UP: Madison schools. Voters overwhelmingly (68%-32%) pass a referendum allowing the school district to bypass state spending limits. The referendum allows the school district to implement a series of property tax increases that would raise $13 million over the next few years. Under the plan, taxes on the average $250,000 Madison house would increase $28 in 2009-2010.
DOWN: J.B. Van Hollen. Wisconsin's attorney general unconvincingly insists that his office spent just $155 suing the state's Government Accountability Board to force it to double-check thousands of voter registrations before Election Day; the GAB spent $43,049 in taxpayer money to defend itself, successfully. And Van Hollen's decision to send assistant AGs to monitor voting around the state is widely called into question, including by U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold.