Wisconsin Democrats appear to be set to run Mary Burke, a former executive of Trek Bicycles who was later the Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce under former Democratic Governor Jim Doyle, against incumbent Republican Governor Scott Walker.
Despite the fact that Wisconsin Republicans are already trying to paint Burke as an "out-of-touch Madison activist", in reality, she's the Democratic Party's version of Mitt Romney:
...Burke is from a conservative, business-minded family and is viewed with suspicion by some Dane County progressives for her support for Madison Prep. Burke's proposed gift of $2.5 million to help start the charter school for African American and Latino kids put her at the center of the major controversy over Madison's achievement gap and whether Madison Prep was the answer. But Burke withdrew her support when the Urban League rejected school board oversight.
How does Burke regard the Republican drive to voucherize public education? She denounces it. However, she doesn't regard school "reform" as a dirty word -- which makes some public school advocates very nervous.
When she ran for school board, the progressive blog Forward Lookout asked "Who Will Mary Burke Fire?" in a post noting that Burke provided financial support for a study of cost-savings measures in the Milwaukee Public Schools that included firing teachers.
Just like her political protegé Mitt Romney, Mary Burke likes firing people!
Mary Burke is exactly the kind of person who Scott Walker wants to run against, as Burke is someone who would be downright hostile to the Democratic base in Wisconsin, and, since Wisconsin is a swing state with a highly-polarized electorate, base turnout is much more important for a major-party candidate in a statewide race than winning over swing voters. Burke is even less liked by the Democratic base in Wisconsin than Tom Barrett is.
Also, progressive political bloggers are more politically powerful in Wisconsin than in my home state of Illinois, or, for that matter, any other state. Zachary Wisniewski, one of the authors of Blogging Blue, wrote several pieces (including this one) criticizing five Democratic state legislative candidates in the Milwaukee area for taking money from the pro-school voucher group American Federation for Children. All five of the candidates Wisniewski opposed lost their primaries. Chris "Capper" Liebenthal, one of the authors of Cognitive Dissidence, has frequently criticized Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, who self-identifies as a Democrat, and has frequently compared Abele to Scott Walker.
Wisconsin Democrats shouldn't run someone who, like Mary Burke, shares the same values as Mitt Romney, they should run someone who shares the same values as Fighting Bob LaFollette!