And the number of signers aligned with Kinky Friedman is... 169,574. Friedman delivered his boxes to the Secretary of State a few hours before the deadline, completing the first phase of what we've been calling the Middle Finger Primary.His operation didn't include any conventional media -- television, radio, and newspaper advertising, or apparently, direct mail. But he had three Internet spots, a lot of free media (that's what political ops call news stories on campaigns), and he did a lot of traveling around to generate interest. The campaign also had some serious infrastructure. They were already organized in 60-some-odd counties in December, before they were allowed to collect votes. Assuming all the signatures are valid, they got 3.7 signatures for every one they needed. • Carole Keeton Strayhorn brought in another 5,800 signatures in a second batch on deadline day, but SOS Roger Williams wouldn't accept them. Under state law, the petitions have to come in with the application, and she brought in the application on Tuesday with the first 223,000 signatures. That'll get counted, but the late stuff won't. She'd have been able to include the 5,800 had she held all of her stuff until the deadline. It cost her to release them earlier, but there was an ulterior motive: She swamped the news that Democrat Chris Bell had outrun her for the AFL-CIO endorsement.

It's hard to get on the ballot as an independent candidate for governor, but non-party candidates for other offices have fewer obstacles; it only takes 500 signatures to get on the ballot for a spot in Congress, for instance. So there are more of them, with less hoop-de-do.The non-gubernatorial list, from the Secretary of State's office, includes U.S. Senate candidates Robert Belt and Arthur Willis Loux; CD-3 candidate Bob Hise (the incumbent is Republican Sam Johnson of Plano); and HD-17 candidate Harold Pearson (the incumbent is Democrat Robby Cook of Eagle Lake). The best-known name on the list is in CD-22, where former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman will be on the ballot with former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, a Democrat, and a Republican to be named later in the race to replace Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, whose resignation will be official on June 9.

Tracye McDaniel's old boss lured her to the Greater Houston Partnership; she's leaving the economic development and tourism department in the governor's office to rejoin Jeff Moseley in Houston. Moseley was head of the state's economic development before he moved east. McDaniel will be GHP's chief operations officer starting next month. Gov. Rick Perry appointed Welcome Wilson Sr., chairman and CEO of GSL Industrial Holdings and a real estate developer, and Jim Wise, managing member of Haddington Energy Partners III, as trustees of the University of Houston System. Both men are alums. The Guv named Govind Nadkarni of Corpus as presiding officers of the Texas Board of Professional Engineers. He's vice president at Maverick Engineering and founder of Govind and Associates. Perry appointed James Ratliff, a Garland appraiser, to the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board, and reappointed three others to that panel. The returning members are William "Rusty" Faulk, a Brownsville attorney, Larry Kokel, a Walburg appraiser, and Shirley Ward, an appraiser from Alpine. Bells will be ringing: Democratic consultants Jeff Hewitt and Eleanor D'Ambrosio are getting hitched Saturday. He remains a consultant; she's now chief of staff to Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin. Deaths: Former state representative, movie star, Aggie football sensation and Heisman runner-up John Kimbrough of Haskell. He was 87.