Green, Gard Party Quiet with Polls Still Open

Three hours before the victory party for gubernatorial candidate Mark Green and 8th CD candidate John Gard -- and with the polls still open -- the biggest cluster of guests was the media.

The parking lot was a sea of TV antenna trucks. TV reporters from Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay had already set up their cameras. About five were at the Gard event and more than a dozen pointed at a "Mark Green: Governor" banner.

Green supporters remained hopeful of a victory.

Green spokesman Mike Prentiss said that support for Republicans in other states may be down, but Wisconsin voters want Mark Green to be their next governor and that the race is going to be very close.

At about 5:50 p.m., the room suddenly got very bright as all dozen or so news stations in the Green party prepared for their live shots.

Prentiss said were all plugged into the same outlets when they did their live shots just at 5 p.m. and blew the circuit breaker, cutting off a bunch of the lights.

Green continued to campaign during the day. During a brief stop at the Milwaukee County RPW headquarters in West Allis, he told WisPolitics that an editorial in the Wall Street Journal shows "Wisconsin is becoming an embarrassment."

The article says campaign finance reform has made it easier to keep power, pointing to the Wisconsin governor's race as an example. It then recounts the controversy over the state Elections Board order for Green to dump some $468,000 in donations from out-of-state PACs converted from his congressional fund to his gubernatorial account.

"The rigged Elections Board vote is a moment in history," Green said. "It shows, I think, a governor desperate to hold on to power, but it's not the Wisconsin way."

-- By Joe Ahlers