Texas: 2/3, 11, and 0
The flight of the Texas Democratic Senators is all about those numbers. It usually takes 2/3 to bring up a bill in the Senate; the 11 Democrats in Albuquerque mean there can't be 2/3 for a quorum; which means the chance to do anything in the Senate is zero.
The Houston Chronicle reports on a letter from the Dems to the Lt. Gov. asking him to restore the 2/3 rule; efforts to bring a suit claiming that the abandonment of the 2/3 rule is a violation of the Voting Rights Act; and the apparent use of phone banks to call and hurl slurs against the Dems.
The Austin American Statesman compares this run to the flight of Killer D's (the House Democrats) in May and finds it "the been-there, done-that feel of an overhyped movie sequel that lacks the spontaneity, drama or energy of the original."
The Washington Post decribes the Texas 11 flight and fight from "what Leticia R. Van de Putte calls a 'momma's hunch'" to the real stakes of the battle.
Gary Scharrer writes in the El Paso Times about why Gov. Perry ought to be worried about the cost and conequences of his re-redistricting fight. The column includes this tidbit:
Here's what taxpayers may not know: They shelled out more than $800,000 two years ago to Andy Taylor and his law firm hired by then-Attorney General John Cornyn to defend the current congressional redistricting map. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, and other groups challenged the congressional redistricting map.And now taxpayers are paying Taylor $400 an hour to assault the very same map he defended.