Houston senator didn't want his attendance 'to appear to be an endorsement' Nothing is more routine on the floor of the Texas Senate than the morning prayer. Unless the prayer is delivered during Passover, four days before Easter, by a Muslim cleric whose background is questioned by conservative radio talk show hosts, one of whom happens to be a senator. The senator, Dan Patrick, who has from his first day in office challenged tradition, may have become the first senator ever to leave the floor in protest of the prayer. The invocation itself was a first for the Senate, delivered...