The big Spitzer picture

As we consume every salacious detail of the Spitzer story, there is a larger point to all of this.

But as much as we would wallow in the details, can we ask ourselves if there still is a line between the private lives of politicians and their public lives?

As much as that line ever existed, it was a 20th century invention.

Thomas Jefferson’s affair with Sally Hemings was frontpage material in the opposition newspapers. Andrew Jackson was accused of bigamy. When Grover Cleveland ran for president in 1884, his opponents chanted “Ma, ma, where’s my pa?” referring to Cleveland’s possible illegitimate child. Cleveland’s supporters had the last laugh when Cleveland won, “He’s gone all the way to Washington.”

Less than 30 years later Woodrow Wilson’s personal life was mostly off limits.

So it was until the Miami Herald photographed Sen. Gary Hart onboard a yacht conveniently named the “Monkey Business” in midpresidential campaign, um, relaxing.

Of course, we had the momentary backlash during the Clinton era, with Hillary Clinton standing by her man even as he committed perjury. But we forget that at the height of the scandal, Congressman Bob Livingston was forced to resign due to his extramarital affair rather than succeed Newt Gingrich as speaker of the House.

So what’s our standard for interest in politicians’ lives? Does it matter how many divorces Sen. Russ Feingold, former Sen. Fred Thompson, former Speaker Gingrich, Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had collectively? Probably not, any more than it mattered President Ronald Reagan was once divorced and had strained relations with his children.

As long as we’re limited to mere mortals for candidates, we know that all will carry some flaw. Perhaps a reasonable standard should be if they yield to temptation we should let it remain a private matter unless it involves breaking the law, abusing the trust of their office or somehow impedes their job performance.

But we’re in a celebrity age, and insisting on a reasonable privacy standard is like the Dutch Boy with a finger in the dike. So long as politicians use their families as props and fodder for stock campaign photos, the temptation will be to probe for hypocrisy, or at least entertainment value. Politicians should be warned if they don’t want a Jerry Springer reputation, they should avoid a Jerry Springer lifestyle.

I vote for a later primary date

Paul Soglin gives a preview of what Wisconsinites can expect between now and February 19th.

February 19 will produce the most interesting Wisconsin primary since 1968, when the weekend before the votes were cast, Lyndon Johnson, withdrew in the face of a pending debacle. In the meantime, the national press core will celebrate the Dairy State for two weeks as they descend on the cow pastures and the court houses, the university campuses and the small town grills.

Some candidates will kiss babies, the smart ones will pose for photos with cheeseheads.

We wanted attention; we're about to get it. Robocalls, Tom Barrett sightings, local politicians making meaningless endorsements, radio ads, television ads, spooky music backgrounds, Bill Clinton (hide your daughters!), Eugene Kane columns about Barack Obama, Joel McNally discussing the black experience, Mayor Larry Nelson actually staying in Wisconsin, Barbara Lawton sightings, Illinois residents making a nuisance of themselves (usually they wait until the weather is nicer), national media showing pictures of cows, stupid sports references, George Will wearing a cheesehead, Owen Robinson columns, endless citizen interviews, local television fawning over whatever candidate deigns to speak with them, twisted political metaphors using the words "frozen tundra", newspaper and television references to Kennedy campaigning here in 1960, gratuitous references to Wisconsin's "progressive" tradition which have nothing to do with the Progressives, endless amounts of junk mail, schools allowing students to campaign on class time, teachers taking students on political "field trips", rallies at Serb Hall, B & C class Hollywood celebrities (hide your daughters!), unwashed hippie protestors, and endless amounts of Russ Feingold.

A presidential primary in June would've spared us all this.

I bet on the Washington Generals too

Each year I make a set of predictions, some tongue in cheek, and every year I prove to only be slightly better than sportswriters predicting the outcomes of NFL games. A quick glance at this year’s scorecard will show I made better predictions than in the past. Comments in italics.

