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Tom DeLay Jury Selected

After 8 hours of questioning 91 potential jurors, jury selection was completed in the money laundering trial of former House Speaker Tom DeLay. There are six women and six men.

Nobody wanted to be seen as a Republican. The prosecutor said:

Mr. DeLay is a Republican. I'm a Democrat. This case has nothing to do with that. All that matters is, 'Can you put political feelings you may have (aside) and give both sides a fair trial?'"

DeLay's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said:

"It's not about whether you like Tom DeLay. I'm a Democrat and I like him," DeGuerin told potential jurors. "That's all we want: a fair jury and a fair trial."

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The prosecutor invoked the Simpsons to explain what the case was about:

In Cobb's [hypothetical]example, Mr. Burns, the evil billionaire on the show, illegally gives money to politicians so he can expand his nuclear power plant.

Cobb, an African American, complained to the Judge that DeGuerin struck too many African-Americans from the panel. DeGuerin responded that three of those he struck had given him dirty looks after he objected to statements by the prosecutor.

Visiting Judge Pat Priest settled the argument by striking another juror and seating a black woman who had laughed and joked with DeGuerin when he had questioned her.

Only one juror said he couldn't be fair because DeLay was a Republican. A few only recognized DeLay from his Dancing With the Stars days.

Three women said they only recognized DeLay from his recent appearance on the television show Dancing With the Stars. One said he should not have appeared on the program because "he is a bad dancer."

DeGuerin's concern was whether predominantly Democratic Travis County could be fair to Tom DeLay:

DeGuerin said he grew up in Austin and knows "it is the most political town in Texas, if not the United States."

After a spat between the lawyers over comments Cobb made about the severed co-defendants,

One of the potential jurors turned to another and said, "They've already got the gloves off."

The issues seem pretty straight-forward. The state says DeLay engaged in money laundering and the defe