Low on options, Senate Democrats realizing there's no easy way home
The problem is both sides are working toward their base and they don't want to make it look like they're blinking.
- John Whitmire (D-Houston)
The odds were against them to begin with, and now the Texas 11 are having to face the reality that time is not on their side. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the only "victory" the Democrats will be able to claim is moral.
AUSTIN -- The Albuquerque Democrats might as well learn the Ballad of the Alamo, because no reinforcements are coming and they're running out of ammunition.
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, Democratic Caucus chair, completed the picture last week by drawing a figurative line in the sand to keep Sen. John Whitmire of Houston inside the senators' out-of-state fortress.
"We work on consensus, no matter what you've heard," said Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston. "Even Travis and Bowie had a big old fight at the Alamo."
If even one of the 11 boycotting senators returned to Texas and could be forced to the Capitol with the Senate in session, the state's Republican leadership would have a Senate quorum and the votes they need to pass a GOP congressional redistricting plan. The Democrats fled to New Mexico July 28 to stop the legislation.
With almost all hope gone that state or federal courts will intervene on the Democrats' behalf, the self-exiled senators now appear to have two basic options:
· Remain in New Mexico until Christmas, as some have pledged, to keep the Senate from meeting to pass the redistricting bill.
· Return home and declare victory for having blocked the Republican leadership through two special legislative sessions, saving face with the claim that whatever redistricting bill passes now will be too late for use in the 2004 elections.
"Now the question is what do we do from here forward, and that's a big question," said Gallegos.
Gallegos said he does not believe any final decisions will be made before a three-judge federal court panel hears the Democrats' voting rights lawsuit sometime in the next two weeks.
Even if that lawsuit fails, Gallegos said, there is a "magic date" sometime between mid-September and mid-October after which any redistricting bill passed by the Republican majority probably could not be used in the 2004 elections. He said the senators may have to stay out of state that long.
The Texas 11 have now been reduced to hoping that they'll be able to return home without facing arrest. When your best option is a Texas court (which are overhwhelmingly Republican), it might be time to fold.
I support the Texas 11, but I also realize that, political reality being what it is, they're out of aces. For the past few weeks, the business of the people of Texas has ground to a halt. It might just be time to recognize that your responsibility to those who elected you is greater than the priniciples involved here, however substantial they may be.
Yes, Tom DeLay will get his extra Republican seats. Yes, many Texas voters will be upset that their districts are being bowdlerized. At this point, the best Democrats can likely hope for is that the Republican "victory" will be a Pyrrhic one, and that they'll pay the consequences at the polls next year.
Come on home, y'all. This is getting silly....