1. Governor Doyle will get one or two Assembly Republicans to join his administration. Okay, I blew this one. Maybe now that the budget is over.
2. The QEO will be lifted. If there is one trend, I seriously underestimated the resolve of the Assembly Republicans.
3. Revenue caps on schools and local governments will be loosened, but not eliminated. And if you have any loose change left, they’ll take that, too.
4. Shared revenue will be cut further, except for counties. Depends where you are. However, not enough for me to count this as correct.
5. The ethanol mandate will pass. Ethanol less hip and trendy.
6. The State Assembly will not pass a conservative budget with tax cuts to challenge the Democrats. How about a tax freeze? Huebsch successfully isolated the State Senate and fought Doyle to a standstill. Nurse Robson sent packing. Not a bad job. Who’da thunk it?
7. Charlie Sykes will make up his mind on the Gay Marriage Ban. Charlie? Charlie?
8. Republicans will attempt to feed more misinformation to bloggers and get caught and called on it. I’ll have to check Boots and Sabers.
9. I will lose weight. I would do the Polar Bear plunge but I’m afraid of being rolled back out to sea.
10. Senator Feingold will support a Bush nominee that will get little support from the rest of the Democrats in the US Senate. I guess not. Must be someone else’s turn to be a maverick.
11. Senator Kohl will ask a coherent question at a nomination hearing. He will even read it like he wrote it rather than sound like he's just reading what a staffer puts in front of him. Always next year.
12. Milk at Senator Kohl's milk barn at the state fair will not go up in price. Lines are longer. What could Feingold give away?
13. Senator Feingold will call for the President to either be censured or impeached. Nothing will come of it. Sun rose, sun set.
14. Congressman Steve Kagen will again say something completely insulting to a minority group; it will be ignored by the media. No such luck. He just insults our intelligence.
15. Taxes will go up. Yup.
16. Governor Tommy Thompson will drop out of the race for president. If Huckabee wins the nomination, I’m going to take back anything I ever said bad about Tommy Thompson. Well, not everything.
17. WISN's Mark Belling will give credit to a blogger by name - once. What’s a blahg? I think he did a couple of times, more than that if you count Victor Davis Hanson.
18. A serious scandal will involve the Doyle Administration, but no link will be found to Doyle directly. It’s been a quiet year in the state contracts department, but Dennis Troha fits the bill.
19. Former Waukesha District Attorney Paul Bucher will appear on at least one local Sunday morning talk show. Close, Sunday evening with Jessica McBride.
20. The Wigderson Library & Pub will serve free drinks one evening for no reason. Look, if you missed it, it ain’t our fault.
21. The New Berlin School Board will remain in the hands of conservatives. I’m still waiting for MacArthur military academy.
22. County Executive Dan Vrakas will easily win re-election. Pretty much what you want in a County Executive. Quiet, efficient, low maintenance costs, possible candidate for governor (whoops!)…
23. There will be serious violence at a local festival in the city of Milwaukee. I plan on going to Juneteenth Day in 2008 – for breakfast.
24. There will be loud demands for Milwaukee Police Chief Nan Haggerty's resignation. Quitter.
25. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will set records for fundraising for a mayoral race. Compared to his opponents…
26. Annette Ziegler will win the race for state supreme court. And the Left has been trying to undo the election ever since.

27. The state legislature will raise the tax on cigarettes with bipartisan support. If only tobacco could be converted to fuel.

Feingold voting against Mukasey nomination

Fox News is reporting Senator Russ Feingold has announced he will vote against the Mukasey nomination for US Attorney General. No word from the Netroots if this means they can forgive him for voting for the Ashcroft nomination. With Feingold's sense of self-importance rising to dengerous levels, citizens are advised to approach with caution.

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You like stuff. You need stuff. You buy stuff.

I've opened a Cafe Press store where you can buy the very latest in Wigderson Library & Pub gear, including the latest in Impeach Feingold bumper stickers.

According to Owen, you need to buy this stuff so my children don't become orphans.

Just click on the Impeach Feingold button on the right side.

