According to a piece in the Houston Chronicle today, less than 125 donors account for 40% of all money raised in the Texas governor’s race so far, with those contributions ranging between $50,000 and $850,000. This astonishing figure highlights how influential just a few people are how only the rich get a chance to control elections and what legislative agendas are set.  Who stands to gain the most from these contributions? 

The governor [Rick Perry] has raised nearly $13 million over the past two years. About one-third of that came from 75 donors who gave $50,000 or more. This year’s legislative and gubernatorial elections in Texas are pivotal for the average Texan, simply because so much is at stake when it comes to healthcare, product and company liability, and property rights as they relate to land-grabs for the TransTexas Corridor highway. For the GLBT community, this election is critical since same-sex couples wishing to adopt children will most likely see their rights stripped further in the next legislative session. Who stands to profit the most from this agenda? Fewer than 125 people apparently. 

Chris Bell, the Democratic candidate for governor has raised a paltry $2 million with seven individuals or committees accounting for roughly one-third of that amount. (Naturally democrats represent the forgotten who can barely afford to buy gas and groceries, so contributing to the expensive political process is out of the question.) 

Rick Perry will win his bid for re-election this year. It is almost a certainty, much to my disappointment. If re-elected Perry will become the longest serving Governor in Texas history. Rick. Perry. Unfortunately Perry won’t win because he has the best ideas, not because he is the most charismatic, and certainly because he his the brightest hope for the state. Rick Perry has none of that and is none of that.

At his best Rick Perry is a puppet of corporations and big-money contributors, and a very lucky puppet he is. In recent polls Rick Perry is running at less than 40% of the vote in the upcoming election, a formula for defeat in other election year. But this year is not your average election year. This year is about political parties regrouping, drawing new battle lines, and the self-destruction of others. For that reason alone, Rick Perry will be re-elected.

Facing three opponents in a race that only requires one candidate get more votes than the other(s), means that Perry will walk away with the right to govern the state for another four years with less than 40% of the people supporting him.

This is not a sad commentary on the Democratic party in Texas. It is a sad commentary on the whole political atmosphere. Chris Bell is a fine individual who could easily run circles around Rick Perry in terms of leadership and intellectual thought. Unfortunately, Democrats did not have a strong enough candidate leading the race going into the primary season to build the careful name recognition that is required to unseat someone like Rick Perry.

Kinky Friedman on the other hand had months, if not years, to spout his political ideologies on local, regional and national outlets. Two years ago Kinky was in the national spotlight for his non-traditional views and plain-spoken manner about what he would do as governor. Yeah, it was all a little crazy. He has stated on several instances that he would refuse to call the legislature into session because everytime the legislature meets the state suffers. That is clearly crazy talk. But it is talk that people identify with and are entertained by.

And then there is the craziest of them all — State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn. Strayhorn, a former Democrat turned Republican turned Independent is on course to completely destroy herself politically. She has amassed an incredible amount of money to battle Rick Perry. According to the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Strayhorn is second to Rick Perry in terms of cash ($8 million to Perry’s $10 million), and only because of the very public campaign she ran leading up to the Republican primary and her subsequent Independent bid. The basis for most of the money Strayhorn has raised comes from a growing sense of dissatisfaction among Republicans for Perry.

If I were to write a fiction novel about this year’s election it would be that Rick Perry is defeated by Chris Bell when Kinky Friedman realizes he can never win, withdraws from the race and throws his support behind the other outsider, Bell. I am affriad that Strayhorn’s withdrawl (the most logical event) would only net a gain for Perry inside a red state. But alas, the truth is much stranger than fiction in Texas politics, and neither of those things will happen and Rick Perry will have a legacy as the longest serving governor in Texas history. Rick. Perry.

But there is great reason for hope for Democrats. The battle between Strayhorn and Perry does nothing if it does not show the clear displeasure with Perry and his puppet administration. In the next four years we can look forward to more school finance reform — this time with more lobbying from the business special interest as they seek to reverse the new coporate taxes used to finance the latest round of school finance reform. In the next four years we get to hear more about Perry’s TransTexas land grab highway, and there will be plenty of pissed off constituents. There are heavy issues ahead for Perry, and Democrats stand to gain.