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LEAD-IN BY HOST: Over 50 Texas Democrats from the State House of Representatives are in their third day as fugitives protesting what they call an unprecedented power grab by the Republican Party. At issue is an effort by Texas Republicans to redraw Congressional maps to reflect what Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Tom Delay calls a Republican state. But Democrats are adamant they will not return until the House redistricting plan dies. Jackson Allers reports on local and national responses to the Republican push for redistricting. Story: The Texas Republican leadership is not too happy with the more than 50 Democrats holed up in Ardmore, Oklahoma, so says Texas Republican Chairperson Susan Weddington: "On May 12, 1903 - right here in Austin - the song "The Eyes of Texas" was birthed at the opera house. On May 12, 2003, the eyes of Texas were blackened by 50 democrats who chose to take the low road and run out on the people of Texas." But one Democrat, U.S. Representative Gene Green from Houston, found the walkout to be analogous to another point in Texas history: "This is a Texas kind of courage like General Sam Houston who marshaled his resources to win the battle of San Jacinto. My Houston area state representatives, Senfronia Thompson, Joe Moreno, [Richard] Nick Noriega, Jessica Farrar, and Kevin Bailey did stand up to this charade. In a statement delivered from Oklahoma, these Texas heroes said 'We didn't choose our path, Tom Delay did. We are ready to stand on the house floor and work day and night to deal with the real issues facing Texas families." The Bill would give Republicans up to six additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington and U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay has been hugely influential in pushing for the redistricting effort. Locally, U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee held a town hall meeting on Monday night at Finnigan Park in the Fifth Ward to hear what constituents of Barbara Jordan's old district had to say. Representative Jackson Lee describes what the 18th Congressional District would look like if the bill passes. "I know you haven't seen the picture. This is the 18th down here in Stafford, and this is where you will go, out to Beaumont. WOMAN: "Oh my God. This is our first time seeing the pictures." JACKSON LEE: "And the reason, of course, is because we tried to have this hearing down here for you to be able to see. We wrote, we went up there and begged them, and they voted us down and said 'We won't be having any hearings.' That's what Tom Delay, in the United States House of Representatives said." Also on hand at the town hall meeting was Reverend Clemmons, a long time Fifth Ward resident. Clemmons says the Republican tactics look familiar: "And so what this is about is that if you can't defeat a person one way, you try to defeat them another way." CROWD: "That's right." CLEMMONS: "But, here is the deal: We've seen this before." CROWD: "Oh yeah." CLEMMONS: "We saw it in the presidential election." CROWD: "We sure did." CLEMMONS: "When they could not defeat Gore one way, what they did was they tried to defeat him another way." CROWD: "Alright, talk now." CLEMMONS: "And they've been successful in doing that." CROWD: "Yeah. That's right." The Democrats have vowed to stay in Oklahoma until Thursday, the deadline for the bills passage. Jackson Allers, KPFT News, Houston. E-mail Jackson Allers at jacksonallers@hotmail.com . This story was broadcast on May 14, 2003.