Hawking It Up
August 9th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Kinky Friedman is back in the headlines. Everyone’s favorite Jewish Cowboy mused to reporters in Austin that he just might run for governor again in 2010. He also speculated that, had he run as a Democrat last year, he might have beaten Gov. Rick Perry, instead of finishing a distant fourth. As more than a few Democrats will tell you, Kinky’s presence in the race actually may have helped hand Perry the election. (You can read the Observer’s feature story on Kinky’s run here.)
Kinky’s candidacy did enliven the election. After all, Kinky was possibly the first candidate in history to sell a talking doll version of himself. Unfortunately the doll was more apt to talk public policy than the living, breathing version.
Of course, all politics involves salesmanship. Many campaigns peddle all kinds of products — posters, buttons, bumper stickers, self-serving biographies — to entice voters to buy into the candidate.
Kinky flipped the process around : he peddled his candidacy to get voters to buy his schlock: the books, CDs, and talking dolls. After the race he didn’t skulk back to his Central Texas ranch, he simply moved on to the next promotional opportunity.
He quickly rejiggered his campaign Web site — by scrubbing away the “Kinky Friedman for Governor” logo — into a permanent promotional tool. Every few months a new product rolls out: the “Don’t blame me, I voted for Kinky” t-shirt; the “In Dog We Trust” shirt that benefits Kinky’s animal shelter; new Kinky CDs and books.
If this keeps up, by 2010, he’ll be peddling the Kinky Home Pregnancy Test
Most recently, Kinky’s been hyping his own line of cigars. He also plans to publish another book. Lord only knows if Kinky has any desire to run in 2010. But the headlines can only help move his products off the shelves.
