Now this is refreshing...

AUSTIN —Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson recently shared a car ride with his rival in the race to lead the state's oldest agency.

Democrat Hector Uribe has a standing offer to fly to campaign events in the two-seat World War II surveillance plane the Republican land boss flies.

In other words, the battle to oversee the Texas General Land Office is far from the down-and-dirty nature of many political races. These guys like each other.

Uribe tells the San Antonio Express-News a negative campaign is "just not who I am." Patterson says he is beyond having to prove a point "by denigrating somebody else."

They do have one point of contention: whether a tract of land in Big Bend National Park should be public or private.