Kinky enough for you?

Or, at least for you Texans:

Kinky Friedman, irreverant country singer, satirist and self-proclaimed "equal opportunities offender", was his usual ebullient self as he bounded on to the stage at the latest stop in his remarkable campaign to become governor of Texas.

....The latest opinion poll gave him his highest rating yet — 23 per cent, level with Democrat Chris Bell and making ground on Republican incumbent Rick Perry on 35 per cent.

Friedman, 61, is riding high on the mood of disillusionment with politicians across US and targeting the 71 per cent of Texans who stayed at home four years ago. If he can persuade another 10 per cent to vote on November 7, he believes he will win the office from which George W Bush launched his White House bid in 2000.

Last week, the former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura threw his considerable weight behind his fellow political outsider on a swing through campuses and bars in eastern Texas. A hulking figure with dreadlocks and braided beard, Ventura stunned the political establishment in 1998 when he won the Minnesota governor election vote as an independent.

Friedman has already signed up Ventura's campaign manager and advertising guru as he attempts to stage a similar shock. Indeed, at this stage in his campaign, Ventura was polling just 15 per cent, 30 points behind the frontrunner.