We are in election mode, regaling you with tales of campaign 2010. Last week it was the stirring U.S. Senate race, and this week we look at the other heavyweight battle, the one between Scott Walker and Tom Barrett for governor. This analysis is brought to you by the greatest investigative team since Cagney and Lacey. That would be Bill Lueders and Jack Craver.
Here's some full disclosure: For the greater part of the last two weeks, I have been absent from Madison, though when you read this I will be back. I tell you this by way of commiseration, for I have not only been out of town, but also out of the country. That means I have been spared the unceasing barrage of campaign ads. I'll tell you, I was already about pounded into senselessness by the unrelenting propaganda at the end of the primaries in September. And there's still more than two weeks to go! Well, I am refreshed, and chances are good I will be able to hold on until Nov. 2.
It's not that I'm cynical about the election process, just tired of the haranguing. I was disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, not so much because it allowed corporations a voice in campaigns, but because it eliminated restrictions on their giving and thus protected the coffers that help fund the campaign ad buying. We need arms control for election ads.
We hope our election articles have helped inform you. And to provide further light at the end of the tunnel, Isthmus next week will include the League of Women Voters' Candidates Answers. And the week after that editor Dean Robbins, who has been doing running commentary on political ads for several weeks on TheDailyPage.com, will build his scrutiny to a crescendo.
The week after that, blessedly, the election will be behind us. Then we can begin the run-up to 2012. And you think this was a nasty campaign.