They were called the Texas 11 and they are, in many ways, the beginning of the story that

ended this week with the deadly collapse of the state's electrical grid.

In the 2002 midterm elections, Texas Republicans finally gained full control of the state's

government.

The party immediately moved to redraw congressional and state legislative lines to gerrymandered

Democrats into oblivion.

But to approve the redistricting, the state senate needed a quorum.

A quorum that 11 Democrats could deny by simply not showing up.

And so the Texas 11 were born.

Also known, a bit ridiculously as the killer D's, these 11 state senators fled to New Mexico

and Oklahoma out of the reach of the Texas Rangers.

The story became gris for late night comedians, here's Stephen Colbert, then on the Daily

Show.

In the runaways, there are problems all across the nation and New Mexico is no exception.

One such runaway who will call Rodney came here from Texas.

His story will break your heart.

Rodney, what did you run away?

I'm here as a part of an effort to break a legislative quorum in the Texas legislature.

Yes, like so many runaways, Rodney is here to break a legislative quorum in the Texas

legislature.

Over that summer, they successfully killed a special legislative session aimed at redistricting.

But in the fall, one of the Democrats eventually caved and returned to Austin.

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