Instead, we endorse a new way to choose Supreme Court justices -- merit selection.

See last Sunday's editorial for a detailed explanation.

We appreciate, however, that voters must make a decision on Tuesday. We also appreciate that after a sordid campaign, soiled by offensive, misleading and downright inaccurate charges, voters need to turn to basic information about the candidate 's backgrounds and experience.

With that in mind, we provide the following sketches. For more in-depth coverage, see the front page of Sunday's newspaper and an issues grid on page A11.

Louis Butler, incumbent

Age: 56

Resides: Milwaukee

Education: Bachelor 's degree from Lawrence University, law degree from UW-Madison.

Career: Assistant state public defender, 1979-92; assistant law professor at Marquette University, 1992; Milwaukee municipal judge, 1992-2002; defeated for Supreme Court in 2000 election; Milwaukee County Circuit judge, 2002-04; appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Doyle in 2004.

Personal: Married, two children, one stepson.

Michael Gableman, Burnett County Circuit judge

Age: 41

Resides: Webster

Education: Bachelor 's degree from Ripon College, law degree from Hamline University.

Career: Assistant district attorney, Langlade County, 1996-97; prosecutor, Marathon County, 1997-99; district attorney for Ashland County, appointed by Gov. Thompson in 1999 and elected in 2000; administrative law judge, Appleton, 2002; Burnett County Circuit judge, appointed by Gov. McCallum in 2002 and elected in 2003; adjunct law professor at Hamline University, 2003-05.

Personal: Single.