By John Buchel, State Writer

Wisconsin voters will decide Tuesday the outcome of what has been an election year marked by negative campaigning.

Republican Gov. Scott McCallum came out Wednesday with ads criticizing Democratic challenger Attorney General Jim Doyle.

“Let’s face it,” the ads conclude, “when Wisconsin’s top cop is crooked, you don’t elect him governor.”

The race for Wisconsin’s 2nd congressional district has also seen some negative campaigning.

Republican challenger Ron Greer called incumbent Democrat Tammy Baldwin a religious bigot; Baldwin responded by classifying Greer as homophobic.

“A lot depends on how you define negative campaigning,” Katherine Cramer Walsh, assistant professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, said. “A lot of people question if pointing out a flaw in the opposing candidate negative or a basic part of the political process.”

David Canon, another UW political science professor, said negative campaigning is “almost always effected by the person who is behind to catch up.”

“Unfortunately, sometimes the best way to do that quickly is to go negative,” he said. “Scott McCallum was trailing by eight or nine percentage points and he needed to make up some ground. Jim Doyle probably felt he needed to respond in kind and that’s why we’ve been seeing the negativity in the last three weeks.”

Canon suggested that Baldwin was able to run a clean campaign because she was reportedly ahead in the polls.

Walsh pointed out that negative campaigning may have adverse effects on voters.

“There’s a lot of speculation that negative campaigning increases voter apathy,” Walsh said. “The general argument of political campaigning affecting voter turnout has a lot of merit to it.”

Walsh said negative campaigning often greatly affects younger voters.

“Any time in the late teens and early 20s are a formative time in a person’s political development and adaptations,” Walsh said.

Libertarian candidate Ed Thompson and Green Party candidate Jim Young joined McCallum and Doyle in Vilas Hall for the final debate in the gubernatorial race Tuesday night.

Moderator Jerry Huffman reminded the candidates, “Money, not mud, is our focus tonight.”

“This is not a debate about state plane rides or political bingo parties,” he said, referring to Doyle accusing McCallum of flying for personal reasons in state airplanes and McCallum accusing Doyle of bribing votes out of the mentally disabled in a Kenosha with bingo game prizes.

Doyle and McCallum complied and did not attack each other’s character during the debate, but did quarrel on each other’s performance on budget issues.

“I’m going to get my boxing gloves and take care of this real quick, you guys,” Thompson interjected.

Canon said that Thompson would probably benefit from voters who grew weary of Doyle and McCallum’s negativity, but it would not give him enough support to win.

“A historical example in Wisconsin would be Russ Feingold, when he was elected for the first time,” Canon said. “Feingold was way behind the other two candidates, and they just went after each other, and Feingold emerged with the lead.”

Canon said Feingold was able to split the difference between two negative candidates because he had political knowledge and experience, which Thompson does not have.

Canon said it was also the case that Greer was trying to close the gap in the polls with his negativity.

“Greer hasn’t had the money to get his message on television,” Canon said. “The fact that Baldwin has run a positive campaign has certainly helped her campaign.”

Walsh said if Baldwin didn’t have such a commanding lead in her race, a tight race might help to bring out the voters turned off by the negative governor’s race.

Negative campaigning from both Doyle and McCallum led the Common Cause in Wisconsin, a non-partisan reform advocacy group, to ask Wednesday that the two candidates pull their negative ads.

“The citizens of this state now rightfully fear turning on their televisions and radios for fear that their children will be exposed to this slime,” said executive director of Common Cause Jay Heck. “We all need a ‘time-out’ from this filth right now.”