State Senator Kanavas was interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio this afternoon to discuss the state Republican convention which took place this last weekend. Senator Kanavas talked about how the two candidates are very much alike and very close in philosophy.
(For more on the two candidates positions, Boots and Sabers has interviews here and here.)
Senator Kanavas sees little good that can come out of a long primary campaign, and said that he and others actually spoke to the two campaigns at the convention and suggested one of the candidates drop out well before the September 2006 primary in order to allow the winner to have the resources to campaign against the incumbent governor. Once it appears clear there will be a winner Kanavas feels the other candidate should drop out. Unfortunately the Senator was not asked who else was in on the conversation and what were the reactions of the two campaigns.
This would have been an extraordinary conversation for Republican leaders to have, especially in Wisconsin, and it's too bad interviewer Ben Merens didn't follow up on this. I suspect the two campaigns individually told the Senator, gee, that's a nice thought, do you think the other guy will drop out?
Earlier in the interview, Senator Kanavas also had the right answer on campaign finance reform, raise the limits and have 24 hour reporting of campaign donations electronically. The public can see the donations and make their own judgements and the raised limits will reduce the influence of outside campaign activity by 527s and similar organizations.
