"Grandma" slogan, not nickname
Texas gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn has lost her bid to be listed as Carole "Grandma" Keeton Strayhorn on the ballot this November.
AUSTIN (AP) -- Independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn sued the Texas secretary of state Wednesday in her attempt to have the nickname "Grandma" listed with her name on the Nov. 7 ballot.
Strayhorn had promised to sue earlier this week after Secretary of State Roger Williams ruled that "Grandma" is a slogan, not a nickname permitted on the ballot.
At the same time, Williams allowed independent candidate Kinky Friedman to be listed as Richard "Kinky" Friedman on the ballot. Friedman has used the nickname for years.
Strayhorn's suit says that the Texas Election Code guarantees her the right to use her nickname. Her attorney, Roy Minton, has said that Strayhorn began using the name when she became a grandmother in 1994. [AP]
It's cool that Texas guarantees the right of a candidate use their nickname on the ballot. Somehow, I have a hard time believing that "Grandma" is uniquely sloganerrific, as Texas political nicknames go. If Richard "Kinky" Friedman can do it, why the hell not?
Update: Based on feedback from commenters, I've changed my mind. People who have followed Strayhorn's career say that "Grandma" isn't her nickname in any real sense, it's just branding device she adopted for the election. Whereas, Kinky Friedman is really known to one and all by his unconventional moniker.
BEWARE of Grandma = she's Scotty McClellan's mother
Posted by: RJA | July 13, 2006 at 11:21 AM
She hadn't used the name on any previous run for office. Also, 'Grandma' is part of her campaign slogan (which I can't recall off the top). I might have let her use it, but I don't think it's a terrible call not to.
Posted by: Tom Hilton | July 13, 2006 at 11:31 AM
"Grandma" is an affectation, but "Kinky" isn't--that's what people know him as. It would take me a moment to figure out who "Richard Friedman" is, even on a ballot, and I'll bet most of the good people of Texas would too.
It also works the other way. Dubya got elected governor of Texas by people who thought they were voting for his father.
Posted by: Molly, NYC | July 13, 2006 at 12:52 PM
This is truly pathetic. As a Texan, I've never heard anyone, of any political persuasion, refer to Strayhorn as "Grandma". She's of course trying to plant some warm-and-fuzzy "Waltons"-style associations in our collective mind, but people my own age may be more reminded of that Seinfeld episode where George suddenly decides he wants everyone to refer to him as "T-Bone".
Posted by: Cass | July 13, 2006 at 03:09 PM
Okay, you guys have convinced me that the "Grandma" moniker is totally bogus. I now think the Tx. Secretary of State made the right decision.
Posted by: Lindsay Beyerstein | July 13, 2006 at 03:15 PM
I'm sort of disappointed that the judge didn't point out that Carole Keeton McClellan Rylander Strayhorn has enough damn names already and doesn't need to go out and invent new ones for herself.
Posted by: Field Marshall Stack | July 13, 2006 at 05:41 PM
Sec. Strayhorn (nee Rylander)has been using her office to run for governor for years. Of courase there is sure nothing unusual about that here in Texas. G.W. did it. Kay Bailey Hutchison did it, and so on...I am not crazy about her but in a state run by so many Republicans she looks good!
Kinky is a joke, another Jesse Ventura.
The Dem running has been forgotten. He is a former Congressman who lost his seat because of Tom Delay's shenanigans in getting early re-districting done in Texas.
Molly Ivins refers to the present Governor Perry as "Guv Goodhair!" Sigh...we are in real mess but I am going for the Dem.
Posted by: Dicky Neely | July 13, 2006 at 05:56 PM
Several years ago, Al Lewis, the actor best known for playing Grandpa Munster, ran for Governor of New York on the Green Party line. He sought unsuccessfully to have his name listed on the ballot as Al "Grandpa" Lewis.
Posted by: The Continental Op | July 13, 2006 at 05:59 PM
I rarely click on outgoing links, but this time I was curious to see just how Grandma-riffic she is and was hoping the article would have a picture. But alas, I discovered the link to the AP story is broken.
But on a positive note, I get to make my virgin nitpick comment: The link is broken.
Posted by: Ignatius | July 13, 2006 at 06:03 PM
Ignatius, thank you. I've fixed the link.
Posted by: Lindsay Beyerstein | July 13, 2006 at 06:21 PM
Ms. Strayhorn bills herself as 'One tough Grandma' in her current role as state Comptroller. Branding it is.
Kinky was Kinky when I saw him in '73 with the Texas Jewboys. His parents might know his name is Richard, but no one else in this state would know that.
But I am going to have to vote for that other guy. The Dem. What's his name?
Posted by: Nat | July 13, 2006 at 06:25 PM
Gorget Grandma, here's my official list of 10 reasons Texans should vote for Kinky (I stole this list from a whiney liberal, but I fixed it to take out the whining):
(1) Kinky has run for office in the past as a Republican,
(2) Kinky voted for Bush/Cheney in 2004,
(3) Kinky's interview with Ruminator magazine confirms that he supported Bush's Middle East foreign policy,
(4) Kinky's public voting records confirm he was mistaken when he said he voted for Gore in 2000,
(5) Kinky hasn't voted for a Democrat in any election at least from 1994 to 2004,
(6) Kinky wants to take time during the school day for prayers in schools,
(7) Kinky wants to post the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms,
(8) Kinky is not obsessed with political correctness,
(9) Kinky knows how to deal with illegal aliens from Mexico, and
(10) Kinky’s immigration policy of hiring Mexican generals to police our border is a great idea that John McCain has endorsed.
Posted by: Kinky is Awesome | July 14, 2006 at 01:27 AM
Kinky is a hypocrite.
Kinky's official campaign website says that "Kinky is not anti-death-penalty, but he IS 'anti-the-wrong-guy-getting-executed.'"
No report yet whether Bell, Perry, or Strayhorn has come out in favor of the wrong guy getting executed, but at least we know where Kinky stands on the issue of killing innocent folks.
The more interesting issue is where Kinky's website says that "Kinky is not anti-death-penalty."
Really?
If Kinky is not against the death penalty, what was he doing testifying under oath at Max Soffar's trial that he is against the death penalty? Here is how ABC news in Houston reported the issue:
Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman testified Tuesday on behalf of a man convicted of killing three people during a robbery at a Houston bowling alley....Friedman testified during the punishment phase of Max Soffar's trial that the defendant should not be executed and questioned the evidence used to convict him.... Although he used to support the death penalty, Friedman told jurors he's now against it.
So, is Kinky lying under oath or is his campaign website misrepresenting Kinky's political views?
Posted by: Stop Kinky | July 17, 2006 at 03:35 PM