[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]He might not be grabbing most of the headlines, but Nelson Eisman will be on the ballot Nov. 7 as the Green Party candidate for governor.

Though he concedes that he is an underdog in the race, Eisman remains optimistic about his chances on Election Day, and on Wednesday, he outlined his plan for Wisconsin to a group of nearly two dozen students and city residents at Memorial Union.

Throughout his campaign, Eisman has spoken about "evening the tables" in this year's gubernatorial race, and continued building on that theme last night.

"For those of you who don't know, I'm running against a guy named Mark Green," Eisman said. "So, I thought about changing my name to 'Vote Republican' to even the tables."

Eisman addressed a number of issues during Wednesday's talk, which had the feel of a casual question-and-answer session, but focused the discussion on reforming Wisconsin's health-care and education systems, and utilizing cleaner forms of energy.

According to Eisman, funding for health care and education are inherently linked.

"I cannot describe my vision for [education] without talking about the tangential issues," Eisman said. "Health care is the key that unlocks access to education. It is the key that unlocks access to prosperity."

Eisman said he would like to see Wisconsin adapt a universal health-care system similar to the one in Canada.

The funding for such a system, Eisman said, could be made possible by redirecting the high cost of administering private insurance companies to fund public ones instead, which would also save money to spend on education.

"You have to start with a universal health-care plan," Eisman said. "The biggest burden on education is health care."

Eisman said he would also like to change how education in Wisconsin is funded — from the current system of using property taxes to using a "progressive income tax" instead.

Under the current system, Eisman said many people, especially senior citizens, resent having to pay property taxes at the end of each year to fund education, turning them hostile against education initiatives.

To help cut some of the costs of education, Eisman said he would like to consolidate many of the state's school districts, thereby eliminating the need to pay for excess administrators.

"The $175,000 superintendents could go back to the classroom," Eisman said.

Responding to questions from his audience, Eisman also called for an increased use of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, voiced his opposition to the proposed constitutional marriage amendment and spoke in favor of an "instant run-off" election system, where voters rank candidates instead of voting for one individual.

Though the odds are against him, Eisman said he remains optimistic about his chances.

"I think it's very possible that the headline Wednesday morning could be 'Eisman wins in upset,'" Eisman said.

Regardless of whether Eisman wins or loses Nov. 7, Larissa DeLain, president of the Green Progressive Alliance, which sponsored Wednesday's event, said it is important for students to have an opportunity to hear from all of the candidates, not always just Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle and U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis.

"It's easy to be set in your views," DeLain said. "But everybody should be open to new ideas."