More on Killer D's

"I felt that being one of a small number of rural Democrats, if I wasn't ... fostering the issues that are part of rural Texas, I would have no voice. And that's why I stayed," Armbrister said Monday. Ken Armbrister of Victoria was the lone senator of his party to stay in the Lone Star State.

The Democrats said they got tipped off that Perry was about to call the next special session early to try to surprise them, which could have led to a "lockdown" and forced them to stay in the Senate chamber.

So the lawmakers bolted from the Capitol, got on private planes and traveled to Albuquerque, out of reach of Texas law officers who might be sent to find them.

"Each of us, as I've said before, make our own mind up about what we try to accomplish for the people we represent, and whatever tools that are available in that arsenal, I respect any member of the Senate to use those to their full advantage," he said.

Even one Republican, Sen. Bill Ratliff of Mount Pleasant, signed the opposition letter in the previous special session. Ratliff did not boycott the Senate on Monday, however.

"It's not something I would do," Ratliff said, though he added that the Democrats were exercising their right as the minority party under the rules of the Legislature.

"I don't consider it any breach of etiquette or any breach of our congeniality, because we have other rules that do provide that the minority can exercise its rights. This is one of them," he said.

One of the absent Democrats, Sen. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo, said her decision to leave Texas wasn't made lightly.

By boycotting, Zaffirini has broken an attendance record of 834 consecutive legislative session days since becoming a senator 16 years ago. She has cast 29,577 consecutive votes.

"A perfect attendance record pales in the light of an important issue like redistricting," she said by telephone from New Mexico. "This is about minority rights. This is about voting rights."