Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison talks up the MMP:

In a speech last night on the Budget Resolution, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison pointed to the Minuteman Project as underscoring the need for more Border Patrol agents:

"This is not a matter of illegal aliens coming here to work, although that is a major issue in this country. It is a matter of national security."

She's right, and it's significant that she is the one saying this. Hutchison is, as far as Texas Republicanism is concerned, a squishy moderate. She is not a Chafee-class RINO, but she is no Phil Gramm either. Nevertheless, she is sunny and popular around Texas generally and does have solid instincts on most national security issues. My well-connected Texas source says she is positioning herself to run for governor of the Lone Star State, possibly against current governor and fellow Republican Rick Perry, who has consistently underperformed in conservatives' eyes. In lauding the MMP, Hutchison is tacking to Perry's right and signalling that she'll take the border issue seriously. She is also showing where she believes Texas' voters to be--with the Minutemen.

And on that, she is entirely right. The wheels of time spin forward a bit, and Texas could end up becoming the second border state to have a governor who publicly supports the Minutemen (either Hutchison will win or she'll pull her opponents toward her position on the MMP, since that is where the voters are). The two largest states in the lower 48 and the two largest border states--California and Texas--will both be led by Republican Minutemen supporters. Significant? I think so.

MORE: I should add that Hutchison and Schwarzenegger have now also tacked to the right of President Bush on the illegal immigration issue--he called the MinuteMen "vigilantes." On nearly every other issue, they are positioned to the president's left. Someone needs to forward whatever polls Hutchison and Ahnuld are reading to the White House.