RIP One Tough Grandma Carole Keeton Strayhorn

Dallas 2006

Thanks to the Texas Tribune for this article about Carole Keeton Strayhorn. We appreciate that they didn't write us -- the independent movement -- out of history, Carole's and ours.

I got to work with Carole when she made the boldest decision of her long and successful political career. In 2006, she bolted from the GOP to run as an independent for Governor. She was disappointed -- and were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Texans -- that she came in third in a 4-way race.

But had we been able to convince Kinky Friedman to switch to run for Lt. Governor, I believe to this very day that Carole could have become the first independent Governor since Sam Houston.

We published an analysis after the race, including our discussions with Kinky and his campaign manager, Dean Barklay, in "Divided We Stood". We were calling for a way forward to build off of Carole and Kinky's combined vote totals of 1.3 million Texans.

But, like Perot, Carole left the building. We don't blame her or Perot. It was what it was.

Rick Perry, one of the luckiest politicians on the planet, eked out a victory with 39%. But Strayhorn's candidacy ensured that Perry's destructive and grandiose Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), aka the "NAFTA Highway," was defeated in the next legislative session. That was because Carole made it a top-three issue in the race.

Here's why Carole's decision to go independent was her boldest.

She knew she would never be able to go back.

That is also true for the independent movement today. We cannot go back. But we can, and and we must, look at all the failures to move to the next experiment.

More than ever, voters want a break-out from the two-party madness.

Join us on Monday nights at 8 pm to figure this out together. Go to our Events page to sign in.

Farewell, One Tough Grandma. Our condolences to the entire family. Your independent legacy will live on.