Richard Nixon once noted the essential strategy for a politician facing two successive races — “Go to the right in the primary, move to the center in the general.”

And while this strategy has surely survived the test of time because of its devious effectiveness, we cannot help but bemoan the omni-colored pail with which it paints so many primary races, including tomorrow’s contest for the right to face off against Russ Feingold for the United States Senate.

Indeed, this board elects to endorse Tim Michels in the race, but in reaching our decision we have been forced to examine three men whose positions seem horrifically uniform. In apparent attempts to appease the GOP base, Russ Darrow, Bob Welch and Michels have all presented platforms that speak of international relations and the war on terror in near unison. Moreover, none of the candidates have elevated the issue of higher education to frontal status, seemingly because of an apparent political realization that such simply is not a central focus to the Republican.

With a GOP primary so late in the political season — indeed, a mere 49 days before the general election — whoever emerges victorious will have little time to “move to the center,” and will have surely spent more campaign days facing members of his party than Feingold. We certainly hope 49 days will be ample time for the newly tapped candidate to vividly establish a platform more amiable to all Wisconsinites, but we are left wondering how many voters will leave the polls tomorrow knowing they made the right choice.