Doug Lafollette (pictured) must have gotten that MoveOn.org email that went to thousands in Wisconsin, encouraging him to run for office. But he apparently took it seriously.
"Hey," he says, "why aren't I on the list of potential candidates for governor?"
Tim Cullen was wondering the same thing, and announced the other day that he was running, and he's still not on the list. So take heart, Doug. You're not alone.
This from the Doug Lafollette Facebook page on Saturday:
You all and everyone are doing great; over 500,000 names in the first 30 days.
Thank you all !
This does lead me to a thought and a question.
Now there is growing talk and speculation about who would be a good candidate against walker in the recall election.
As you might guess, I have been getting a number of suggestions that I should run; for example, on the way to the office this morning five people commented to me to that effect. One, a teacher, when he learned who I was, was very excited about the idea of a La Follette running against the man who has turned back much of the Progressive principles of Fighting Bob.
So why do you think that the news media never mention my name and I have not seen a poll matching me against walker. I think this might have a very interesting result.
My question, do you all think I should take the idea seriously; of course, I could never do it without your support and help.
Sincerely, Doug
That musing prompted positive comments from 13 of his 2841 Facebook "friends," which caused LaFollette to revisit the subject a day later:
Hello on Sunday,
Thank you all for your very kind comments.
Several have asked about my platform and ideas. Given our current situation they are quite simple.
First, or course, defeat walker;
Second, put together a team of attorneys who can determine which of his actions can be reversed by executive order which I would do the first weeks in office;
Third, appoint people to run our State agencies who respect education, worker’s rights, environment protection and other critical values;
Fourth, if we are not successful in getting control of the State Senate, I would veto any bad legislation that was passed;
Finally, we have to realize that until we gain control of both houses, we will not be able to reverse his attack on our State and begin to pass legislation to get Wisconsin back on its progressive track. Therefore, one of my and all of our, efforts will need to be electing people to the Assembly and Senate in the November election.
For now, most importantly, I think there needs to be some serious statewide polling to determine who our strongest candidate would be. If that is not me, I will enthusiastically support them.
Sincerely, Doug
So it sounds like what LaFollette really wants is for someone to test his name in a statewide poll. My guess is he wouldn't like the results. Despite having the most famous last name in Wisconsin's political history, he is not a descendant of Fighting Bob. And despite being repeatedly re-elected as secretary of state, his only other foray into statewide politics was a run for the US Senate in 1988, when he got 3 per cent of the vote in a five-way Democratic primary, finishing fourth.
LaFollette could, of course, do his own statewide poll, but they cost money, and he prides himself on raising and spending very little money on his campaigns. He may not have enough in the bank to even pay for his own poll. While that Bill Proxmire-like approach may be refreshing to some, it hardly seems likely to defeat the tens of millions of dollars that will be spent by Scott Walker's campaign or by right-wing special interest groups on his behalf.
It's a non-starter.