Harley roaring under Doyle

The AP report on a Tommy Thompson-Mark Green rally in Milwaukee includes these lines:

"Under Green, you'll see the eagles soaring, the (Green Bay) Packers scoring and the Harleys roaring." [Tommy Thompson, of course.]

Green said he wants to return Wisconsin to the prosperity it enjoyed under Thompson.

"I hear companies like Harley-Davidson and Menard's saying it's too expensive to do business in Wisconsin," Green said. "There's no excuse for letting them create jobs elsewhere."

It's tough times at Harley, all right. You can hear them crying all the way to the bank. The most recent report:

Forbes.com Market Scan

Harley-Davidson Dazzles Wall Street
By Tom Van Riper, 10-12-06

When Harley-Davidson beefs up its engines, its loyal customers waste no time hopping on.

The motorcycle maker dazzled Wall Street today by announcing record third-quarter sales and profits, a results some analysts attributed to a more powerful new engine the company installed into several of its models.

"If you've ever been to Sturgis, you know torque and power is a big deal to these guys," said William Blair & Co. analyst Bob Simonson, speaking of the South Dakota town famous for its annual motorcycle rally.

Harley-Davidson (nyse: HOG) said profit rose to $1.20 per share for the July-through-September quarter from 96 cents a year ago, on record revenue of $1.64 billion. Analysts had expected $1.10 a share in profit on $1.58 billion in revenue. The Milwaukee-based company also said worldwide motorcycle sales improved 9% for the first nine months of the year over 2005.

Lesser contributions to the strong quarter came from a 16% rise in revenue from the company's financial services unit, which makes up approximately 3.3% of the company's business, plus the repurchase of 17.2 million shares.

Management was quick to credit the July introduction of four new 2007 bike models - two new VRSC models, the FXSTC Softail Custom, and a Limited Addition 50th anniversary Sportster - with the big sales push during the quarter.

"With four new models and an all-new Twin Cam 96TM engine with 6-speed transmission on Big Twin motorcycles, the 2007 model line has been a big hit with customers,” said CEO Jim Ziemer. The company predicted its rekindles lineup would yield 11% to 17% profit growth through 2009...

Maybe Congressman Green would like to be a little more specific and tell us who's complaining???