Kinky continues dazzling national press corps

It's the Washington Post's turn today.

They sent a member of their Style section's A team to Texas to trail gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman, who did not disappoint.

I don't blame the national press corps. Not one bit. It's easy, fun copy. Stuff a whole lot more people will read than the standard set-up piece for a standard governor's race.

And, better yet, the reporter doesn't have to discuss in any depth those boring issues that supposedly confront our collective future. Instead, let's all take our boots off and have a cold one with The Kinkster!

The WaPo tagged along with Kinky on a road trip to Houston, where he reluctantly agreed to tape an promo for the Houston Comets women's basketball team that was to commemmorate the team's 10th anniversary.

"Hi, folks, it's Kinky Friedman, here to wish the Houston Comets a happy tenth anniversary." He pauses, then leans forward and jabs his cigar at the camera. "Houston Comets basketball -- it's not just for lesbians anymore!"

It got a laugh but they made him tape a more standard message.

The newspaper's Peter Carlson followed the candidate all over Texas, from the Hill Country to the Metroplex, and along the way a few factoids came out that we hadn't previously read: for instance, after a longtime girlfriend died in an auto crash, Kinky went on a prolonged cocaine bender.

How'll that fly in Odessa? It probably won't matter. Not many folks out there (or in a lot of other places in the Lone Star State) ever read The Washington Post, I'm figuring, though I guess I could be wrong.

'Course, that lapse into sweet cocaine bliss, however brief a fool's errand it was, could win him votes in Austin.

Here's the story.