Gathering of the nuts this weekend

"Boy if you gather a few nuts in one place you sure can attract a lot of squirrels."

That, according to Bob Dohnal, publisher of the Wisconsin Conservative Digest, is the theory behind the Future Wisconsin Conference to be held this weekend. He reached that conclusion after reading coverage of Fighting Bobfest, he says, so that would make Ed Garvey his muse.

There will be wingnuts galore, both on the program and in the audience, starting with Dohnal himself, who made some news himself this week with his comments in defense of State Sen. Tom Reynolds, R-Pluto, against a possible primary challenge. Even Charlie Sykes thinks Reynolds is a nut case who's beyond the pale. Spivak and Bice say Dohnal is, too, after he called State GOP Chair Rick Graber corrupt.

The Spice Boys:

Already far from the Republican mainstream, Dohnal all but guaranteed with his rant that he and his buddy the senator [Reynolds] will remain on the party's fringes.

But when Dohnal opens the second Future Wisconsin conference on Saturday,Republican candidates will be there to pay homage and court the support of the wingnuts who, sad to say, are the GOP base.

They'll start with a "Bias in the Media" panel, then move on to "How to Fight Back" against those powerful left-wing groups that have been trained by Saul Alinsky to "go for the juggler." (Most groups I've worked with have gone for the clowns and let the juggler do his thing.) I'm not making this stuff up. Go right to the source if you doubt.

Gubernatorial candidates Mark Green and Scott Walker will be there, polishing their appeals to the fringes.

So will "the two candidates for attorney general," who probably aren't Kathleen Falk and Peg Lautenschlager, on a panel on crime and punishment. And who will join Paul Bucher and J.R. Van Hollen in front of this auspicious group? None other than Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who still says he's running for reelection this fall as Democratat.

And there's a panel on, "Can We Afford to Live In Wisconsin"? chaired by WTMJ Republican radio host Jeff Wagner and include "all of the Candidates for statewide office." Panelists will discuss "public employee benefit packages, Medicaid, property taxes, education costs, fees, and other contributors to Wisconsin high tax burden. There will be a focus on the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights," we're told.

Wagner and the panelists, of course, all can comfortably afford to live in Wisconsin or anywhere else they choose. This is not the Poor People's Convention.

So, Dohnal has gathered the nuts. Watch the squirrels -- the candidates and the news media -- follow.