The race for Wisconsin's governorship is heating up with less than a week to go before the election, according to a new poll.
The Wisconsin Poll, conducted for WTMJ-TV4 in Milwaukee by Market Shares Corp., shows Democratic candidate state Attorney General Jim Doyle leading Republican Gov. Scott McCallum with 38 percent to McCallum's 36 percent.
The Wisconsin Poll queried 450 likely voters from Oct. 24 to 27, with a 5 percent margin of error.
Don Kettl, professor of political science at UW-Madison, said the race seems very close.
\Doyle has the lead, but things have become extremely volatile in the last week. It's certainly within the realm of what McCallum could close in on if he could find a way to excite some of his voters and keep some of Doyle's at home,"" he said.
Kettl also said recent accusations of Democratic party attempts to win absentee votes from the cognitively disabled during a bingo night was a blessing for the McCallum campaign.
""The risk here for Doyle is that not only is it connected with his own campaign, but it underlines a notion that the McCallum people were trying to feed from the beginning ... that if you want to vote for integrity in state government, you'll vote for the Republicans,"" he said.
Doyle said he does not see the reduction of his lead as a significant threat.
""The people have had enough of Scott McCallum's fiscal mismanagement and wrong priorities. This will be a close race, but in the end we are confident people will vote for change,"" he said in a statement.
Debbie Monterrey-Millet, public relations director for McCallum, said she disagreed with Doyle's opinion on the latest poll.
""The governor's message is really starting to get through, that if we have the jobs and continue to grow our economy, we can fund education and healthcare,"" she said.
The poll also showed that Libertarian candidate Ed Thompson received support from 8 percent of those surveyed, while Green Party candidate Jim Young garnered 4 percent of the vote, leaving 11 percent undecided.
According to Kettl, Thompson is in a position to take votes away from either of the big two party candidates on election day.
Thompson said he views himself in a position similar to what Jesse Ventura faced before winning the Minnesota governorship seemingly out of nowhere.
""I'm going to whip 'em. I'm going to win. We're going to shock the whole world! I didn't get in this fight to lose or get my point-of-view out, I got in it to win. Get ready,"" Thompson said.
