Wisconsin: With Russ Feingold out of the picture, is Jon Erpenbach the next Governor?

[Scuba]

Jon is a fine candidate, as are several other Wisconsin Progressives.


Welcome your thoughts.

[elocs]

1. Again, the chorus from most in Wisconsin would be "Jon WHO???"

Certainly those who are in the know as far as politics go know all the players, but for the average WI voter as well as the huge chunk who will not ever bother to vote, they don't know who Erpenbach is.

This is exactly the reason why Republicans are reaching out to Thompson to run for the Senate.

[HereSince1628]

2. He's definitely camera ready, his politicis are correct.

The recall will require a viable alternative to Walker...and our short list is pretty short.

[ananda]

3. Why is Feingold out of the picture?

nt

[HereSince1628]

4. He said so

"While I may seek elective office again someday, I have decided not to run for public office during 2012,"

[ewagner]

5. okay...

2012 Elections include:
Herb Kohl's Senate Seat
Several State Assembly and Senate Seats
Possible recall of Walker

on the other hand...

2014 Elections include
Several State Assembly and Senate Seats
non-recall Governor's race
Attorney General
Some Supreme court races?

message to Russ...I hope this is strategic thinking ... because Wisconsin still needs you and you're too damned young to retire~

[elocs]

6. Yes, Russ has served Wisconsin well & next year we'll have some tough & important battles.

So I can understand why he might want to wait until some other time in the future to run for public office again.

[AleksS]

7. Has anyone heard from our other Senator?

I know Kohl is getting older, and retiring from the Senate...

BUT, he's still sending out email bulletins about his leg. accomplishments very regularly, and has a lot of rural support. I have a feeling he could pretty easily crush Impie Walker. But has he said anything about being willing to run?

He's not ultra-progressive, but he's far more progressive than many give him credit for, he's just worked behind the scenes a lot. And again, his ability to smash Walker, and bring rural voters and the "run WI like a business" crowd into the "D" camp would be worth its weight in gold.