Shikha Dalmia in TIME on Why Ted Cruz and Rand Paul Should Wish Wendy Davis Good Luck

Texas' blonde babe Wendy Davis, who led the filibuster against Rick Perry's attempts to ding abortion rights, has just announced her candidacy for governorship. Davis, who transformed herself from trailer trash single mom to a Harvard

Law grad with a taste for Miu Miu heels, is making Democrats giddy with excitement, notes Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia in TIME Ideas. That's because her star power and compelling biography gives them the first shot in two decades to pull the Lone Star State into the blue column.

But, notes Dalmia, Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz should also wish her luck. 

"Her candidacy is an early field test of their political strategy: Using filibusters on narrow issues that resonate with core constituencies as a tool for catapulting themselves from obscurity to greater political heights."

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