Orrin:

Don't call the Democrats "Cincinnati Bengals." I was classmates in law school with Chris Collinsworth and Katie Brown (grand-daughter of Paul), and both were pleasant and decent people. Calling Democrats "Bengals" is a greivous insult--to Chris and Katy!

Well, I've used Washington Generals before...

Do they have any happy winners?

As of this evening, the Senate Republicans have voted to hold off on the $75,000 in fines levied against each missing Democrat, but the battle lines are still there:

Under the proposal by Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, the 11 Democrats will be able to again have access to their office privileges, including postage and cellular phone use, and they will get to use their Capitol parking spaces. If any of the senators are absent without a sufficient excuse for more than 72 hours, when attendance has been required in a "call" by the rest of the chamber, the fines and sanctions would be reinstated.

The vote was 13-10 in favor of the plan. Not all senators were present. The vote fell almost entirely along party lines.

Democrats sounded furious and defiant.

"In no way do I plan to vote for a motion to put myself on probation," said Democratic Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston, who tried to amend the Republican proposal but was shut off. He and other Democrats said they were being treated like "second-class senators."

The Democrats said the fines were illegal because they were imposed when the Senate had no quorum. Ellis said the fines weren't going to be paid, even if they had remained in effect. Some Democrats said they would break a quorum again if necessary. Several loudly proclaimed "No!" when they voted against the probation proposal.

They noted that all the senators placed on probation are minorities or represent minority districts and said voters are the ones being punished.

"It is our fiduciary duty to represent our constituents," said Democratic Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio. "This is a slap in the face to Hispanic and African-American Texans because the actions that we did, extreme as it may seem to others, was to protect voting rights."

They probably wouldn't have gone for the electronic monitoring leg bracelets, either...

It's really too bad the governor or sec. of state (or whomever it is in Texas) didn't just declare the seats vacated and call for special elections to fill them. I'd love to see the Dems explain how hiding out constitutes representation. The scary part is that I'm certain that there are more than enough people would buy that explanation.

Is amazing how Dems across the nation continue to place the brain in neutral to recite the DNC mantra (almost word for word) about a, b, c, d (more to come) being plots to "reverse" elections. Impeachment may have (except for elevating an elected Al Gore), the Florida (not US) Supreme Court ruling may have, and an election (the recall) may reverse andother one...But can anyone explain how redestricting reverses elections? The first claims are partisan but somewhat rational, the second set is just silly.

Of course, there is also the hypocrisy of not mentioning the numerous episodes when Dems have prostituted electoral results: "reversing Democratic primaries" (NJ), refusing to seat a meaningless Indiana congressman, producing more votes in Indian reservations than there are Indians (almost), etc.

The Democratic Party is truly ripe for a RICO investigation.

One of the "experts" quoted in the Monitor predicts (i.e., hopes) that Republicans will soon return to the minority in Texas.

I'm not so sure. His hope, of course, rests on the growing Hispanic vote in my home state. But a sea-change that some "experts" prefer not to see may be taking place. Repubs in Texas may be getting close to an even split of the Hispanic vote. Combined with their lock on the white vote, that would make the state safely GOP for a long, long time.

The "experts" said that the three top races in Texas last year - Gov, Lt. Gov, and Senator - might be pretty competitve because of the Hispanic vote and the presence of Sanchez as the Dem candidate for governor.

All three races went to the GOP. Only the Lt. Gov race, the only one where the Dems put up a white candidate, was slightly competitive. Sanchez and Kirk, the Hispanic-Black "dream team," got buried in the Gov and Senate votes.

Maybe a crushing national recession will put the Repubs into the minority here. But changing demos don't look like such a threat to the GOP any more.

Personal disclosure: I split the ticket, voting Dem for Lt. Gov. and Repub for the other two.

One problem for the scenario is the mutual loathing of blacks and Hispanics.