CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR JUST STARTING THE SKIRMISH

Pivotal Voters Will Be Those Who Supported Tommy Thompson

If they could, the six major candidates for governor would write this
message in the Wisconsin sky for every voter to see: Don't blame me!

So far, it's the only thing they agree on.

In the first wide-open race for Wisconsin governor in 16 years, four
Democrats, a briefly incumbent Republican and Libertarian Ed Thompson all
are vying for the job.

By November, three finalists - the Democrat who survives the Sept. 10
primary election, Republican Gov. Scott McCallum and Thompson - will have
to offer more than a don't-blame-me argument.

To win, a candidate must capture the middle-class voters who four times in
a row pinned their political trust on former Gov. Tommy G. Thompson.

For Democrats, that means taking back voters such as Cecilia Wiltzius.

Wiltzius, 53, of Menasha, "leans Democratic," but she voted for Thompson
three times. "I think Wisconsin benefited from Tommy Thompson," she says.

But now that he has moved on to Washington to serve in President Bush's
cabinet, Wiltzius plans to vote for a Democratic candidate - either
Attorney General Jim Doyle or Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. She'll
vote for the one she thinks can beat McCallum. McCallum is a "hard-line
Republican person," she says, "and I don't have those values."

While voters such as Wiltzius should concern McCallum, there are plenty of
reasons for the other candidates to feel uneasy.

No one has a clear read of the electorate.

How deep is the anti-incumbent mood? What does the ouster of Milwaukee
County Executive F. Thomas Ament and the election of a conservative
Republican to replace him mean? How will a criminal investigation into the
legislative caucus scandal affect the election?

"Nobody's eager to get out ahead of the parade," says Don Kettl, a
University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor. "Nobody wants
to find themselves in front of a steamroller. . . . The issues in the race
may end up defining them."

In public forums and at beer-and-snacks fund-raisers, the candidates aren't
so much running for something as they are running away from a dysfunctional
Capitol - with its unsolved $1.1 billion budget deficit and criminal
investigations of lawmakers and aides.

McCallum should have an edge, given the trappings and authority of his
office, but he is rebuilding his image after a three-month dive in public
opinion polls. The polls suggest McCallum's unpopularity hovers near a
potentially fatal 40%, experts say.

But the four Democrats - Doyle, Falk, U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett and state Sen.
Gary George of Milwaukee - have their own challenges.

They must shore up the foundations of their campaigns - their messages,
organizations and money. And they must find issues that will separate them
from the others, while scrambling to raise enough money to buy television ads.

Completing this assortment of candidates is Ed Thompson. His hope: The two
major-party candidates each get less than one-third of the popular vote
Nov. 5, cracking the door of the governor's office enough for him to slip
through.

Sound familiar? It's how Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura got elected four
years ago. Kettl said there is so much anger among voters that Ed Thompson
could get up to 15% of the November vote - not enough to get elected, but
enough to dictate who does.

McCallum: 'Gov. Lucky'

At the Waukesha County Lincoln Day banquet, former Republican Gov. Lee
Dreyfus tells the story of the dog owner looking for his beloved lost pet.
The dog had only three legs, was blind in one eye and had been neutered
recently.

"Answers to 'Lucky,' " Dreyfus deadpans.

McCallum's political problems are similar, Dreyfus says. He has to follow
Tommy Thompson, the most popular governor in Wisconsin history. He is in
charge as jobs are lost in a recession. He has Democrats trying to
embarrass him at every turn.

Lately, McCallum at Republican events trades in his let-us-reason-together
tone for a new, tougher message. He bites back.

The "credit card spending" of Democrats "must stop - and it must stop NOW,"
McCallum half-shouts. "There is no tax increase in Republican proposals.

"When you're Number 3 (in taxes) already, you do not solve the problem by
raising taxes."

McCallum then repeats Tommy Thompson's mantra on personal responsibility:

"Work, improving yourself, striving, getting off welfare, finding a job,
not only having a job but moving yourself up that economic ladder - that's
the Republican way! That's our Republican philosophy, striving to get
better, working harder, having good ideas and getting rewarded for those
ideas."

Doyle: Political family

Jim Doyle comes from a first family of Wisconsin's Democratic Party. Before
he was named a federal judge, his dad and other leaders rebuilt the party
after World War II. His mother was the second woman to serve in the state
Assembly, in 1948.

After a Peace Corps assignment, Doyle got into politics as Dane County
district attorney, then won the first of three terms as attorney general in
1990.

Doyle, 56, says he has earned the Democratic Party's nomination, but he
says winning it won't be a "coronation." He announced his candidacy for
governor in 2000, 21/2 years before the election.

Doyle says his career as attorney general has included fighting crime and
fighting for consumers. He notes that he helped negotiate the national
settlement with the tobacco industry that, over the years, will pay
Wisconsin $6 billion to offset the health care costs of smoking.

