And it was in Bandera that the Great Western Trail began, and with it the cult of thecowboy: 300, 000 head of longhorn cattle, most rustled from Mexico, herded through its broad main street every year in the 1870s and '80s, a last staging post to stock up on liquor and chilli brick before the long, hard ride to Dodge City, Kansas.
On thetrail in his trademark black cowboy gear, sucking on a Cuban cigar and volleying his best jokes at audiences who have not heard them before, Mr Friedman is proving an effective campaigner.