An AP news analysis

There's a midterm Mississippi judicial vacancy and you think you'd be just the guy or gal to fill the robe. With Republican Haley Barbour as governor, there are several smart ways to put yourself in contention for that spiffy political appointment.

It helps, of course, to have a bright legal mind and a stellar resume. Barbour's advisory committee for judicial appointments looks for that sort of thing. If you're making big bucks – and rumor has it that some attorneys do – you might show your willingness to work for the relatively modest sum of $104,170 a year to be a chancery or circuit judge.

It doesn't hurt to be a loyal Republican who already knows the governor, although when the time comes to actually run for the seat, Mississippi has, ahem, "nonpartisan" judicial elections. That means candidates run without party labels, but parties can – and do – publicly support the judicial hopefuls they like.

Then there are the nontraditional routes to getting a judicial appointment.

One way is to publicly criticize the governor. It seems counterintuitive, but it apparently works. An example of this came just this past week, when Barbour appointed Malcolm O. Harrison to fill a vacant circuit judgeship in Hinds County.

Harrison, 40, has been the county's prosecuting attorney since 1999 and has had a private law practice in Jackson. He is also past president of the Magnolia Bar Association, a black attorneys' group.

In February, Harrison criticized the lack of diversity in Barbour's first 20-plus judicial appointments. There were no black appointees at the time, in a state with a 37 percent black population.

"The Republican Party in Mississippi doesn't believe diversity is important, especially not in the judiciary in Mississippi," Harrison told AP in February.

Barbour appointed Harrison to serve the final 14 months of a four-year term started by Bobby DeLaughter. Harrison said he'd begin serving this week. DeLaughter resigned July 30 after pleading guilty in a federal corruption case, and the circuit judgeship sat vacant until Barbour announced Harrison's appointment.

Harrison said he plans to run for a full, four-year term in the November 2010 general election.

Another nontraditional way to snag a judicial appointment from Barbour is to be a rising star in the Democratic Party – the kind of politician who has good fundraising connections and enough charisma to make Republicans' knees knock with fear.

The prime example of this is Randy "Bubba" Pierce, an attorney and certified public accountant from Leakesville.

In early 2005, Pierce was serving his fifth year as a Democrat in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He had moved up quickly in the 122-member chamber and held one of the most prestigious chairmanships as head of the Education Committee.

Significantly, he was also positioning himself to run for lieutenant governor in 2007, a job that would be open because Republican Amy Tuck was limited to two terms. Some Democrats even saw Pierce sitting in the Governor's Mansion one day.

In February 2005, Barbour tapped Pierce for a vacant chancery judgeship in south Mississippi's Jackson, George and Greene counties. Pierce was elected to the post in November 2006. Then, in November 2008, Pierce unseated Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz, a former Republican lawmaker who was, by then, unloved by the GOP.

When filling each judicial vacancy, Barbour says he has appointed the most qualified person he could find. It's what the governor's most sincere supporters and his most cynical critics would expect him to say. People who have business before the courts can sincerely hope it's true.

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