"I've fought good fights, and I intend to keep doing that as governor,"
Doyle says during an interview. He is backed by three former Democratic
governors, Gaylord Nelson, Patrick Lucey and Martin Schreiber.

Noting that he had slight leads over McCallum in head-to-head statewide
polls this year, Doyle says his three Democratic rivals are plotting how
they can beat him, but he says he is the only Democrat looking beyond the
September primary to the November showdown with McCallum.

"I want to be elected governor, and what I look at is November, and I don't
intend to get tripped up in the primary," he says. "My base is the whole
state."

Last year, Doyle's campaign raised $1.17 million, a one-year record for a
Democratic statewide candidate. But some Doyle supporters privately fret
over Barrett's widening support in key regions of the state, and they note
that Falk could hurt him in Dane County.

Recent polls show the race tightening. A poll in November gave Doyle more
than a 3-to-1 lead over Barrett, but another poll released last month
showed Doyle leading Barrett 20% to 17% among those who backed specific
Democratic candidates.

Barrett: Milwaukee focus

At 7:30 one recent morning, an important knot of Kenosha-area Democrats is
drinking coffee and plotting to help their pal, Tom Barrett, win.

The group includes former U.S. Rep. Peter Barca, Barrett's onetime
Washington roommate and now an Illinois business executive, and past and
present state legislators. Barrett, 48, says he has the backing of about 35
Democratic legislators.

Barrett's chief political weapon may be his outgoing Irish friendliness.
"Tom's campaign is basically centered on the fact that people like him -
and they do like him," Gary George says of his fellow Milwaukee Marquette
High School classmate and now opponent.

Barrett has offered few specifics on how he would solve the growing list of
problems the next governor faces - including the yawning budget gap, how to
pay to rebuild the Marquette Interchange in downtown Milwaukee and how to
solve the "brain drain" of college graduates.

His strategy to win in September is simple: Do well in his Milwaukee-area
political base, because about 40% of the Democratic primary votes statewide
will be cast in that media market, and line up enough "ground support" in
other key regions - Kenosha, Racine, Green Bay, La Crosse and Superior to
blunt Doyle and Falk's political base in Dane County.

Last month, U.S. Rep. Dave Obey took Barrett on a three-day endorsement
tour of his northwestern Wisconsin district. The backing by Obey, who asked
those who have helped him over his 33-year career in Congress to do all
they can for Barrett, gave the Milwaukee Democrat a big boost.

"There's no identifiable person who is the heir apparent," Barrett says of
the fight for the Democratic nomination to take on McCallum. "Our challenge
is go after the younger people, who don't gravitate naturally to either the
Democrats or the Republicans."

Falk: 'Solutions'

The professional - almost clinical - style of Dane County Executive
Kathleen Falk, 50, sends this message: She isn't intimidated by anyone or
any problem.

In 1997, when she ran for the job of running Wisconsin's second-largest
county government, with a $400 million annual budget, she had to beat four
better-known men - and did.

"I love balancing budgets, and we have a $1 billion budget deficit," she
says. "I run a tight ship, and I love doing it."

To illustrate how she "brings people together," Falk offers this example:
Immediately after being elected Dane County executive, she called up real
estate agents and developers who had worked against her and initiated a
discussion. The negotiations led to a major Dane County land-preservation
plan that voters approved.

Falk has issued four detailed position papers on problems in the state:
protecting the environment; boosting per-capita income; creating statewide
drug courts to cut the number of non-violent criminals in prison; and
improving health care. She would fund her health care proposals by raising
the 77-cent state tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1.62.

Why, Falk asks, is she the only Democrat with specific solutions on these
problems? "That's what you ought to be expecting of your candidates."

A lawyer whose state job as an environmental advocate was targeted and
abolished by ex-Gov. Thompson, Falk uses her passion for Wisconsin's
outdoors as a campaign centerpiece.

"I hunt, I fish," she says.

And just when listeners are about to stereotype Falk as a policy wonk, she
offers her personal story: her struggle as a divorced single mother raising
her son, Eric, "the light of my life." And she explains the joy of being
engaged to state Rep. Peter Bock (D-Milwaukee), a friend of Barrett's.

Falk is counting on her national EMILY'S List endorsement for campaign
cash. The EMILY'S List political action committee funnels cash nationally
to candidates who support abortion rights. After she got the EMILY'S List
endorsement, Falk quickly scheduled 15 fund-raising events, including three
in one day - June 18.

George: 'Separate the politics'

George, 48, is touring Milwaukee schools with leaders of the city's
teachers union. "I've been in plenty of schools," he says, noting that his
mother retired from MPS and his father practiced law in Milwaukee.

"I am a completely native-grown product and ideal to run for this job."

To the students, each one of whom he makes shake his hand and tell him
their name, he jokes: "Tell your parents to think about me."

A senator since 1980, George will need more than the votes of MPS parents
to win the Democratic nomination for governor. But, if the prize was
awarded based on experience or past Capitol work, it should be his, he says.

"We need a governor who understands how the budget operates," says George,
who has co-chaired the Legislature's budget committee for about 10 years.