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Always give them what they want

Was anyone really surprised when Senator Feingold announced he was going to pursue again legislation to “censure” the president and vice president? As I note in this week’s column,

Feingold’s motive for re-introducing his going-nowhere idea isn’t that hard to understand. Among his other leisure time pursuits, Feingold writes a “diary” at the radical left website Daily Kos. Feingold recently stirred up controversy there when he made the normally uncontroversial statement he was not going to pursue the impeachment of the President and Vice President. He did tell his audience that he thought the President and Vice President committed impeachable offenses, “(b)ut on balance, I think Congress’s time is much better spent ending the war in Iraq, conducting the oversight that was absent for the last six years, and advancing progressive legislation.”

Then came the wailing and gnashing of teeth, at last count 1889 comments in response. Some were supportive of the senator but most vehemently disagreed with his statement. Many were of the tenor that Feingold had “sold out”.

… These rants would be easily dismissed except they come from Feingold’s base of support. Feingold assiduously courts these people, whether he’s exploring a run for president or trying to raise support for his pet cause of campaign finance reform. They’re the “Netroots,” and they were just let down by their hero.

A week later, Senator Feingold was on “Meet the Press” telling Tim Russert of his desire to resuscitate his efforts to “censure” the president and the vice president. Hero status restored.

I also take a look at the likely Gard vs. Kagen rematch:

Gard has two advantages over his potential primary opponents. He already has the support of much of the Republican Party infrastructure and he has a campaign infrastructure already in place. Gard should build an early fundraising advantage that will force all but the most hardened dead-enders out of the race.

On the Democratic side, first-term Congressman Steve Kagen is looking increasingly vulnerable and out of touch with his district. Of the Democrats’ “Frontline” candidates, Kagen will be the only congressman to attend the YearlyKos convention in Chicago. Associating with the conspiracy theory political left is not going to help in a swing district.

And remember, the Waukesha Freeman is still only 50 cents!

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Feingold joins the Bush-Halliburton conspiracy

Six years of Bush-Cheney oppression have finally forced Senator Feingold to knuckle under to the Bushitler regime. Just ask the "netroots" at Daily Kos. One commenter responding to the Senator's statement he won't support impeachment:

I’ve done diary searches encompassing the last two weeks using the words Impeach, Impeachment. I've done it six different days the past two weeks.

On 7/3/7 there were 392 diaries on impeachment going back the previous 2 weeks.
On 7/4/7 there were 455 diaries on impeachment going back the previous 2 weeks.
On 7/6/7 there were 514 diaries on impeachment going back the previous 2 weeks.
On 7/7/7 there were 531 diaries on impeachment going back the previous 2 weeks.
On 7/13/7 there were 613 diaries on impeachment going back the previous 2 weeks.
On 7/16/7 there were 655 diaries on impeachment going back the previous 2 weeks.

There were 12,709 comments on impeachment going back two weeks on Daily Kos.

This group of citizens is demanding impeachment! You do need to understand the depth of our anger.

Maybe they consider anger management therapy instead.

Time Warp

I didn't mean to confuse the Spring City Chronicle by making sure my column ran as scheduled. I even turned it in a day early just to be sure.

I take on the expanding role of government in our health care and explain why the government is so interested in what we eat, drink and smoke.

You’ll be happy to learn that your health is now a matter of public policy. The government is already involved in purchasing health care for the poor, the elderly and even the children. If your health isn’t already costing the county, state and feds money, someday it will. The best the government can hope for is you to drop dead jogging before you collect any health benefits.

By the way, did you ever see a jogger smile?

The government already has a vested interest in what you eat and drink. No wonder some activists are just itching for a lawsuit against fast food restaurants just like they went after tobacco.

Here in Wisconsin, the incentive to interfere with your fine dining choices could get a lot worse.

Last week I looked at the Supreme Court's decision on the Wisconsin Right to Life challenge to McCain-Feingold and how it raised the blood pressure of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

The WDC also said the court’s decision was "a step backward" to when "special interests were deemed free to keep the public in the dark" about funding of political speech.

