Primary Election Observations

Here are my personal observations from last night's primary elections.

Attorney General's Race:
GOP Primary - Bucher may suck after all, according to a majority of GOP voters. Van Hollen won, as I expected, making him one of the least experienced people to seek the office of AG. But he does have a few bucks to spend on the race.... Van Hollen brought us the campaign highlights of saying his opponent "sucked" and that a terrorist cell was in your basement right here in Wisconsin. The far right should be pleased.

Democratic Primary - Kathleen Falk wins. Falk ran hard and won, alleviating fears of many Democratic voters that Peg would be chopped up and spit out by the negative GOP spin machine this November. For the record, Peg Lautenschlager is a good person and a good AG. However, those of us who have watched campaigns for years know what the GOP would do to her from airing footage of the drunk driving arrest to raising the personal use of her state car to asking why there were hit-and-runs in her vehicle, including one in her driveway. Then they would really start their attacks. Peg deserves better, and I hope the Democratic powers-that-be recognize that and assist her in any way in the coming months. Kathleen is a superb candidate and will win this fall, ensuring a better Wisconsin for the environment, consumers, civil rights and more.

Secretary of State's Race: The people of Wisconsin truly love "Fighting Bob" La Follette. They love him so much that one hundred years after he was elected Governor, five-thousand people still show up annually at a festival named after him. And trying to beat anyone with a name even remotely close to his is close to impossible to do, which Scot Ross found out last night.

Lt. Governor's Race, GOP Primary: For the hand-picked Lt. Governor nominee Jean Hundertmark to only win a primary with 56 percent of the vote against a non-campaigning nobody, shows the GOP would rather elect ANY man to statewide office than a woman. Yikes. It is 2006, isn't it?

8th Congressional District: No surprise to political observors, but John Gard and Steve Kagen won their respective primaries. One GOP lawmaker told me if this is the match-up, Kagen will win. I hope so. It would be fun to see John Gard doing a job he's more appropriately qualified for....I can't wait to get my car washed in Peshtigo November 8. Kudos to Jamie Wall, who outperformed virtually everyone's expectations in the Democratic primary.

State Legislative Races: Strong candidates came out of the primaries, making the State Senate closer to taking the majority for Democrats and the State Assembly closer to picking up a significant number of seats. Watch this blog for more about this in the very near future.

Overall, it was a fun election night. But I have to admit I am glad the primaries are over. Too many people get irrational over their support for one candidate versus another in primaries when the real focus should be on defeating conservatives in November. The differences between Peg and Kathleen on policy, for example, are very minor compared to the differences between either Democrat and J.B. Van Hollen. I hope everyone can rally appropriately for a victorious November.