When, in the wee hours of Monday morning, House Republicans ended debate and pushed through one of the toughest anti-abortion bills in the country, it seemed destined to sail on to Governor Rick Perry's desk. It merely needed the OK from the Senate, which shouldn't be a problem given that they'd just passed an almost identical bill, sans the "fetal pain" measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of gestation.
But then, despite some rather extraordinary efforts, Senate Republicans failed to suspend the rules and bring up the measure for a vote on Monday.
Enter Fort Worth Senator Wendy Davis, whose epic filibuster against school spending cuts in 2011 forced Perry to call a special session, promising an equally epic filibuster that will push debate beyond the end of the current special session at midnight tonight. That's 13 hours of talking, which began just now. Watch it above.
