State Attorney General Jim Doyle made a campaign stop at the College Democrats meeting Tuesday evening to talk about issues he wants to tackle if elected governor in 2002.
Doyle addressed more than 70 students at the Memorial Union, a large crowd compared to the usual turnout of 30 to 40, according to College Democrats Chair and UW-Madison senior Megan Mooney.
After the meeting Doyle said students are essential to his campaign's success.
\[Students are] willing to sleep on the floor and ride in the back of trucks; I've never seen a good statewide campaign that doesn't have student energy,"" Doyle said.
The bulk of Doyle's presentation centered on improvements he would like to make as governor. Doyle also criticized former governor Tommy Thompson and current Gov. Scott McCallum, calling McCallum's Budget Reform Act ""a complete fraud.""
""The guy's got to go, he declared war on every little municipality in the state,"" Doyle said.
According to Doyle, McCallum's proposal places too much responsibility on UW System students.
""Everyone knew [the budget proposal] was a fraud. So then they do things drastic like saying you can make it up on the backs of students,"" he said.
Doyle also said he hopes to restore clean politics to Wisconsin.
""Before Tommy, Wisconsin had government pride'this was a clean state,"" he said. ""Let's kick McCallum out. Let's breathe some fresh air [into this state].""
During a question and answer session, Doyle said he supports truth in sentencing for Wisconsin inmates when he said people have ""missed the boat on the idea that there's all these people in prison that don't deserve to be there.""
""The real thing we have to focus on is how to keep kids from getting into the prison system,"" he said.
He suggested early education and nutrition programs along with programs to eliminate child abuse can combat high prison populations.
UW-Madison Senior Zack Prager, who attended the meeting, said Doyle would help change the face of state government.
""The vetoes or what appointments he'd make would change the tone of government,"" he said.
Though Doyle told the crowd that he could win the election, UW-Madison sophomore Paul Temple, the statewide coordinator for Students for Barrett, a student group in support of gubernatorial hopeful Rep. Tom Barrett, D-South Milwaukee, said the race is far from decided.
""Most Democrats realize this is a wide open race,"" he said.
