According to the Washington Times’s “Inside Politics,” yesterday Howard Dean announced that he has decided to let a judge determine which locked-away papers from his governorship should be made publicly available. Judicial Watch, the bipartisan tormentor that launches dopey lawsuits that chase the headlines, has sued to force Dean to open his gubernatorial records. “What we think the best thing to do is let the judge go through EVERY SINGLE DOCUMENT and decide for himself what ought to be revealed and what not to be revealed.” How long do you suppose that will take? Some poor judge will be examining 145 boxes of stuff and we will all be enlightened at the conclusion of a case that can be dragged on and on. My guess is that by the time embarrassing tidbits see the light of day, Howard Dean will be an ex-candidate lecturing at the Kennedy School about how the right-wing media hijacked the 2004 election. The media and his competitors were closing in on Dean’s intransigence and now the tiresome self-promoters at Judicial Watch have provided him with an escape.