Kinky Friedman Reacts To Election Results

The candidate who arguably got the most attention during the governor's race ended his campaign Tuesday night at Scholz Beer Garten in Austin.

Kinky Friedman says he was outspent by three "polished political machines." He finished behind all the other candidates, but he hopes his message will be heard by future Texas voters.

"The guy with the most money shouldn't always win. He won this time. The guy with the most money won," Friedman said.

A grassroots campaign outspent 15 to one. Friedman arrived at Scholz Beer Garten Tuesday night with a welcome fitting a rock star.

But it quickly became clear that the show was over, outspent and ultimately outmatched.

"We had six, seven, eight times as many contributors as Perry, and yet he had 15 times as much money," Friedman said.

But instead of conceding, Friedman looked toward the future, saying his campaign has changed the political landscape in Texas.

"It requires some imagination to understand where we were coming from. A lot of people in Texas did get it, a lot of them didn't," Friedman said.

His hopes are that Texans will remember this campaign, and the two-party system will get a run for the money in the future, money Friedman admits he would have liked to have had this time around.

"Would we have done better? Could we have saturated the airwaves like he did? Probably so, then we could've been a little more careful," Friedman said.

For now, Friedman says he's looking forward to a little time off. He says he's given the state of Texas his phone number, and he'll wait to see if she calls.

(See the story by KXAN online here)