Ha ha! Texas governor Rick Perry, desperate to drag hiding Democrats back into Austin to pass DeLay and Rove's re-redistricting plan, asked New Mexico for permission to send in Texas rangers to arrest those Dems hiding in that state.

From the Daily Kos, it looks like some of the Texans have fled to New Mexico. Democratic state officials in both NM and Oklahoma are refusing to help get the legislators back to Texas. New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid:

"Some are speculating this request from the Texas Governor's office concerns an effort to locate missing Texas House Democrats," Madrid wrote. "If so, Texas should understand that since ski season is over, the Santa Fe Opera has not begun and President Bush was just in town, I don't think they are in Santa Fe now. Nevertheless, I have put out an all-points bulletin for law enforcement to be on the look out for politicians in favor of health care for the needy and against tax cuts for the wealthy."

The Texas Department of Public Safety is asking the public for assistance in locating 53 Texas legislators who have disappeared. Anyone who has information regarding the current whereabouts of the legislators listed below is asked to call 1-800-525-5555.

Under the Texas Constitution, the majority of members present in session in the House can vote to compel the presence of enough members to make a quorum. Members of the House did so this morning and directed the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House and the DPS to locate the absent members and bring them back to Austin.

DPS troopers and investigators are searching for the absent legislators.

Following on the tail of Colorado's own Karl Rove inspired GOP-friendly redistricting comes a similar attempt by the GOP controlled Texas legislature. The Democrat's aren't taking it though. They're preventing the quorum required for a vote on the plan by hiding out en masse in a Oklahoma motel just across the border. The Texas Rangers are looking for them. More coverage at Political Wire.