From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Mayor Tom Barrett will announce this weekend that he is running for governor, the Journal Sentinel has learned.
“You would not be inaccurate to write that,” a top adviser to the two-term mayor said today.
A second Milwaukee Democrat who has firsthand knowledge of Barrett’s plans said the mayor will be running to try to replace Gov. Jim Doyle, who announced earlier that he would not seek a third term.
Barrett is expected to reveal his plans publicly at noon Sunday, ending three months of pondering and speculation.
Barrett, who earned a flood of positive media coverage for his heroic intervention in an assault at the Wisconsin State Fair earlier this year, is about as strong a candidate as Democrats could muster in order to keep this office in the blue column. File this one under “good news”.
RaceTracker Wiki: WI-Gov
WI should fall into the clear Lean D column now.
Barrett appears, from what I have read about him, to be the strongest candidate the Democratic Party could have recruited; and one who would appear to be strongly positioned out of the gate to retain the Governorship.
I am not overly familiar with WI politics though, so I will leave any real analysis of his ability to win the race to those who are.
Democrats managed to get a strong recruit for a statewide race, unlike in North Carolina.
I am hoping that a strong candidate in WI gives the DGA more money to potentially spend in IA. Culver is going to need it.