Yes, it was a step backwards to a long tradition of anonymous political speech, from the anonymous writings of this country’s founding fathers to the anonymous political speech by bloggers of both the left and the right currently thriving on the Internet. One cannot help but wonder that had the WDC been around at the time of the Federalist Papers whether they would have had a bonfire.

Mike McCabe, the communications director for the WDC, once wrote, "Hiding behind the First Amendment in order to withhold essential information from the public is an act of desecration." Wisconsin Right to Life should be commended for not hiding when our First Amendment rights are under attack with such religious zeal, and we are freer today because of their efforts.

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Who's your daddy?

So, just who is the real father of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter? Is it former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin?

Is it conservative blogger Tom McMahon? His coffee mug would suggest he is.

Or perhaps someone else? Could it be one of Wisconsin's most eligible bachelors?

Or, given how Anna Nicole Smith came into her fortune, perhaps this bachelor is more her taste?
Yes, inquiring minds want to know. Well, not really.

Feingold alert

Brian Fraley has raised the Feingold audacity alert level. Watch the Sunday morning talk shows at your own risk.

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27 for 2007

I make the following predictions in no particular order.

1. Governor Doyle will get one or two Assembly Republicans to join his administration.
2. The QEO will be lifted.
3. Revenue caps on schools and local governments will be loosened, but not eliminated.
4. Shared revenue will be cut further, except for counties.
5. The ethanol mandate will pass.
6. The State Assembly will not pass a conservative budget with tax cuts to challenge the Democrats.
7. Charlie Sykes will make up his mind on the Gay Marriage Ban.
8. Republicans will attempt to feed more misinformation to bloggers and get caught and called on it.
9. I will lose weight.
10. Senator Feingold will support a Bush nominee that will get little support from the rest of the Democrats in the US Senate.
11. Senator Kohl will ask a coherent question at a nomination hearing. He will even read it like he wrote it rather than sound like he's just reading what a staffer puts in front of him.
12. Milk at Senator Kohl's milk barn at the state fair will not go up in price.
13. Senator Feingold will call for the President to either be censured or impeached. Nothing will come of it.
14. Congressman Steve Kagen will again say something completely insulting to a minority group; it will be ignored by the media.
15. Taxes will go up.
16. Governor Tommy Thompson will drop out of the race for president.
17. WISN's Mark Belling will give credit to a blogger by name - once.
18. A serious scandal will involve the Doyle Administration, but no link will be found to Doyle directly.
19. Former Waukesha District Attorney Paul Bucher will appear on at least one local Sunday morning talk show.
20. The Wigderson Library & Pub will serve free drinks one evening for no reason.
21. The New Berlin School Board will remain in the hands of conservatives.
22. County Executive Dan Vrakas will easily win re-election.
23. There will be serious violence at a local festival in the city of Milwaukee.
24. There will be loud demands for Milwaukee Police Chief Nan Haggerty's resignation.
25. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will set records for fundraising for a mayoral race.
26. Annette Ziegler will win the race for state supreme court.
27. The state legislature will raise the tax on cigarettes with bipartisan support.

Finding Feingold

Sometimes you get a presidential candidate and sometimes you get Feingold. This week's column in the Waukesha Freeman looks at how sometimes even when Feingold wins he loses.

Unfortunately for Feingold, with the Democrats becoming the majority party in both the House and the Senate, the Democrats will now be partly responsible for the war on terror from this point forward. As a senator in a narrow majority, Feingold will either have to support his party's proposals or be responsible for rendering the Democrats in the Senate impotent. It's not exactly an attractive choice for someone wishing to run as a "maverick" for president.

Worse for Feingold's aspirations, should the Democrats succeed in forcing a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, Democrats might be inclined to look at other issues like his vote against ending the impeachment process of President Clinton or Feingold's past support for Bush nominees John Ashcroft and John Roberts.

Unfortunately for Feingold, Senator Kerry effectively ruined the "I voted for them before I was against them" defense.

Next week, look for my column on Wednesday instead of Thursday. The Waukesha Freeman will not be publishing on Thursday.

