Tea Partier Debra Medina to Make Massachusetts Texas' "Little Sister"?

New Englanders are terrified of Texas. When this Bostonist mentions that she once lived in the Lone Star State, people's eyes bulge out of their heads. They clutch their chests. They back up a little bit. They root around for a surgical mask to protect themselves from any residual Texagerms that may still be lingering. So it's funny that terrible Texas is now sort of setting itself up to be the next Massachusetts—assuming it doesn't learn from our mistake.

Just like us, Texas will vote in a new (or renew the old) governor in 2010. But the race there bears resemblance to our recent Senate race in that a Tea Party candidate is gaining ground. Debra Medina, the highly politically qualified owner of a medical consulting firm, has been called into the gubernatorial race to represent the interests of people who are upset enough with government to fly planes into buildings. This has set up a three-way race for the Republican nomination, pitting Medina against Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson and incumbent governor Rick Perry. The situation's getting so dire that Sarah Palin was recently called in to help poor Perry:

So good to be here in the big old state of Texas. I was just telling Piper, 'Honey, you know where we are today? We're in Alaska's little sister state. Many of us in both of our states, we will proudly cling to our guns and religion,' Palin said.

Guns and religion are not so big in Massachusetts, but trucks and tea parties apparently are. That's why we wonder if Scott Brown's Tea Party triumph in Massachusetts may be responsible for Medina's sudden ascendance in this race (her polling numbers have risen from 12% on January 17—before Brown's victory—to as much as 24% in February, depending on the poll you follow). Tea Partiers are so gung-ho about the race that they appear to have accessed the Wikipedia page, which sums up the race with a damning "Debra Medina is the pro liberty and individual freedom candidate running against the incumbent Rick Perry, who has been know[n] to work hard to increase profits at large drug manufacturers, and Kay Hutchison, who votes consistently to increase spending and voted for the widely debated 'bank bailout bill' (TARP) legislation as a US Senator."

Much like Scott "Action Figure" Brown, Rick Perry is known as much for his looks (particularly his hair) as for his politics, though he did achieve brief notoriety for saying that Texas should secede. From an aesthetics perspective, Medina bears a slight resemblance to Palin herself, which goes along with her support for gun rights. Medina also thinks states can just ignore federal laws they deem unconstitutional (who needs secession in that case?), and supports eliminating property taxes. (There's more, don't worry.)

So will teabagger fantasies lead Texas to follow in our footsteps by electing an unqualified individual skilled mainly in appealing to the worst fears of a terrified public? Well, it worked here, where we think we're smart: how will it work in Bedrock? It's a little surprising that we don't have our own gubernatorial Tea Party candidate yet, but you never know when a teabag will rise to the top. So forget Taxachusetts: looks like we might have to join forces with Texas and start going by Texachusetts soon enough. (Or, less sonorously, Massas.)