Texas politics, continued

Now we go over to the Democratic Party Run-off for Agriculture Commissioner.

Who in the world is Jim Hogan?
A lot of people are asking that question this week after the Cleburne farmer and insurance agent took the most votes statewide in the Democratic Primary race for commissioner of agriculture, without raising a dime in contributions or mounting any significant campaign.  Hogan now faces writer/musician/comedian Richard “Kinky” Friedman in the May 27 runoff to see who will be the Democratic nominee for ag commissioner.

Jim Hogan is a “some dude” candidate.  Kinky Friedman is a celebrity candidate, who’s run before — he probably put the 2006 Gubernatorial race out o reach for the Democrats.

And here’s what you need to know about this race.

The campaign discussed arranging a meeting between Nelson and challenger Jimmie Ray Hogan to entice him out of the Democratic primary for agriculture commissioner, according to emails obtained by The Dallas Morning News. But the plan went up in smoke before the offer could be presented to Hogan.
“I agree on Hogan, he just wants to meet Willie. Not sure we can get him out of the race but we can try,” Cody Garrett, Friedman’s campaign director at the time, wrote to two fellow campaign workers. “I’ll call Hogan and pretend to be gingerly and promise him the universe, but in the end we all need to take a vote on this and decide which way we should go.”
In another message, Friedman spokesman Cleve Hattersley wrote: “Maybe we really can get Mr. Hogan out by arranging a meeting with Willie. How about you give ole Jim a cordial call, see how he’s doing?”

Hugh Asa Fitzsimons III looks like the one candidate you can credibly see in office, and who appears to have ideas compatible with the office on “what is to be done”.  But he’s not Hulky or Kinky…

As for Hogan, his campaign finance reports show that he spent only $4,207.98 on his campaign, and $3,750 of that was the fee to file as a candidate. His next largest expense was $442.98 to travel to Austin and Seguin, and the remaining $15 was spent on “notary envelope postage,” reports indicate.
But what contributions did Hogan take in? None.
And still, he pulled in 39 percent of the votes, outpacing Friedman by more than 5,200 ballots.
“I guess the people just said, y’all can put up your money, because it’s no good in this race,” Hogan said.

How very folksy.

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