certainly marijuana legalization wouldn’t pass the legislature, but I believe that in a (theoretical) statewide referendum would come a lot closer to passage this year than Wendy Davis will come to being elected.