Mil Mag plants big wet kiss on Green

Milwaukee Magazine's Kurt Chandler plants a big, sloppy kiss on Congressman and Would-Be Gov. Mark Green, in this Endgame article.

To read it, you'd think it is going to be a cakewalk for Green. It does not take into account the fact that campaigns are about more than personalities and resumes.

Green has a long record in the Assembly and in Congress. His votes on spending and deficits make Jim Doyle look like a tightwad, and there are any number of other issues, ranging from guns to Social Security to Iraq, that will be fair game in 2006 -- not to mention his close ties to scandal-plagues Tom DeLay. Some are state issues, some are not, but they all tell voters something about how Green thinks and what he stands for.

Campaigns are about drawing distinctions, and there are plenty to draw between Green and Doyle, assuming Green wins the GOP primary (no sure thing, either, despite the Scott Walker PR missteps listed in the article.)

My money's on Doyle. But I'm not giving any point spread. It'll be a horse race, and a dogfight, too, and stacks up as one of the closest races in the country. But Doyle's been there before, several times, and has won every time. Green's in for a whole new experience in a statdewide race, and hitting county fairs this summer doesn't bear any resemblance to the campaign world he'll be living in a year from now. He's a formidable candidate, but as Al Jolson said, he ain't seen nothin' yet.