Leadership, Views on News • October 13th, 2009

Where did all the Dems go?

by Chris Lato

I’m a little surprised at this one. It’s mid-October and the only Democrat of note who’s running for governor is…Barbara Lawton.

Are the Dems really that confident in the current lite guv that they’re willing to give her a free shot – essentially relying on her to carry the Democrat flag? Or is the crop of solid candidates really that small?

James Rowen is among those tactfully tiptoeing around Lawton’s obvious limitations as a statewide, top-of-the-ticket candidate in wondering where the candidates are. Perhaps Dems who might otherwise jump into this race see the signs of an uphill climb in 2010 and are keeping their powder dry as a result. That means Lawton is seen as more of a sacrificial lamb than anything.

Back in 2002, then-Lt. Gov. Scott McCallum was the GOP candidate. The situation was somewhat different – McCallum was actually governor for a while after Tommy Thompson left office early. At the same time, similar to the Doyle/Lawton dynamic today, Thompson’s ‘support’ of McCallum was notable for its lack of, shall we say, enthusiasm.

McCallum had big shoes to fill, and the results speak for themselves. Everyone has their own thoughts on why McCallum didn’t close the deal with voters in ’02; regardless, the end result was Governor Jim Doyle.

Now, Doyle’s approval rating is in the tank, yet he has said he’s not leaving early – meaning Lawton will not get a chance to lead and will continue to be marginalized/weighed down by Doyle. And presumably Doyle is out there looking for another horse to back. That means the GOP has an opportunity similar to what the Dems enjoyed in ’02.

But who else is going to emerge? I long thought Rep. Ron Kind posed the biggest potential challenge – but now that he’s out, the Democrat names we’re left with include Tom Barrett, carrying all the baggage that comes with being mayor of Milwaukee. There’s also Mark O’Connell (who?) and Kathleen Falk, who has a rather unfortunate habit of losing statewide races.

A year is a long ways away. Perhaps Dems are crossing their fingers, hoping for a remarkable turnaround in the economy that they can point to and claim success. But that’s one heck of a Hail Mary to throw even when Wisconsin is supposedly such a strong blue state.

All this has to make Dem leaders in the Legislature a little nervous – a lack of support from the top doesn’t bode well for what already promises to be a challenging election cycle for the blue team.  

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