Unconventional country singer/author Kinky Friedman has announced he will run as an independent for governor of Texas in 2006. The 60-year-old planned to announce his candidacy in front of the Alamo. After that, all bets were off as to how Friedman would run his campaign.

'I want the thing to be fun,' Friedman told The Associated Press. 'But you can do something fun and still have it be important.'

Friedman said there really isn't too much difference between Democrats and Republicans, neither of whom have selected their candidates yet. He described the difference between the two parties as 'decaf or regular, paper or plastic. It's no choice at all. Now we'll have a choice, a voice, and see if it means anything.'

Friedman will need 45,540 signatures of people who did not vote in the Democratic or Republican primary to get on the ballot. He has 60 days after the primaries to collect the signatures unless there is a primary runoff election in which case he will have only 30 days to acquire the necessary signatures.

Friedman's campaign slogan will be, 'Why Not Kinky?' He figures if Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jesse Ventura can become governor, why not him?

Among his proposals are the formation of a Texas version of the Peace Corps and legalizing casino gambling to help reduce education finance problems.