The Isthmus, a Madison, Wisconsin-based alternative newspaper, ran this piece on their website exhorting Democrats to recruit the next Pat Lucey to run as their nominee.
Marc Eisen, a writer for The Isthmus, basically describes the Democratic Party of Wisconsin as a party without a soul:
The warm glow of the Nov. 6 election will finally dissipate for Wisconsin Democrats next January when the Legislature reconvenes.
Politically, the Democrats will be threatened by a Republican juggernaut. The GOP's capture of the state Senate aligns both houses with the recall-tested and change-minded Gov. Scott Walker.
Existentially, the Democrats will face an even bigger challenge in 2013 than a resolute Walker. Who are they? What do they believe? Is this a party that has a program other than restoring bargaining rights for public employees and opposing Walker on all matters?
Most importantly, what is the Democratic program to resuscitate Wisconsin's economy? Walker and the Republicans talk a good game, but the results have been meager.
The state's total workforce is still far below the December 2007 peak. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that the state actually lost 4,500 jobs over the 12-month period ending in September. The governor's pledge to help add 250,000 jobs by January 2015 increasingly sounds like wishful thinking.
Can the Democrats do better?
Perhaps they can if they look to their past and model their behavior on Pat Lucey.
Eisen went on to describe Lucey, a Democrat who was Governor of Wisconsin from 1971 to 1977, as a "business-friendly progressive" and hailed Lucey's track record of getting things done:
Governing from 1971 to 1977, Lucey merged the two university systems, enacted consumer protection laws, strengthened ethics provisions for officials, revamped campaign finance laws, shifted mental health treatment from institutions to community programs and, perhaps most importantly, retooled government aid programs to reflect the progressive vision: Poorer communities, especially their schools, should get more state aid than richer communities. Republicans howled at how Lucey threatened their low-tax enclaves.
Obviously, since Lucey is currently 91 years old and lives in an assisted-living condominium, Wisconsin Democrats can't run Lucey against Scott Walker in 2014, Wisconsin Democrats should recruit our generation's Pat Lucey to run against Walker in 2014.
While Wisconsin Democrats should focus on restoring and protecting collective bargaining rights, they're simply too focused on that for their own good. Wisconsin needs a progressive who understands job creation to lead the charge to defeat Scott Walker in 2014.
Any ideas on who that might be?