Voting no on the death penalty

Dennis York gives good reasons for conservatives to distrust the death penalty.

Nobody has had reason to complain about the court system over the past few decades than conservatives. Almost monthly, some court kicks out an opinion that leaves the public completely perplexed. One needs to look no further than last week, when Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled against the NSA's wiretapping program, forgoing the pesky "legal" grounds and instead launching a partisan attack against the Bush administration. In recent years, courts have inexplicably held the Pledge of Allegiance to be unconstitutional and held the appalling McCain-Feingold law to be constitutional. Andrea Yates confessed to drowning her five children in a bathtub, yet her conviction was overturned. Does Roe v. Wade ring a bell?

Yet somehow, when it comes time to kill someone, many conservatives are willing to close their eyes, plug their ears, and invest all their faith in the apparent evenhandedness of the court system. This is just foolish.

Groundswell for Masel?

Mary at Freedom Eden believes Senator Herb Kohl should be required to debate his Democratic primary challenger, Ben Masel.

I think Herb Kohl should have to say something before his coronation as Wisconsin's senator.

I think a debate is in order, or perhaps some public appearances. Something.

To date, Kohl has virtually ignored his primary challenger, Ben Masel. He's getting no respect from Kohl.

Meanwhile, from the center square Masel gets an endorsement:

That doesn't mean that Kohl shouldn't hear about the things that we don't like about him. His support for the Iraq War Resolution remains one that sticks in my craw, as well as his vote for the bankruptcy legislation that privileges credit card companies over working families. Ben Masel would not have supported either of those measures.

In the end, am I going to worry if Kohl is re-elected? No; he is, most of the time, a perfectly reliable Democratic vote. But he's not a leader, and he's unwilling to stick his neck out to protect the people of Wisconsin the way Russ Feingold does. Or the way Ben Masel would.

Filling a hole or two

Nine people have applied to fill the late Andrew Kallin's County Supervisor seat, according to the Waukesha Freeman:

Among the people interested in the seat are Waukesha Alderman Joe La Porte and city clerk/treasurer Thomas Neill.
Also included on the list of candidates are:
Sterling Lynk, a retirement planner, who has filed nomination papers with the State Elections Board as a Democrat to run for the 98th Assembly District seat formerly held by Scott Jensen
Michael Hodson, a former senior account manager with the Hewlett Packard Co. in Milwaukee
Donald Richmond, who has volunteered in the city and at the national level
Roger Patton, a 30-year resident of Waukesha County and part-time real estate broker with the Stewart Agency of Century 21
Steven Wimmer, a resident of Waukesha County for more than 40 years and a partner in the law firm Wimmer and Coon LLP
Susan Michna, a 2003 Carroll College graduate who worked as an intern for Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and was a campaign worker for state Rep. Mark Gundrum, RNew Berlin, and Scott Jensen
Doreen Wigderson, an employee at U.S. Bancorp.

A reporter for the Waukesha Freeman called the beautiful Mrs. Wigderson at home last night, but we were at the state fair celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary.

The Waukesha Freeman also reports three people have applied to fill the vacancy on the City of Waukesha Common Council:

Harlan Clinkenbeard, a self-employed community planning and design consultant
Frank Remfrey, a retired history teacher formerly employed at Waukesha West High School
Paul Ybarra, vice president of sales and marketing for BBR Wireless Management

Waukesha Common Council members are set to interview the candidates at their next meeting Aug. 15. The district’s three-year term expires in April.

Can Doyle inspire his troops?

As Democrats gather this weekend in La Crosse they gather at a time of crisis. It shouldn’t be that way. After all, they control the Governor’s mansion and every statewide office except for state treasurer. Republicans may control the legislature, but they have alienated their base with the whole Taxpayer Protection Amendment fiasco. And it should be a bad year for Republicans: mid-term elections with an unpopular incumbent Republican President.

