Bob Gammage may be a name from the past, but Rick Perry’s lackeys can denounce him for “partisan attacks” and “hollow rhetoric” at their own risk – as Perry spokesman Robert Black (former P.R. man for the state GOP) did after Gammage entered the governor’s race Thursday. At least this Democrat, who knows his way around Texas politics, will hold Gov. Perry accountable.

That’s more than we can say so far of the other candidates in the race. We haven’t heard much yet from One Tough Grandma, who wants to unseat Perry in the Republican primary. Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn ran some radio ads around Rush Limbaugh’s talk show in November but otherwise hasn’t made much noise. For whatever reason – either she’s been unusually silent or the Austin press corps is weary of her – she isn’t getting much ink.

The other Democrat in the race, one-term congressman Chris Bell, is a young newcomer who got drawn out of his Houston district in the famous Texas redistricting redo. But that issue alone won’t give him much traction. Gammage, who has sat in many Texas political chairs – from Legislature to Congress to the judiciary -- could cut short Bell's statewide political career in the Demo primary.

Then there’s Kinky Friedman. Believe it or not, some of my North Dallas friends say they want to vote for the Kinkster – if they have a chance. He’s got to get on the ballot first, and that’s no easy task in Texas, given the high number of petition signatures required and the short time to collect them, about six weeks from the primaries in March to May. So far, Kinky has just been Kinky. While entertaining, he has yet to bring any substance to his campaign.

Here’s hoping that after the holidays, we’ll hear some serious talk from the candidates. Gov. Perry doesn’t deserve a free ride. Texans need to hear whether he has any real ideas for solving the school funding crisis, tax equity or any other state problem. Gammage’s slap at Perry’s Caribbean cruise with a bunch of fat cats to talk about school finance in February, 2004, is just his first shot across the bow.

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