Primary elections are today, and there are three candidates vying for the nomination of the Democratic Party. Recent poll numbers indicate that Attorney General Jim Doyle is likely to win, but there are still many undecided voters.
Candidates have all relied on volunteers and student involvement in their campaigns and agree that students have played an integral role.
U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, District 5, said he has many students working on his campaign.
“We have lots of student involvement in the campaign. We have probably hundreds of people under the age of 25 . . . part of what I’ve really, really come to appreciate in the campaign is the young people who really believe we can make this a better state,” Barrett said. “This has been one of the most rewarding parts of this campaign.”
Doyle agrees. “We have students working on our campaign, and some who had gone home for the summer and came back ready to go and got right back into it, even with school starting . . . they really are the energy and the backbone of the campaign,” Doyle said. “And I have really been impressed with students. They have an interest beyond their own self-interest.”
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said she has a lot of students working on her campaign–like her son, who is a University of Wisconsin student.
“I have a lot of students working on the campaign as volunteers but also have many recent grads working in paid positions,” Falk said. “I am also the mom of a 21-year-old student here.”
Some important issues in the primary election have included the state budget deficit, the falling economy and the continued investigation into the caucus.
However, candidates are not concerned that this is a bad time to be governor.
“When things are good, you don’t have to test your core values. My priorities are education–K-12, universities and technical schools–and we have to make sure we set our priorities right,” Doyle said. “This is a great state, and there are great, hard-working people living here. Right now, political leadership is holding us back, and I think there needs to be a change.”
Falk agreed, adding that the change is negative. “This is not the state government I grew up in,” she said. “We didn’t have deficits, and citizens in Wisconsin expect a level of integrity, and we should be doing for them what they have to do in their own homes by balancing the budget and not running up a huge deficit.”
Barrett said the changes in the way the state is run are unethical and that he would make drastic changes.
“There are two 800-pound gorillas in the living room,” Barrett said. “One I call the state budget deficit, and [the other is] the unbelievable ethics scandal that is going on right now. I’d say I’m going to get both 800-pound gorillas out of the living room.”
