As we head toward Nov. 5, Election Day, Democrats nationwide look ready for a good night. Challengers for Senate are poised to win in three states with outside shots elsewhere, while the stunning and tragic developments in Minnesota will probably end in the return of former Vice President Walter Mondale to the Senate. Democrats will probably have at least a one seat net gain in the Senate, possibly as high as three seats. The House of Representatives will likely remain in Republican hands with little movement, though, as redistricting was so partisan across the country that the current makeup of the chamber has been almost frozen in place.
One place Democrats can expect great gains are in governorships. The only Democratic governorships at any real risk are small states, while Democratic nominees have double-digit leads in larger states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois. In our own Wisconsin, the race between Republican Governor Scott McCallum and Democratic Attorney General Jim Doyle is going down to the wire, and students can participate in a close election with a great choice before us: what direction do we want the state to go in?
On the one hand we have Governor McCallum, who succeeded the very politically capable Tommy Thompson when Thompson left to join President Bush's cabinet. McCallum has had an uneasy time at the job, to say the least. One of his first proposals as Governor was to plug the budget hole by getting rid of all shared revenue with local government. While this would have plugged the state's hole, it would have necessitated raising taxes at the local level by as much as one billion dollars throughout the state. While he technically might have come through on his pledge not to raise taxes, he knew fully well he was foisting on local government the untenable choice of massive tax increases or cutting of what McCallum derided as \big spending:"" police, firefighters, emergency personnel, snowplowing and road maintenance, garbage collection and all the basic services delivered by local government.
On more concrete student issues, he opposed a bill to match financial aid to increases in tuition, and wanted to cut over $50 million from the UW System for fiscal 2001 alone. He even thought he could begin a recent defense of his plan with the phrase ""My proposal was to raise tuition."" He has done nothing to improve diversity at UW, which would result in a better education for disproportionately poor minority communities and invest in their future for the long run. When asked by a reporter about an Assembly Republican proposal to institute rental charges at public libraries, he called the reporter a ""dumb son of a bitch."" Given that record, the people of Wisconsin are naturally looking for an alternative.
Jim Doyle has had a great run in the Attorney General's office, fighting white-collar crime, protecting consumers and helping to secure a massive tobacco settlement that Governor McCallum then squandered to fill his budget hole. He supports Plan 2008, more investment in education at all levels and won't balance the budget on the backs of students or slash shared revenue in such a manner that would cause higher property taxes and rents for apartments. He supports sensible environmental policies, economic development and a woman's right to control her own body. The only really bad thing about him that immediately comes to mind is his propensity to use the grammatically incorrect ""attorney generals"" when referring to his current office in the plural.
Wisconsin students have an unambiguous choice before them. A lot of appointed Republican heirs, like Dick Posthumus in Michigan, Mike Fischer in Pennsylvania, Governor Scott McCallum and a plethora of others have failed to live up to the legacies of their predecessors, and the state electorates are eager for new leadership around the country. We can stick with the old failed leadership, or give the state a new, promising start with Jim Doyle. Choose wisely.
