Naked City

A rumor that former state ag commissioner, radio personality, and populist scribe Jim Hightower is running for governor on the Green Party ticket is false, says Hightower spokesman Sean Doles. "He's too busy running his mouth," Doles said, "and he remains a Democrat." Yet earlier this week, the cowboy-hatted commentator's name appeared on www.politics1.com's list of Texas gubernatorial candidates. Politics1 Publisher Ron Gunzburger explained via e-mail that Texas-based contributors to the site "indicated that there was a desire among some Texas Greens to draft Hightower as their candidate for governor (following the prominent role he played in the Nader 2000 campaign)." Names of draft or speculative candidates are removed from Politics1 once they announce they are not going to run, or contact the site indicating likewise. By Wednesday, Hightower's name had disappeared from the guv roster, which lists as prospective candidates Rick Perry, Tony Sanchez, John WorldPeace, Jeff Daiell, Jim Mattox, Bill Lyon, and Jennifer (I Choose to Run, Again) Gale.