Search for impartial Texas judge begins

Texas' most famous bug exterminator was still celebrating, having ousted Democratic district judge Bob Perkins from his conspiracy and money laundering trial, when suddenly the tables turned: Two days after Rep. Tom DeLay won a fight to get a new judge in his case, prosecutors Thursday succeeded in ousting the Republican responsible for selecting the new judge. Administrative Judge B.B. Schraub withdrew after District Attorney Ronnie Earle filed a request to have him removed. Schraub said he will ask the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court -- a Republican -- to name a judge to preside over DeLay's conspiracy and money laundering trial.By getting Judge Perkins thrown out, DeLay has started a unwinnable fight. Given the vast sums of money that flow into Texas' judicial races -- what Texans for Public Justice calls the "Dollar Docket" -- finding a judge who passes this impartiality test could hang up the trial for weeks.Maybe that's what DeLay has in mind.I'm glad I live in North Carolina, where -- thanks to the efforts of Democracy North Carolina and other groups -- we have public financing of judicial elections.UPDATE: They found someone -- a Democratic judge with supposedly impeccable credentials. Let's hope it sticks.