From the Texas Tribune: Analysis: A Kink in the Democrats' Chain

One of the weaknesses of political parties in general - and the Texas Democratic Party specifically - is the inability to control who runs on their ticket. Each individual candidate determines if they want to run and on which ticket. If you get enough votes you win - even if the party prefer that you didn't.

The list of embarrassing candidates for each major party is pretty long.

I'd hardly consider Kinky Friedman to be an embarrassment - but the Democratic Party does not want him running as a Democrat for Agriculture Commissioner. Problem is - he could win the general. This creates the obvious dilemma.

- Click here for the article.

On the other side of the field, Republicans are trying to decide between two former state representatives who are in a runoff for agriculture commissioner and were each tossed out of office by the voters in their home districts.

Either Sid Miller of Stephenville or Tommy Merritt of Longview would arguably be the weakest link in the GOP’s chain of statewide candidates — the best place for the Democrats to strike. 

And the most famous name on the Democratic ballot, at the moment, belongs to the mustachioed, black-hatted singer and comedian from Medina, Texas.

The odds are against Friedman, but they were were also against Rick Perry in 1990, when he won the same job against Jim Hightower.

For any Democrat in Texas to win a statewide race this year, something out of the ordinary will have to happen. The ordinary result for the last 20 years has been a Republican victory. The closer races, for the most part, have been toward the bottom of the list of statewide races on the ballot. Democrats nearer the top came close in 1998, but since then, Republican candidates do better at the top than at the bottom.

Even there, a finish above 45 percent is rare. And the money is at the top of the ballot.
The governor’s race will probably dominate the state’s political news between now and November. It’s where the money will be, too, which means it is where the noisiest ad campaigns will originate.

The race for agriculture commissioner is far down the list, both in terms of voter interest and the interest of people who write checks to political campaigns. It is the backwater of state politics, which makes it a great place for a candidate who is well known and doesn’t need the help of the financial people to get the attention of voters.