Uppity Wisconsin

What radio talker Jerry Bader said on the air about Barbara Lawton is indefensible.

Lawton is correct. A two-week suspension is not adequate punishment for Bader's reckless disregard of the truth or the wild claims he described as factual. He should lose his job.

Maybe Lawton thinks that will be the end of the story, that the news media will move on and leave her in peace. If that's what happens, she should thank Bader for overstepping so far that it frightens off others who would explore her reasons for abandoning the governor's race. But that's not likely.

Before we shed too many tears for Lawton and deplore how her privacy is being invaded, let's consider how her bizarre handling of the announcement precipitated the media inquiries.

When someone who was, by all accounts, running full-tilt for governor on Saturday pulls out of the race on Monday -- and does it in an email of fewer than 100 words, citing only "very personal reasons" -- it is not surprising that it would prompt some speculation and questions.

She says no one in her family is ill. Her marriage is intact.

This very official looking email just arrived in my inbox minutes ago. I've seen no media reports to confirm it. If it is true, what a bizarre way to handle this shocking turn of events. Maybe it will turn out she is hiding and not in the balloon, but if it's for real, you heard it here first.

UPDATE:  It's real, but but no less bizarre. The Journal Sentinel reports" "Her Capitol office, which is usually open to the public, was locked Monday." Maybe she and her staff were on furlough.  

Dear William,

You know better than any my confidence in Wisconsin people, and in our resilience in a time of crisis, and in our capacity to innovate new ways to shape a better future for our state.

My deep commitment to our state is second only to my commitment to my family.  For very personal reasons, I will not pursue the Democratic nomination for governor in 2010.

I look forward to providing active leadership to shape smart decisions for Wisconsin in the fourteen months that remain in my term in office.  I will stand with you, as always.

With gratitude for your support,

Barbara Lawton
Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin

 

 

 

 

 

Barbara Lawton, the purest of the pure when it come to ethics and campaign finance, gets off to a bad start in the 2010 race for govenor.

The Journal Sentinel reports:

Democratic Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton is officially in the race for governor...

The announcements came moments after Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle made official that he would not seek a third term next year.

Lawton is running but is not conducting interviews, said Ben Nuckels, Lawton's chief of staff.

"Today is Governor Doyle's day and the lieutenant governor wishes him well," Nuckels said. "The lieutenant governor intends to run for governor, and she will have more to say about that in the near future."

 So she's not doing interviews on "Governor Doyle's day," but her taxpayer-paid chief of staff is making the announcement that she will run?

Anybody see a problem with that?

A few quick videos from the convention this evening (in famous Uppity Wisconsin Shakey-Vision):

We know the big winners and losers in Wisconsin’s primary. Obamarama trounced Billary as badly as McGruff beat Huckleberry. And Huck’s supposedly a dead duck.

So Hillary, who revealed for the first time a few days before the primary that she was a duck hunter, couldn’t do any better than a dead duck Republican.

Other Badger State notes:

Worst Wisconsin polliing award.

No polling firm covered itself with glory, with most polls giving Obama only a slight edge and no one forecasting anything like the blowout that occurred.

However, the American Research Group was in a class by itself.

Even while every other poll had Obama slightly ahead, ARG had Clinton ahead, first by 9 per cent and later by 6 per cent two days before the primary. Then, in what must have been the biggest overnight change in political history, it went from Clinton up 6 to Obama up 10 – a 16 point swing in two nights.

It makes you wonder whether they do any voter interviews or simply write down some guesses. (Or decided at the last minute to cover their butt.)

No one’s always right, but this firm, based in Manchester, NH, isn’t just a little off. When it’s bad it is horrid. And it’s been especially bad in its home state.