After months of campaigning, Wisconsin's gubernatorial candidates are making the final push to Election Day, with U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., announcing a 28-city tour that starts today.
Traveling in his campaign RV called the "Green Machine," Green will leave his campaign headquarters in Green Bay and make 33 stops before ending again in Green Bay for a victory rally Monday night.
"Mark Green has spent the last 18 months intensively traveling around the state of Wisconsin, talking with voters about his vision for the future of Wisconsin," Green's campaign spokesperson Luke Punzenberger said. "Mark Green wants to travel the state one last time to take his message and ask for voters' support on Nov. 7."
Punzenberger added though Green will be extensively campaigning, "not one of the events is exactly the same."
And Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle is also campaigning throughout the state, utilizing his experience from his past four successful statewide elections.
"The governor will be criss-crossing the state over the next five days, talking to voters about his message for providing good jobs, affordable health care and the best schools in the nation," Anne Lupardus, deputy press secretary for Doyle's campaign, said. "Gov. Doyle will also be talking to voters about his record, highlighting key differences between Congressman Green and he."
Lupardus added Doyle's schedule is determined on a day-to-day basis, but that he is going to be attending a variety of events and venues, ranging from larger rallies to smaller press events.
"The governor is definitely a seasoned campaign veteran, and he is going to do the same thing he did the last four times he campaigned for statewide office, covering all regions in the state talking about his tremendous record," she said.
And while the governor was in La Crosse and Eau Claire Wednesday, First Lady Jessica Doyle was in Madison, visiting with University of Wisconsin students at Gordon Commons.
"What we've been doing in this campaign season, the two of us as well as Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, is more or less dividing up the different regions in the state to personally meet with as many people as we can," Jessica Doyle told The Badger Herald.
The first lady — who was encouraging students coming in and out of Pop's Club to vote — said her experience in visiting with college and high-school students taught her that students are not as apathetic as sometimes reported, but are often too busy or unfamiliar with how to vote.
"It's really important to get the student voice out there," she said. "Some of the students having dinner here tonight — they might be first-time voters, so what better way to practice citizenship than using that first vote."
And though not necessarily having the same public presence as the first lady in this campaign, Punzenberger said Green's wife has been "very supportive throughout the entire process."
As part of his "Let's Make Wisconsin Great Again Tour," Green stops in Madison today, rallying at the Best Western Inn on the Park hotel near the Capitol.
Gov. Doyle, meanwhile, is campaigning today with U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., in South Milwaukee and Waukesha to talk about health care and prescription drugs.
