Smilin' Tom Delay

Tom Delay got his wish today and got a different judge in his criminal trial in Texas. Apparently, the argument is that because the judge assigned the case has contributed to Democrats in the past, he cannot impartially preside over the trial of a Republican. If you can give me a reason why such a thing isn't obviously unconstitutional, then go ahead. Because the result here is that your political affiliation will become a factor in crimianl cases and we will just have to have two different legal systems. I know that the reasoning is that because the charges are about political contributions, political party is a legitimate factor, but that's bunk. Why wouldn't that smae reasoning exclude Republicans because of the chance that they would be imperssibly biased in favor of Delay. This is no different than saying that an accused criminal shouldn't have a former prosecutor as his judge because prosecutors will tend to side with their own. And we don't say that because the whole system would break down. You can't have political preference in your judges, especially in a place like Texas where judges are pratisan elected officials. You get the judge you get, and unless you can find a more compelling reason than his political party (which is totally off limits in America), then you're stuck with him.