AUSTIN, Texas - If there is one thing more divisive among Texas politicians than drawing political maps, it's abortion, and Gov. Rick Perry has added both to the special legislative session underway in Austin.

The governor's decision comes on the heels of one of the most productive and conciliatory regular sessions in recent memory, and there is little doubt that by fanning the partisan flames, Perry is staking out his conservative credentials to impress national conservative and evangelical groups.

He's also embarked on a job-poaching tour of New York and Connecticut, supported by television and radio ads that tout Perry's job creating record as much as the Texas economy. These latest political maneuvers feed speculation in Austin that Perry is making a move onto the national stage in anticipation of another presidential bid in 2016. Of course, these moves also won't hurt him with Texas primary voters should he run for governor again next year.

Perry has been mum about his plans, saying only that he'll announce his intentions soon. But the special session also gives Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and conservative lawmakers the chance to boost their own political records, too. If the regular session was about coming together for the people's business, the special is all about partisanship for re-election.

Every 10 years, politicians get to choose their voters when they redraw the state's political maps based on census data. This map-drawing exercise is critical to determining who will control the Legislature and Congress. Since Texas lawmakers draw the maps, the majority party always draws them to benefit their colleagues, which is perfectly legal as long as they don't diminish the ability of minorities to elect their candidate.

A federal court in Washington determined that the Republican majority in 2011 did just that after it heard arguments from minority groups.

"The parties have provided more evidence of discriminatory intent than we have space, or need, to address here," the three judges wrote in the decision to throw out the Legislature's 2011 maps. That decision cleared the way for a court in San Antonio to update its interim maps used for the 2012 election.

Democrats hope the court will give minorities at least one additional congressional seat and five-to-seven new seats in the Texas House, which, based on past voting patterns, would give Democrats more seats. To forestall that, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott advised Republicans in the Legislature to adopt the 2012 interim maps and make them permanent.

While Democrats are happy to accept the map for the state Senate, they are fighting the congressional and state House maps by building a public record of the redistricting process that they will use to file a lawsuit when the special session is over.

Dewhurst, who Ted Cruz painted as a moderate in the U.S. Senate race, called for a special session before the regular one was even over to get ready for his re-election campaign. While Perry ignored the lieutenant governor's request for more gun freedoms, he has given Dewhurst a chance to pass abortion legislation that would restrict where, when and how a woman may get an abortion.

After what many lawmakers called a "kumbaya" regular session, the special legislative session will give everyone something to talk about when election season begins this fall.