With barely more than six months left until Wisconsin voters go to the polls to elect a governor, no clear favorite has emerged. In the official mix are four Democrats, two third-party hopefuls and the current governor.

As Wisconsin’s budget deficit and sagging economy dominate many candidates’ platforms, the contestants are attempting to distinguish themselves by promoting their stances on the prison budget, campaign-finance reform, UW System cuts, and the environment.

The declared Democrats challenging Gov. Scott McCallum for the seat are: Attorney General Jim Doyle; U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, D-Milwaukee; Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, and state Sen. Gary George, D-Milwaukee. The third-party candidates include Ed Thompson and Jim Young.

Candidates are taking advantage of McCallum’s sole Republican position to publicize their own views; however, poll numbers indicate no one person is winning the war on words. In part, this could mean many of the candidates’ words sound the same.

McCallum is currently reorganizing his campaign staff with the hiring of Mary Stitt who will supervise all fundraising for McCallum’s 2002 campaign.

“She has a monumental task in front of her,” said Jeff Toboyek, spokesperson for the campaign. “This will be one of the most watched races in the country.”

One common issue among the candidates is education. Doyle is opposed to cuts made to the UW System and favors putting money back into education programs, spokesman Thad Nation said.

“We shouldn’t punish students for bad budgeting on the side of the governor and Legislature,” Nation said.

Thompson and George each pledge to take action against the routine tuition increases at UW-Madison, where tuition is rising at a faster rate than financial aid is.

Falk and Barrett are pushing similar platforms — both are strongly against cuts to the UW System, which they say would compromise the quality of research and campus programs valuable to Wisconsin students and the state’s economy.

But in the case of environmental issues, candidates are standing out on different issues.

George strongly backs the Stewardship Fund, an organization that preserves Wisconsin’s land for wildlife and recreation, according to spokesman Dave Begel.

“George believes purchasing land is a legacy we leave to our children,” Begel said.

Doyle and Barrett are both fighting to pass two bills that would ban the use of cyanide in mining and control the handling of mining waste, Nation said.

Falk is working on modernizing the Ground Water Law of 1984 to keep improving water-efficiency standards in the state.

Another theme in many campaign agendas is how to deal with the state prison budget.

Barrett and Doyle agree the state needs better ways to prevent crime and invest in those at risk to avoid explosive costs.

“We incarcerate three times as many criminals as Minnesota, a state with similar population and crime rates,” said Barrett spokesperson Brigid O’Brien.

Falk and Thompson agree $45 million a year could be cut from the state’s prison budget if nonviolent criminals were given alternatives to prison.

George is the author of a recent bill that would keep first-and second-time drug offenders out of prison and in treatment centers, lowering the number of nonviolent criminals incarcerated.

Campaign-finance reform has also been a hot topic for many of the candidates.

George, Doyle and Barrett agree that less money should be spent on advertising before elections by candidates and outside groups. Doyle also supports banning campaign fundraising by the governor during the budget process, which could help to “hold down taxes and spending for average citizens,” Nation said.

Falk is working to pass a bipartisan finance-reform bill to eliminate unnecessary spending in campaigns.

Eric Shill, a Thompson spokesman, said he believes current campaign-finance regulations are not the problem — it is the corrupt people behind campaigns that are the cause of concern. Thompson says the best thing to do is keep regular, decent people participating in election campaigns.

Multiple attempts to contact McCallum or his staff were unsuccessful.