Fronted by Jerome.

As Democrats in the Texas House worked all weekend and through the early part of the week chubbing to death a voter identification bill that would disenfranchise millions of Texans and has rapidly become the civil rights battle of the decade in the state, one might wonder where the Lone Star State's two Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate stand on the controversial issue.

The reality is very illuminating.

Earlier this year, appearing before a Texans for Obama meetup in Austin, Houston Mayor and U.S. Senate candidate Bill White was asked about voter identification. According to folks who were present, White didn't say he was for voter identification, but, basically gave a blase answer that he didn't think it would impede turnout beyond a small amount.

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The man who has shown his compassion (not to mention his IQ) for women by offering to buy their babies from them for $500, showed his tolerance for religious freedom at the Texas Senate...by walking out on the first Muslim prayer ever held in the Texas Senate.

Yes. That's right. Dan Patrick, the reichtwing radio talk show host whose "baby buying" bill was first reported by TexasKaos' moiv and has since brought widespread condemnation of Patrick, the Texas GOP and (of course) Texas, walked out on the very first Muslim prayer held in the Senate and then had the audacity to call himself tolerant! "I think that it's important that we are tolerant as a people of all faiths, but that doesn't mean we have to endorse all faiths, and that was my decision," he said later, "I surely believe that everyone should have the right to speak, but I didn't want my attendance on the floor to appear that I was endorsing that." Patrick was the only Texas Senator to walk out on him.

Ok, let me get this straight. You want to show your tolerance for religious freedom...by turning you back literally on it and walking out it?!? The man, like his buddy Rick Perry, is either a bumbling idiot or a political genius. I'm going with idiot.

What adds to the irony is the fact that the lawmaker who invited the Muslim cleric, Imam Yusuf Kavakci of the Dallas Central Mosque, was a Jewish woman and fellow Republican, Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.

So go ahead, Dan. Explain to everyone in only your delusional, "baby buying" world how your actions make sense. Explain how a Jewish woman can invite and listen to a Muslim cleric but a fundamentalist Christian cannot. Explain why she has no problem this occured before the holy Jewish celebration of Passover but you and your fellow wingers are incensed a Muslim man spoke at the Senate days before Easter. Exactly when would it be ok for a Muslim man to speak, Dan?

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To modest popular acclaim (almost none, in fact!) I suggested that the 50 State Strategy could usefully be extended to state leges, and why this would be such a good idea.

In the interests of idle curiosity, I got up the TX Secretary of State's current list of Dems who have put their names forward for the seats in the lege which are up in 2006.

The Senate seats up are for these districts (numbers with a D beside them have at least one Dem running):

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