The Democrats’ incumbent US Senator, Herb Kohl, is up for re-election without a credible challenger. The only drama in his re-election was whether fringe Democratic candidate for Senate Ben Masel would also be allowed to address the gathering (he will, right after lunch).

There has been talk of a Republican challenge from former candidate Tim Michels (unlikely) or even former Governor Thompson (unlikelier). Instead the most credible candidate to emerge is State Senator Glenn Grothman, who is not up for re-election and is therefore free to make a suicide run just to increase name recognition and gain the gratitude of his party.

So why is the Democratic Party heading into this weekend dreading this fall’s elections?

The party faithful received some bad news this week when a new independent poll by Strategic Vision revealed Governor Doyle may actually have fallen behind challenger Congressman Mark Green.

Green has consistently been close to Doyle in the polls. Now, Green’s party is unified behind him, the ghosts of Walker and Thompson have been exorcised, and Green’s campaign is in complete control of the message (for good or ill).

Even better for Green, the state legislature is done for the year, preventing them from doing any damage to Green’s campaign. Before they went home, the Republicans in the legislature actually did some good by making Doyle veto popular bills, like the bill banning state assistance to illegal aliens.

Meanwhile, Doyle’s fundraising practices are starting to catch up to him. This week the Travelgate scandal became the center of attention when Georgia Thompson went on trial for allegedly pushing the state travel contract to Doyle allies. Thompson may end up being found innocent, but the damage has been done.

Despite denials they had anything to do with the state travel contract, it was revealed this week that Doyle and former Department of Administration Secretary Marc Marotta had numerous contacts with Adelman travel prior to the bidding process. If Thompson did act to push the contract to Adelman travel to please her superiors, she would have been right about their reaction.

And yet Doyle continues to cling to the $20,000 in donations from Adelman Travel executives even after acknowledging the bid process was tainted enough to cancel the contract.

The scandal cannot be making the Democrats gathering in La Crosse happy. After all, they are the party of Senator Russ Feingold of McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform fame. Every Democrat in attendance can tell you how Feingold beat the big money candidates former Congressman Jim Moody and businessman Joe Checota. It can’t make any of the Democrats happy when they look to the leader of their party and see the embodiment of the worst flaws of those two candidates.

When Doyle takes the podium Friday night (shouldn’t he be vetoing something?), what can he say to rally the Democrats to his cause? What will inspire them to make phone calls, knock on doors and even raise more money?

Since Doyle has little to offer, he will offer the Democrats fear. Expect a speech worthy of Shakespeare’s Richard III to his troops just prior to the Battle of Bosworth Field. Only instead of telling the delegates the Republicans will rape Democratic women when they win, Doyle will demagogue on stem cell research, abortion, gay rights and guns. He’ll claim the Republicans will pillage the schools, destroy the environment and sell out to the road builders (okay, on that last one he may have a point).

It’s no surprise that Democrats have already started touting Governor Doyle’s 101 vetoes as “saves” (as if he was a hockey goalie). In the absence of a positive agenda, Doyle is going to sell himself to his base as the only one who can save the state from extremists on the political right.

Realistically, we can expect Doyle’s speech to be as effective and inspiring as Richard III’s who lost to Henry VII. One only hopes someone writing Doyle’s speeches will remember, “A horse! A horse! Wisconsin for a horse!”

Does Adelman Travel offer horseback tours?

If nothing else, Democrats in La Crosse this weekend should remember the last time Wisconsin held an election midway through the second term of a Republican President. Democrats gained everywhere nationally. That is, everywhere but Wisconsin, where Republican Senator Bob Kasten held on to beat Ed Garvey and Democratic incumbent Governor Tony Earl lost to the Man from Elroy, Tommy G. Thompson.

I’d say Democrats have a good reason to feel down this weekend.

Feingold goes Feingold

Senator Russ Feingold threw a tantrum and stormed out of a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting during a debate on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Well, that's one way to demonstrate you have the temperament to be President.

Washington hasn't seen behavior like that out of a Wisconsin Senator since Joe McCarthy.

