"Judges have no business running" for the bench, says Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge John Themelis. He's standing outside of a Fells Point bar on Aug. 29, joined by the two other sitting judges--Barry Williams and Gale Rasin--who are locked in a race against three challengers who want to wear their robes. The three have just left a political event at the Green Turtle, where they grinned and gripped as all politicians must. Then they ran into a reporter and spent about 15 minutes defending their fundraising, which has included donations from litigants with cases currently before the Circuit Court, a phenomenon that could reasonably undermine the public's confidence in an impartial judiciary. The bottom line, Themelis argues, is that contested judicial elections mean incumbent judges need to raise campaign cash, especially when there are challengers in the race.