Now that the One Minivan Tour has rolled into America’s Dairyland, it’s worth taking a quick peak at three of the hottest races in Wisconsin this fall.

GOVERNOR: A hard-charging challenge from hard-right Congressman Mark Green notwithstanding, Governor Jim Doyle still leads by a few points according to the latest Republican poll. Democrats won’t be able to rest easy before Election Day, because this one is definitely coming down to the wire.

ATTORNEY GENERAL: Democratic Dane County Commissioner Kathleen Falk is one of the talented and articulate players in Wisconsin politics. Nevertheless, Christian fundamentalist Republican nominee J.B. Van Hollen is running a strong race for the GOP. Touting his prosecutorial experience, endorsements from law enforcement (including seven “Democratic” County Sheriffs), and some labor groups, Van Hollen is threatening to become the most reactionary Top Cop in Wisconsin history. A recent poll gives Falk the lead, but this race could also have voters and activists up ’til the wee hours on Election Night.

CONGRESS, 8TH DISTRICT: Democratic Doctor and Businessman Steve Kagen is running a great campaign to pick up a much-needed seat for the Democrats in this Green Bay-based district. GOP Assembly Speaker John Gard is the repugnant Republican version of D.C.’s Denny Hastert and the Culture of Corruption. Among recent shenanigans, John Gard forced anti-death penalty Republicans to be suspiciously absent from the Assembly Floor when voting to place an advisory referendum on the issue on this November’s ballot. One Republican chalked up her absence to a nasty bout of diarrhea contracted at an unnamed pizza parlor! John Gard needs to go down, and various polls have suggested Kagen has a small lead.

All of these swing state races will be very close, so if your wallet isn’t already empty for this cycle, help these Wisconsin candidates win today! And stay on the lookout for the Wisconsin episode coming soon.

As the Republican House of Cards threatens to blow over from a strong wind of corruption and incompetence at the federal level, it’s easy to forget how important the many hotly contested gubernatorial contests are this year.

The prospect of more Democratic governors isn’t nearly as sexy as the idea of Democrats running one or both houses of Congress. Yet much of the progressive change that happens in America takes place at the state level.

Wisconsin and Ohio exemplify just how important gubernatorial elections can be to the culture and economic future of the States. Last night’s gubernatorial debate in Milwaukee was an impressive battle between two polished politicos: Governor Jim Doyle and Congressman Mark Green. One of Doyle’s most devastating arguments was his blunt warning that many researchers will simply look elsewhere for jobs if Mark green wins the election. Although Wisconsin is the original home of stem cell research, the Christianist wing of the GOP controls the state legislature. Mark Green tries to pretend he’s in favor of stem-cell research, but he’s a rabidly anti-choice candidate who opposes abortions even in the case of rape or incest, as well as any medical advances that Jerry Falwell wouldn’t approve of. Jim Doyle represents a high-tech future of medical progress; Mark Green promises only a Bible and more tax cuts for special interests to grow Wisconsin.

In Ohio, Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell is easily the most extreme candidate nominated for governor in the history of the state. Blackwell is militantly anti-gay and anti-choice; much of Ohio’s GLBT community will feel unable to stay if he wins. College professors who happen to be gay have already fled Ohio since voters passed a gay marriage ban in 2004. The constitutional amendment bans not only gay marriage but equal benefits to gay state employees. Luckily, since Democrat Ted Strickland has a double-digit lead in every poll taken, this shouldn’t come to pass.

Americans vote with their feet, and unless Ohio and Wisconsin go blue this fall, both states will be drained of some of their most economically productive citizens. Neither state’s economy can afford such a body blow.

There were many interesting races in Wisconsin last night.

Brutal primaries on both sides of the aisle in the Attorney General’s race have been resolved. Incumbent Democrat Peggy Lautenschlager lost renomination to Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. In addition to other controversies, Lautenschlager plead guilty to driving while intoxicated in 2004. A very sad end to a promising political career, but Democrats should be excited by Kathleen Falk’s experience and strong progressive record. Former U.S. Attorney J.B. Van Hollen, a hard-core Christianist who has likened abortion to pre-meditated murder, defeated immigrant-bashing Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher for the GOP nomination. Van Hollen will try to paint Falk as an out-of-touch Madison liberal with no experience as a prosecutor.

In the Green Bay-based 8th Congressional District being vacated by Mark Green to run for Governor, Dr. Steve Kagen defeated former Brown County Comissioner/ex-Republican Nancy Nussbaum and businessman Jamie Wall in the Democratic Primary. Kagen will battle Assembly Speaker John Gard, Wisconsin’s own Tom DeLay, for the seat in November. The NRCC anticipated Kagen’s victory, as they are already running sleazy, misleading attack ads against him. Kagen’s outsider message and career as an allergist and businessman should compare favorably to John Gard’s life as a career politician; Gard has never held full-time employment outside of the State Capitol’s walls. Although the district leans Republican, this is a great opportunity for Democrats to win a new House seat in November.

