Local politics are so boring, normally, except when they have national waves. Two votes here in Dallas over the weekend had such extensions; a vote in Farmers Branch, a suburb of Dallas, that would outlaw renting apartments to illegal aliens and a vote in University Park, where SMU resides, where the George W. Bush Presidential Library may be planted.

The vote in Farmers Branch was particularly interesting because after the city council approved the measure, lawsuits were thrown at the city. Normally cities would back down in the face of such lawsuits, including one from the ACLU who stated the measure would place in “discriminatory housing practices,” but Farmers Branch held firm and put it up for a vote.

Over the past four or so months since the city council brought the issue up, we’ve been treated to illegal alien protests, charges of racism (are illegal immigrants just of one race?) and the other overheard phrases used to describe voters whom want to end illegal immigration. It has been a symbol of the larger national debate and wouldn’t you know it, when the people speak the measure is approved 68 percent to 32 percent. The insipid calls of racism only inspired 32 percent of Farmers Branch voters to vote in favor of circumventing U.S. law.

The lawsuits are still on the table and the ACLU is still fighting for the ‘rights’ of illegals, apparently taking a break from supporting detainees held at Guantanamo Bay because they too represent American citizens somehow. But with the vote, Farmers Branch has turned the corner and the city will most likely continue to stand firm in their decision.

In Universtiy Park, voters “overwhelmingly” supported a land sale for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, a measure which would have been seen as trivial without the political games played by Leftist professors and special interest groups. Again in local news in the recent months, we’ve been treated to how this one library would bring the dreaded neo-cons to Dallas, as if there aren’t any here in the first place.

A coalition of SMU professors wrote letters (read the deranged comments if you have the stomach for it), staged protests encouraging students to attend (in one case the local ABC affiliate WFAA reported students were given extra credit to attend a rally) and virtually cried foul at what should be an honor to host a presidential library. Heck, I’d be thrilled if my alma mater, Texas Tech University, hosted the Jimmy Carter library, and I am certainly no fan of the man nor the president.

But you see, this news was publicized nationally and in came Liberal groups who were outraged at the alleged turning of SMU over the conservatism, as if the sheer number of professors who protested against the library was not proof enough of the campus’ left-leaning tilt.

While I have yet to see actual poll numbers, according to The Dallas Morning News, the turnout for this vote was the “highest in University Park history.”

President Bush still hasn’t decided on the location for the library named in his honor, and he may not choose SMU, but University Park residents voted in favor of building the library if the President chooses Dallas is where his library should be built.