Did Abbott make a mistake aligning with "The Nuge"?

Ron Baselice, an editorial writer for the Dallas Morning News, recently wrote a story called "Abbott's Bad Call on Ted Nugent".  His story intended to question the logic of publicly aligning with such a controversial icon.  This stems from previous volatile comments Ted Nugent has made on a variety of topics from race to sexual orientation.  The author mentions that Abbott brought Nugent along to promote gun rights.  However, his opponent Wendy Davis does not have the gun control stance unlike that of Abbott, so Baselice asks how this is a smart move.  I agree that Abbott should not have brought in such a divisive figure, when clearly in Texas Republicans have an almost certainty of winning.  In my opinion Abbott just made the race closer by making people question his judgement on a topic that is almost the same for both gubernatorial candidates.  Like Baselice says it may have been poor advice from his campaign managers or his own crappy judgement, but this small slip up could be something the Democrats pounce on and hammer home to the people "The Nuge" has offended.  I think that Mr. Baselice hits the nail on the head when he says " Abbott just handed Davis an inexplicably generous campaign gift".  In the long run this lapse in judgement probably will not hurt Abbott, but if somehow Wendy Davis wins the election we might look back at this as the beginning of the end for Abbott.  We are in Texas however, so nah.  Screw those damn commies!  At least that's the state's motto, right?