Medina a weather vane...

Bruce Davidson has a story about an alternative to Rick and Kay (link). Excerpts follow...

Medina probably won't raise a lot of money compared to her opponents, but she is striving to tap into the deep unrest marked by the “tea party” movement.

In fact, she organized campaign teams to spread the word about her candidacy at 45 tea parties around the state on April 15.

And she is campaigning across the state full time as the schedule on her Web site indicates.

Of course, the odds that either Perry or Hutchison will be the GOP gubernatorial nominee in 2010 are overwhelming. They have money and long-entrenched political machinery.

But Medina's candidacy will provide valuable information about the modern Texas GOP.

How many GOP voters are fed up with veteran politicians in general? How deep is the overall discontent among grass-roots conservatives?

Does the maverick network that supported Paul have real muscle in Texas? If Medina were to crack double-digits, what would that say about party leadership?

Medina may have trouble breaking into the headlines, but her candidacy is well worth watching.

I have spoken to Rick and Kay peeps over the past few weeks and they go back and forth on whether Medina is a true threat, who she takes votes from more, and all of that. One Rick person thinks she is a non entity as her fundraising reports showed... another thinks Medina actually may siphon off votes from Kay. Another Rick person and a Kay person both echoed each other and said that Medina cuts into Rick's anti Washington base.

I think this is too hot of a race with too much meaning... if people come out to vote for Medina or anyone else other than Rick or Kay in the Republican primary they are people who would have stayed home otherwise.