Greg Giroux from Congressional Quarterly wrote up a great primary day primer on Political Wire. I’m running around like a mad-man today, so in the interest of time, I tip my hat to the good people over at Political Wire and encourage everyone to check out their great analysis. DoubleSpeak will have election night coverage later this evening and into tomorrow morning. Stay tuned.

Primary Preview

Most of the remaining November matchups for governor, senator and U.S. House will be set Tuesday, when nine states will hold primary elections: Arizona, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

The marquee matchup is the Republican Senate primary in Rhode Island, where Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who frequently bucks GOP leaders, faces a stiff challenge from Cranston mayor Steve Laffey, who is more conservative. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is backing Chafee on the grounds that he is the only Republican who could possibly prevail this year in Rhode Island, which usually votes Democratic. Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, a former Rhode Island Attorney General, is expected to easily win his party’s primary.

The other major Senate primary Tuesday is in Maryland, where Democrats have a large field of candidates in the race to succeed retiring five-term Democrat Paul S. Sarbanes. Rep. Ben Cardin and former Rep. Kweisi Mfume are the best-known Democrats, while Republicans are behind Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. In the contest for governor, Republican incumbent Bob Ehrlich and Democrat Martin O’Malley, the mayor of Baltimore, are unopposed in the primaries. In Cardin’s Democratic-leaning 3rd District, the crowded Democratic field includes state Sen. Paula Hollinger, former Baltimore health commissioner Peter Beilenson and lawyer John Sarbanes, who is the retiring senator’s son. In the 4th District, which is anchored in inner suburbs of Washington, D.C., Democratic Rep. Albert Wynn faces a primary challenge from lawyer Donna Edwards.

Read the rest here…

From Political Wire:

In Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race, the latest Research 2000 Wisconsin Poll shows Gov. Jim Doyle (D) beating Rep. Mark Green (R-WI), 49% to 41%.

Mark Green is just too extreme to be Governor.

There’s a hot primary race brewin’ in Wisconsin for Attorney General. The incumbent, Peggy Lautenschlager is facing a stiff primary from Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. Lautenschlager got in a little trouble a while back when she crashed a government vehicle…while drunk…

From Wikipedia:

In February 2004, Lautenschlager made national headlines after pleading guilty to drunk driving in Dodge County, about an hour away from Madison. A Dodge County sheriff reported to the scene to find her state-owned vehicle in the ditch, and her luckily unharmed inside. Her preliminary breathalizer test at the scene showed that her blood alcohol level was 0.12, 50% above the legal limit of 0.08. Lautenschlager said that she had fallen asleep at the wheel, and had consumed only two glasses of wine earlier that evening. She was arrested, and later released to her husband. She refused a blood test, which is standard for a DUI stop in Wisconsin. (Dodge County Case Number 2004TR001348)

A state Ethics Board investigated Lautenschlger’s case and ruled that some use of the state car for personal use exceeded state-allowed limits. Lautenschlager reimbursed some of the costs and paid a fine of $250. Her driver’s license was also revoked for a year.

Kathleen Falk has been running a solid campaign. They’re organizing to get out the vote and could win this primary over the incumbent in September. Today, Falk’s campaign put out a hard-hitting ad re-introducing the DUI incident, an incident Peggy Lautenschlager won’t soon forget. Neither will her political foes. Check it out.

Congressional incumbents seeking to move up to the Senate or their local governor’s mansion have long had a unique advantage: they can roll over donations made by Federal Political Action Committees (PACs) to run for the new office. This quasi-incumbent status fails an intuitive test of fundamental fairness since politicians are using donations they got running for one office to seek a promotion instead. Mark Green is a prime beneficiary of this loophole in 2006.

Well, in the great state of Wisconsin, this process has apparently come to an end. By a 5-2 vote, The Wisconsin Board of Elections has ruled any donations by Federal PACs not registered in Wisconsin at the time of the donation constitute illegal donations. The shrill cry of partisanship from the Green campaign was predictable. Yet it is too early for Democrats to celebrate: Green claims the money has already been spent and it may be difficult to recoup PAC funds from the Green campaign. Nevertheless, this can’t make Mark Green’s brutal battle to knock out Jim Doyle any easier.

It looks like Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle may yet fend off Republican Governor Mark Green in November. A recent independent poll by Rasmussen shows Doyle up by a 49%-41% margin.

Mark Green’s first ad was undeniably cute, and may even be effective. Yet the ad was purely defensive, and taking beaming pride in one’s own lawn-mowing abilities isn’t a great rationale for being a state’s chief executive. Jim Doyle may not be the most popular governor in America, but Mark Green will need to run a more clearly-defined campaign to convince America’s Dairyland to get rid of Doyle.