The Lone Star-studded political news this week is that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Don’t Mess With My Political Ambitions) has made a beehive – sorry, beeline – to the Texas gubernatorial race.

Hutchison announced that she’ll leave her Senate seat in November to campaign full time against incumbent Gov. Rick Perry (R-Don’t Mess With Me, Period – Or I’ll Secede). That GOP primary smackdown promises to be a battle of right wing vs. righter wing (I’ll leave it to you to sort out who’s who).

Luckily, the right wingnut has also entered the race. Musician/novelist/quadrennial corner-office candidate Kinky Friedman is back for another electoral dip of the wick – always a welcome event given his proven multimedia prowess.

Not surprisingly, though, Friedman’s monetary prowess is once again relatively limp, as this Austin American-Statesman blog post about gubernatorial fundraising indicated several weeks ago.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Schieffer of Fort Worth revealed today he’s raised almost $800,000 in contributions. That’s far less than what Republican Gov. Rick Perry or his expected primary challenger, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, have said they each corraled, but probably in excess of what Democratic prospect Kinky Friedman will be reporting this week (I’ve heard Friedman has raised less than $100,000, the bulk of it from Spicewood entrepreneur and long-time Friedman supporter John McCall).

Kinky lovers of the world, unite!