I commented back in March that there came "a point where 'maverick' becomes 'fringe' or even a 'crank.' " Once we get past "crank", Feingold finds his own definition.

Uncomfortable parallels

It's been a rough week in the JB Van Hollen damage control department. Van Hollen's statement that there are terrorists training and raising money in Wisconsin did not go as planned, to put it mildly. It completely overshadowed the rest of the Van Hollen campaign's themes and was attacked and ridiculed on all sides. When your best defense comes from Bill Christofferson, looking forward to the weekend may be the best you can do.

So imagine the Van Hollen team's frustration when they saw the first two items of the WisPolitics weekly report under Falling:

Russ Feingold: In advance of Feingold's campaign trip to Iowa, a non-partisan group gives a thumb's down to his PAC web ad. FactCheck.org says the Progressive Patriots Fund’s ad, entitled “W,” implies that President Bush illegally wiretapped political opponents alongside suspected terrorists. According to FactCheck.org’s analysis, Feingold’s spokesman says the ad is supposed to be a parody. “We're not sure everybody will get the joke,” write FactCheck’s Brooks Jackson and Justin Bank. “It's based on an accusation for which no proof exists.”

*See the FactCheck.org analysis: http://www.factcheck.org/article388.html
*Watch the ad: http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com/W

JB Van Hollen: After a campaign re-org, the GOP candidate for AG kicks off a tour of the state proclaiming a "new vision,'' often a sign to politicos that a candidate is trying to infuse life into flagging campaign and get some name recognition. But the former U.S. attorney for the western district of Wisconsin gets the wrong kind of publicity when he says there are terrorist cells in the state without offering specific proof. He does damage control the next day, adding context to his remarks, and goes on the offensive, arguing his GOP opponent wrongly believes terrorism preparedness is not a concern for the attorney general. Still, AG race observers said, the examples he gives fall well short of the public’s perception of a terrorist cell, leading to ridicule from pundits and opponents alike.

When you look at the two candidates' situations, they're pretty similar. Both candidates made tremendous over-reaching statements they could not back up. Which is why I commented the other day,

What the Van Hollen people need to do is regroup, figure out what terrorism cases they can discuss publicly (perhaps Van Hollen prosecuted a terrorism related case he can discuss), and stop throwing wild statements about terrorists without backing those statements with substance.

Otherwise they sound like hysterics desperate for attention. Wisconsin already has a US Senator like that. We don’t need another hysteric as this state’s top cop.

Feingold, to his credit as a politician, backed away from his television ad labeling it a "parody" (although nobody took him credibly when he said it).

Van Hollen has tried and tried to clarify his statement without admitting the original statement was an over-reach. The result was getting bounced like a red rubber ball in this interview with Mark Belling. (Note to politicians: When in trouble on Mark Belling's program, do not try a lame joke.) Fortunately for Van Hollen, Brett Favre decided to return to Green Bay the same day Van Hollen made his statement concerning terrorists in Wisconsin.

Van Hollen may catch another break Monday, when every Packer fan will be discussing who the Packers drafted over the weekend. The campaign might get a fresh start and be able to shift onto other topics for a few days. But if Leaning Blue is any indication of the long-term ridicule Van Hollen faces, it's going to be a long summer.

Elder stateswoman

Congresswomen Tammy Baldwin and Gwen Moore do their best to prove Senator Feingold isn't the biggest flake from Wisconsin. They co-sponsored a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has also called for the impeachment of President Bush.

Sadly, none of this is surprising.

What is surprising is to learn Congresswoman Gwen Moore's true age.

Asked if Bush should be impeached, Moore responded, "I've seen a couple of impeachments, and I can't think of anything that's more compelling." But she said she wants to await an investigation before deciding that question.

It better be a quick investigation. If she's seen "a couple of impeachments" she's at least 138 years old.

Still sore over 2004

Jay Bullock still can't handle reality, so he'll take a fictional President of the United States instead. So much for the "reality based community."

My question to Jay: if you prefer fantasy to reality so much, why not envision, oh I dunno, Russ Feingold as President?