September Primary Observations

As the summer's end nears, I wanted to share some observations about the September partisan primaries. Agree or disagree, here they are:

Attorney General's Race: On the GOP side, Beavis (Bucher) and Butthead (Van Hollen) seem to be letting the primary get to the best/worst of themselves. First they had the "you suck"-fest. I believe the final outcome was they both sucked big time. Then they started to have a fight over their families. Yikes. The final outcome? A bruised primary winner, most likely Van Hollen.

On the Democrat, I like both Peg and Kathleen as people. However, I support Kathleen Falk as our best chance to retain the AG seat. Falk's commercial released today is impressive, as is her campaign bank account and record as a tough campaigner. Lautenschlager's campaign has yet to really take off, with less than three weeks to make a strong move. My guess is that Falk wins the primary and the general election.

Secretary of State's Race: On the Democratic side, there is a two-way race between Doug LaFollette and Scot Ross. LaFollette has held the office for as long as I can remember, but since it is the Secretary of State's office, I really don't remember much about it. Ross is running an energetic challenge, with bold ideas about electoral reform and clean elections for Wisconsin. Can ideas beat a well established name in state politics? We'll see.... (No prediction yet...)

Eighth District Congressional Election: Gard wins the GOP nomination hands down. However, thumbs down on his performance so far as a candidate. His mediocre intellect may have worked in the GOP caucus of the State Assembly, but he will have a much harder road in getting elected to Congress as the class bully.

On the Democratic side, three of the best candidates I've seen running for Congress in a long time are all in one primary. Ouch. I like all three. Each has strengths that would make them the best person to beat John Gard. But if I had to bet, I would have to pick Kagen to win at this point. His well-healed campaign and reputation as a doctor seem to be playing well. I'm so glad I don't have to personally pick someone in this race.

State Legislature: The race most talked about is the Milwaukee area's 7th Senate district, with incumbent Jeff Plale being opposed by Donovan Riley in the Democratic primary. At first, it seemed that Riley was giving Plale a run for his money, but recent developments around Riley potentially voting twice in two different places in one election certainly seems to have let the wind out of his sails and put a 2'x2' hole in the bottom of his boat. My prediction: Plale wins easily.

OK, I put my views out there. It is always a risk to do so, especially so early, but I thought I'd start a discussion. What do you have to say?