Judge Pat Priest just upheld the money laundering charge against former Majority leader Tom DeLay. He threw out the conspiracy charge. DeLay, it seems, dodged one bullet, but is heading to trial anyway. Let's see how they spin this one.

It's time for DeLay to resign, and for your representative to demand that he step down.

Here's the AP story.

CNN reports that Judge Pat Priest has decided that he will need two weeks to go over the documents and motions submitted by both sides in the DeLay case before ruling on whether or not to dismiss the charges against DeLay.

The judge also said that if the charges stand he does not think the trial will occur before the end of the year.

"Hauled into court alongside Representative Tom DeLay, the Texas judicial system is also on trial," writes Ralph Blumenthal in today's New York Times. And it should be, since, as Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, points out in the piece, "Judges in Texas swing the gavel with one hand and take money with the other."

But as big as Texas is, the problem is much bigger than just Texas.

I personally think Clay Robison at the Houston Chronicle might be giving Tom DeLay a little bit too much credit, but it's an interesting theory...

Now a NEW judge, Pat Priest, a Democrat, has been appointed by the Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson of the Texas Supreme Court (a Republican). Jefferson, it appears, received help from TRMPAC. You know what they say... With friends like these...

Round and round we go, where we stop, nobody knows.

In what looks like is going to be an ongiong battle, a second judge has been removed from the trial of indicted former Majority Leader Tom DeLay for money laundering and conspiracy.

Administrative Judge B.B. Schraub has recused himself after D.A. Ronnie Earle filed a motion to have Schraub removed from the case, based on his past contributions to Republican candidates, including Gov. Rick Perry, a prominent ally of Tom DeLay.

DeLay has a good day in court.

I have to say, this was a high risk strategy, and one that doesn't necessarily pay off huge for DeLay. Yes, he removes a judge that he and his lawyers think may be biased, but that doesn't guarantee he gets a judge who he'll like any better.

But all in all, it's a dangerous precedent... Who knows what this means for a venue change request.

Tom DeLay responded angrily to the use of his name on the popular NBC drama "Law and Order: Criminal Intent" yesterday. CNN's "Inside Politics" reports that the "ripped from the headlines" episode centers around the murder of a federal judge in which a police officer investigating the crime suggests that they put out an A.P.B. for "somebody in a Tom DeLay t-shirt."

Tom DeLay tells Fox News that a "left-wing syndicate" is out to get him...but he tells Fox News Radio that all the scrutiny over his ethics is bringing him "closer to God," reports Reuters, as does The New York Times, the Washington Post

Deacon Cole Has A Potty Mouth!