The filing deadline is only a week away with January 2, 2006 being the last day to get on the ballot as a Republican or Democratic candidate for the 2006 election cycle in Texas.  Gov. Rick Perry filed for Governor on December 19th.  He has drawn two primary opponents thus far, but Carole Strayhorn is not one of them yet.  The speculation grows that Strayhorn may decide to run for Governor as an independent rather than try to overcome Perry's huge lead among likely Republican voters in the March 2006 primary.  We will know the answer as to whether Strayhorn runs as a Republican or as an independent shortly.

Meanwhile, DallasBlog interviewed the two men who have filed to run against the incumbent Governor in the Republican primary.  Rhett Smith and Larry Kilgore couldn't be farther apart in their views on the issues or their reasons for running against Perry.  Smith is a 55 year old private security guard who works for a U.S. affiliate of an Australian company called Initial Renttokil.  Yes, that is the name of the company which DallasBlog got wrong (before being corrected by Smith) by initially writing down Initial Rent-to-kill.  Smith is running because he is opposed to what he calls the religious right's influence in the Republican party.  He specifically cited Perry's close ties to the Texas Restoration Project and the One Star Foundation which are faith-based, private organizations that work closely with Perry.  Smith says that he is concerned about the influence of the "despotic hierarchies of the church" over the state in Texas.  Smith is a Methodist.

Larry Kilgore, by contrast, is running against Perry because he doesn't believe that the Governor has been sufficiently supportive of what Kilgore calls the "Christian position" on issues.  A 41 year old telecommunications consultant, Kilgore describes himself as a "strong Christian man who wants the state to honor the Lord."  He maintains that Perry has not opposed abortion rights strongly enough and criticizes Perry for signing the "hate crimes" legislation which in Kilgore's view made homosexuals and bi-sexuals a protected class in Texas.  Kilgore believes that Texas should secede from the Union:  "Texas, like Iraq, is an occupied nation of the United States," he says.  As Governor, Kilgore would call all of the Texas National Guard troops home from Iraq." 

Smith and Kilgore are in as Republican challengers to Perry.  Will Strayhorn be next?

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