"My three (Democratic) opponents all have resumes to redeem themselves, but
they don't compare to mine in knowledge of state government and the budget
process," George says. "We don't need on-the-job-training."

If elected governor, George said, he would force the Legislature to pass a
budget in 90 days, instead of the eight-or nine-month marathons of recent
years.

George says campaign-finance reform must become law because
special-interest cash has corrupted the Capitol. "We've lost focus on our
responsibility to the people, to govern, and separate the politics from
it," he says.

George has called for an income tax cut and a reworking of who gets
property tax credits to target relief to homeowners, renters and farmers.
He has not explained how he would pay for it.

"We have four months to go, which is a long time," George says of the
primary. "Depending on what happens with the caucus investigation and the
budget crisis, I think when voters focus on my credentials and my plan for
budget and campaign-finance reform, we'll capture the imagination of the
electorate. That's what I'm counting on."

Thompson: Off-beat alternative

In his first 45 years, Ed Thompson tried it all - assembly line worker for
General Motors in Janesville, federal prison guard, Toughman competition
fighter, boxer, failed businessman.

That brought him to 1990, broke and desperate for a career and success.

He got one more loan, for $80,000, paid off his creditors and rededicated
himself to his restaurant, the Tee-Pee Supper Club in Tomah.

Soon after that, he quit drinking too much, threw away his four-pack-a-day
cigarette habit and stopped gambling.

It worked. His restaurant had sales of $902,000 last year, with more than
35 employees. He was elected mayor of Tomah, a term that ended a few weeks
ago. He is buying property around the restaurant.

Thompson also gets income - $14,000 or so last year - from video poker
machines in his restaurant. He reported federal taxable income of only
about $13,000 last year.

Thompson, 57, hopes voters are so fed up with traditional politicians - a
category that includes brother Tommy - that they will turn to someone who
isn't afraid to say what he thinks.

Last week, Ed Thompson came to Slinger Middle School to fight a $5 million
state Transportation Department bridge and highway-widening project.

"I'd stop it," he growls, although he acknowledged it was approved on the
watch of his older brother.

It isn't the only part of Tommy's legacy Ed Thompson would dismantle: He
says he would sell new prisons his brother backed and jettison Smart Growth
land-use planning by local governments.

Ed Thompson is outspoken on many issues. Public teachers should have the
right to strike. Marijuana should be legalized for the critically ill, and,
eventually, legalized for everyone else. Vouchers that use tax funds to let
the poor attend private schools should be expanded statewide.

"Every day, I'm going to work like a mule on this campaign," Ed Thompson
says. "On November 6, I'm either going to be governor or a bartender."

THE CANDIDATES

Thomas M. Barrett Age: 48

Party: Democrat

Native of: Milwaukee

Family: Married; four children

Current position: Congressman

Education: Bachelor's degree and law degree, UW-Madison

Political experience: State Assembly, 1984 to 1989; state Senate, 1989 to
1993; 5th Congressional District since 1993

Money raised in 2001: $650,162

Cash on hand as of Jan. 1: $1.2 million

James E. Doyle Age: 56

Party: Democrat

Native of: Madison

Family: Married; two children

Current position: Attorney general

Education: Bachelor's degree, UW-Madison; law degree, Harvard University

Political experience: Former Dane County district attorney; attorney
general since 1991

Money raised in 2001: $1.2 million

Cash on hand as of Jan. 1: $1.3 million

Kathleen Falk Age: 50

Party: Democrat

Native of: Milwaukee area

Family: Divorced; one child

Current position: Dane County executive

Education: Bachelor's degree, Stanford University; law degree, UW-Madison

Political experience: Public intervenor, 1983-'95; Dane County executive
since 1997

Money raised in 2001: $348,101

Cash on hand as of Jan. 1: $337,068

Gary R. George Age: 48

Party: Democrat

Native of: Milwaukee

Family: Married; four children

Current position: State senator

Education: Bachelor's degree, UW-Madison; law degree, University of Michigan

Political experience: State senator since 1981

Money raised in 2001: $144,251

Cash on hand as of Jan. 1: $52,541

Scott McCallum Age: 51

Party: Republican

Native of: Fond du Lac

Family: Married; three children

Current position: Governor

Education: Bachelor's degree, Macalester College; master's degree, Johns
Hopkins University

Political experience: State Senate, 1977-'87; lieutenant governor,
1987-2001; governor since Feb. 1, 2001

Money raised in 2001: $2.8 million

Cash on hand as of Jan. 1: $2.4 million

Allan 'Ed' Thompson Age: 57

Party: Libertarian

Native of: Elroy

Family: Divorced; four children

Current position: Supper club owner

Education: Attended UW-Madison

Political experience: Mayor of Tomah, 2000-'02

Money raised in 2001: $105,476

Cash on hand as of Jan. 1: $18,654

Ed Thompson: "Every day, I'm going to work like a mule on this campaign."