In light of Idaho's senior Republican Sen. Larry Craig's quick-fast guilty plea to disorderly conduct that cost him his seat in three months, let's compare how a Democrat is dealing with his legal troubles.

Rep. William Jefferson , Louisiana Democrat, staved off an indictment for six months by challenging the FBI's raid on his Capitol Hill office, which he won, and secured him an opportunity to win another term last November.

The next move is to stymie the start of his trial, and here Jefferson is playing it perfectly, yet again.

His attorneys have argued for a change of venue, filing several motions stating that, "Since the center of gravity of the entire case is in Washington, D.C., and not the Eastern District of Virginia, the case should be transferred there."

"For 6 of the 16 counts, Virginia is not a permissible venue at all," Mr. Jefferson's lawyers argued.

No secret agenda here. Jefferson wants a jury pool from the District because he knows he can get some African Americans on the jury who are sympathetic to a black politician caught in an FBI raid, and to the first black man from Louisiana elected to Congress since the Reconstruction era of the 1860s and 1870s.

"Most important, bringing the case in a venue where it does not belong has resulted in a markedly different racial composition of the jury pool. This gives rise to concerns that the prosecutors deliberately exercised their discretion to choose a forum on the basis of race," the lawyers said.

The defense wants all of the Justice Department and FBI's to produce all of its internal memos concerning the choice of venue to ensure that race did not play a part in the decision.

The defense also moved to dismiss the bribery charges and related counts since the government has not alleged that Mr. Jefferson agreed to perform any official acts or to make any official decisions in exchange for the $100,000 an FBI undercover agent gave him.

"This case is about private business activities. The indictment does not charge that Mr. Jefferson obtained any earmarks or appropriations, or that he worked to pass any legislation for the companies involved -- the government only charges that he 'used his position' to promote businesses in which he had an interest. This legal challenge goes to the heart of the government's case," the defense argues in addition they are trying to have any evidence siezed in Mr. Jefferson's home thrown out because they claim the FBI photographed documents outside of the search criteria of the warrant.

All total, the defense filed 14 motions today.

A colleague of mine said Republicans never seem able to survive scandal. Maybe they just need better legal advice.

-- Brian DeBose, national political reporter, The Washington Times