Please give to The Capital Times Kids Fund.

Election Matters: Wisconsin GOP to McCain: Get meaner!

John Nichols  —  10/10/2008 8:06 am

CALENDAR: The Nov. 4 election is 25 days from today.

POLL DATA: Real Clear Politics, a campaign-watching Web site generally seen as leaning a bit to the Republican side, has moved Wisconsin to "Leans Obama" status, along with Minnesota and Michigan, neighboring states where Republican John McCain has cut back on campaigning (dialing things down in Minnesota, quitting Michigan altogether). The other "Leans Obama" states are New Mexico, Virginia and Washington. According to the Real Clear Politics "poll of polls", an averaging of all recent surveys, Democrat Barack Obama now leads in Wisconsin by 8 points -- 51-43. (Obama leads in Michigan by 8.2 points and in Minnesota by 8.3 points.)

NEXT BIG CAMPAIGN EVENT IN WISCONSIN: After stops yesterday in Waukesha and Mosinee, Republican presidential nominee John McCain will begin today in La Crosse. It'll be a solo event; Republican "rock star" Sarah Palin's campaigning in Ohio.

NEXT BIG DEMOCRATIC SURROGATE EVENTS: Hillary Clinton Sun Prairie Call-In

The "Women's Weekend of Action" features Democratic Congresswomen Susan Davis, of California, and Betty McCollum, of Minnesota, and Texas lawyer Sarah Weddington, and will kick off two "Women-to-Women Phone Bank" efforts:

Friday, Oct. 10 

5 p.m. -- Phone Bank Starts

8:30 p.m. -- Guest Discussion Begins

Madison Campaign for Change Office, 1709 Monroe St.

Saturday, Oct. 11

9:30 a.m.

Sun Prairie Campaign for Change Office, 1435 W. Main St.

The big story Saturday won't be what Davis, McCollum and Weddington say, however. It will be the call-in by U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, the New York Democrat who almost beat Obama for the party's presidential nod.

"No one could say more about how important women are to winning this November than Hillary Clinton," declares the Obama campaign. "After Sen. Clinton speaks, women around WI will leave our offices and take action to reach undecided women." Just think how excited they would be if Clinton was on the ticket!

THE BIG QUESTION: How Mean Is Mean Enough For Wisconsin McCain Backers?

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is getting an earful from Wisconsinites as he travels the state. In Waukesha yesterday, one of his excoriated the Arizona senator for being too nice to Barack Obama. McCain, whose campaign has spent this week trying to create a link in the minds of American voters between Obama and terrorism, listened intently as a backer pleaded with him to get a whole lot meaner in next week's final debate with the Democrat.

"I'm begging you, sir. I'm begging you. Take it to him," said the man, clutching the microphone with both hands. The crowd of 4,200 went nuts, as McCain promised, "Yes, I'll do that." The audience at the town hall meeting got even more riled up when another McCain backer griped about polls that show Obama opening up a significant lead in Wisconsin and nationally. "

We're all wondering why Obama is where he's at, how he got here," grumbled the man. "Everybody in this room is stunned we're in this position. We're all a product of our association. Is there not a way to get around this media and line up people that he has hung with?"

McCain took the bait and repeated a now-favorite McCain campaign charge -- which his backers clearly wished he had brought up in Tuesday's debate -- that Obama must be a lot more closely tied to '60s-radical-turned-education-professor Bill Ayers. "Senator Obama said he was just a guy in the neighborhood," McCain said of Ayers, who actually does live in Obama's Chicago neighborhood. "We know that's just not true. We need to know the full extent of this relationship, whether Obama is telling the truth to the American people or not." The crowd in Waukesha liked that one. "He's a terrorist!" shouted a man in the audience, as those around him hooted and howled.

The McCain campaign heard the "get meaner" message loud and clear. Today, it will launch a new advertising campaign in Wisconsin that claims: "Ayers and Obama ran a radical 'education' foundation, together." Here's the commercial, which conveniently fails to mention that the foundation in question was organized by the late Walter Annenberg, a Republican ally of Ronald Reagan whose wife has endorsed McCain.

Next big questions: Will Wisconsin Republicans succeed in prodding McCain into mentioning Ayers in next week's final presidential debate? And does anyone really think that Obama will be caught unprepared? As much as the McCain backers want to raise the Ayers issue, the truth is that raising it in a debate will give Obama an opening to claim the Republican nominee is obsessed with personal attacks when the economy is losing, oh, about a trillion dollars in value each day.

PUNDIT WATCH: "Wonder why Middle America finds you irresistible? Maybe they're big Tina Fey fans. More likely, you remind them of the conservative values they feared lost: faith, family, independence. This impression owes more to who you are than what you've done. But at least you keep Obama from cornering the market on hope. Conservatives have faith in you. Don't fail them as George W. Bush has." -- from "An Open Letter to Sarah Palin" authored by the editors of The American Conservative magazine

FIRST QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The greatest expert on health care in America today is a former governor of Wisconsin ndsh Tommy Thompson." -- John McCain, in Waukesha, invoking the name of the former Secretary of Health and Human Services, who briefly challenged him for the Republican presidential nomination.

SECOND QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I hope that includes wild game, too, for those of us that are hunters." -- Sarah Palin in Waukesha, discussing the Milwaukee area's "Eat Local" campaign.

RELIEVING VOTER ANXIETY: Worried about your voter registration status? Go to the state's "Voter Public Access"

GET READY FOR THE NEXT RACE: Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Randy Koschnick indicates that he is likely to challenge Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson in next spring's sort of nonpartisan election.

Koschnick talks about running as a "traditional judicial conservative" -- much like recent conservative winners in Supreme Court races, Justice Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman. Challenge for Koschnick: Abrahamson has already earned endorsements from some of the state's better-known conservative Republicans.

Former Wisconsin congressman and Defense Secretary Mel Laird says, "I've known Shirley for 30 years. She's everything Wisconsin wants from its public officials and, particularly, its judges. She's independent, tough-minded, hard working, and, above all else, fair. She's committed to the people of this state and its values."

Former Republican Governor Scott McCallum says, "The chief justice's name is synonymous with independence, integrity, and excellence, and she deserves re-election."

Former First Lady Sue Ann Thompson says, "As a life-long Republican, I have no interest in judges who are partisan, one way or the other. I look for judges who have support as diverse as the people of this state and who understand the need for fairness, balance, and independence. That's why, once again, I'm supporting the chief justice's re-election."

John Nichols  —  10/10/2008 8:06 am