Wisconsin has a long, progressive tradition, but well-funded Tea Partiers and plain old-fashioned right-wingers channeling their inner Joe McCarthy's are threatening to a) unseat Democratic Senator Russ Feingold with Ron Johnson, a political neophyte and multi-millionaire plastics manufacturer, and b) replace the retiring moderate Democratic incumbent, Governor Jim Doyle, with Scott Walker, the darling of Milwaukee-area conservative talk radio.
In a normal election cycle, the top-of-the ballot Republican candidates in Wisconsin would have been laughed off the stage.
Walker, Milwaukee County Executive since 2002 )and basically, a candidate for Governor since then), has flip-flopped on issues from toll roads to stem cells to stimulus funding; Milwaukee County government is in such bad shape fiscally that it should consider filing for bankruptcy, according to a summary of an independent business community review of County finances that is being withheld until after the election, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has reported.
Johnson, the Senate candidate, calls job losses in our hard-hit state that stemmed from NAFTA and other trade deals "creative destruction," and though opposing Big Government, has a business that has benefited from a state healthcare plan for low-income residents, a state-financed rail spur and low-interest state loans.
Why is he in the race? He has said he saw Dick Morris on Fox saying that Wisconsin needed a millionaire Republican to run against Feingold, and Johnson told his wife he thought Morris was talking to him.
There's more: he GOP's Lt. Governor candidate, Rebecca Kleefisch, has refused to debate her Democratic opponent, communicating instead through Facebook. Call it training via Palin 101.
Details on my political blog, where you can find more coverage of these races.