Uppity Wisconsin

I don't know what my friend John Nichols has been smoking for breakfast, but he's certainly enjoying the view from some other vantage point than the rest of us.

OK, John, I'll grant that Scott Walker is not David Duke.

But is he Wisconsin's William F. Buckley?

Good grief, John, get a grip.

If Walker is William F. Buckley, I am Albert Einstein.

Two Democrats think Doyle's not running.

That's not quite as intriguing a headline as the Journal Sentinel's state convention story on Sunday, "Some state Democrats think Doyle won't seek re-election."

If you read the fine print, you'll discover that the number is two.

More than 800 delegates attended the session in Green Bay. A JS reporter talked to 12 of them. And 2 of the 12 said they think Doyle won't run for a third term next year.

That's what we call a small sample -- a miniscule sample. But even if surveying 12 of 800 delegates were a valid way to operate (hard to write that straight), 83% of the people interviewed expect Doyle to run again.

Good grief!

When state Republicans met a few weeks ago, 93% of those who participated in a straw poll supported him to be the nominee. By these new standards, the headline should have been, "Some Republilcans don't support Walker for governor," rather than the one they used, "Walker gets strong support at GOP convention."

A lot of people, of course, only read the headline or skim the first paragraph.