Kinky Friedman, the original Texas Jew-Boy!

Kinky's running for Governor of Texas - finally, someone I can support!

A three-inch statue of an armored Don Quixote rides on the dashboard of Kinky Friedman's well-worn Nissan SUV.

Like the 17th-century Spanish literary hero, the 60-year-old musician, mystery writer and operator of an animal rescue ranch intends to defend the helpless and destroy those he considers wicked. And he's ready to surrender at least a good chunk of his comfortable life in search of glory and adventure.

The field of battle is politics. Friedman's quest: to get elected governor of Texas in 2006.

Friedman - whose books include "Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned" and "Kinky Friedman's Guide to Texas Etiquette" - downplays suggestions this is all just a quixotic fantasy or stunt by an irreverent joker-minstrel interested in hawking books, music CDs and bottles of olive oil and salsa. A political independent, he says his candidacy is born out of a passion for Texas, a disgust with political correctness and what he considers a pathetic dearth of inspiration from the current administration.

"This is not so much a political campaign as it is a spiritual one," Friedman says, gripping a cigar under the shadow of a black cowboy hat that covers the wiry hair that gave Richard Friedman his nickname back in the 1960s at the University of Texas.

"You can say it's a joke if you want. I would say the most recent joke was the last gubernatorial election - $100 million to destroy each other, to make us vote for the lesser evil," he says.

Friedman makes an unlikely candidate, a fact in which he revels. "I'm the unpolitician," he says.

"Yes, there is some humor involved," says Friedman, whose campaign slogans include "He's Not Kinky, He's My Governor" and "Kinky for Governor - Why the Hell Not?"

"I talk to power with truth and humor. And I'm not afraid to."

Amid one-liners that often play on his Jewish background, he talks about Jesus Christ, quotes Tolstoy, Dylan - as in Bob - and Nelson - as in Willie. He counts the latter two as friends.

Before his writing career took off in the mid-1980s, Friedman toured with his band, The Texas Jewboys. Before that, he hitchhiked around the world after a two-year stint with the Peace Corps where, as he tells it, he earned 11 cents an hour teaching folks who have farmed successfully in Borneo for 2,000 years how to grow their own food.

And, he's fighting against political correctness!

At the foundation of his beliefs is a battle against what he calls "wussification" - political correctness that's weakened spiritual and cultural fibers and has strangled free thought and independence.

People are afraid now to say "Merry Christmas," afraid to light up a cigar, afraid to say it's OK to pray in schools, he says. "We didn't get to be the Lone Star State by being politically correct."