Newspapers throughout the state, including the state's two largest papers, are endorsing Jim Doyle for governor in Tuesday's election.

Dirty campaigning is probably the only area in which McCallum beats Doyle for creative thinking. ------- Wisconsin State Journal

The Wisconsin State Journal began its November 3, 2002, endorsement editorial this way:

"For the first time in 20 years, the Wisconsin State Journal urges you to elect a Democrat as governor."

The State Journal said incumbent Scott McCallum "has struggled and failed to chart a clear course for the state over the past two years."

The editorial praises Doyle's positions on budgeting, health care, and criminal justice.

It termed McCallum "an inarticulate sloganeer who can't sell a good idea to save his political life."

The State Journal blasted McCallum's negative campaign, saying "his increasingly desperate, mudslinging campaign only reinforces our conviction that he simply isn't up to being the leader Wisconsin needs in this dark hour of fiscal disaster and legislative scandal. Dirty campaigning is probably the only area in which McCallum beats Doyle for creative thinking."

The editorial concludes: "Only Doyle is equipped to make the host of difficult decisions involving the state's economic and political future. A vote for Doyle on Tuesday is the safest bet to recover our state's reputation and revive its fiscal health."

Other newspapers that have endorsed Doyle include the state's largest newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, as well as the Appleton Post-Crescent, Madison's Capital Times, Stevens Point Journal, Racine Journal Times, Marshfield News-Herald, and the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, which extensively covers western Wisconsin news.

Among the comments:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

• We believe Doyle has the potential and experience to lead Wisconsin. He can provide a good mix of visionary and practical leadership that will be particularly critical as the state faces its many problems, including a staggering deficit of $2.8 billion.
• As the state's attorney general since 1990, Doyle has done a solid job of protecting Wisconsin citizens and their interests. He has championed consumer rights, been a staunch advocate of the public's right to know and a strong legal guardian of the state's environmental resources.
• As the state's top law enforcement officer, Doyle also has demonstrated that it's possible to be tough on crime without being unsympathetic to some of its causes. Doyle, who proposed comprehensive truth in sentencing, has been endorsed by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association and the Wisconsin County Police Association.
• This year, one of (Scott) McCallum's biggest mistakes was his decision, along with the Legislature's, to balance the current budget by using up every nickel of the $1.6 billion settlement of a tobacco lawsuit. That act helped to mortgage Wisconsin's future. There were other miscues, including his proposal to phase out $1 billion in state shared revenue for local units of government in less than three years.

Appleton Post-Crescent:

• When McCallum faced a deficit of more than $1 billion in this year’s state budget, he signed a budget-repair bill that traded most of a long-term return from the state’s tobacco settlement (we’re still not sure how much will have been spent) for a one-time lump sum that fixed the deficit for a year but didn’t provide the necessary long-term solutions. That’s bad decision-making.
• Doyle’s long-range vision is more defined than McCallum’s, including early childhood intervention in education and health, and changes to truth-in-sentencing laws to reflect their original intentions.
• This is a time of change in the history of Wisconsin government. The charges that legislative leaders face bear out that fact. Doyle, who has been a strong attorney general, has been at his most inspirational when vowing to fight even his own party’s leaders to ensure that change.

Madison Capital Times:

• With a political corruption scandal rocking the Capitol, with state budget deficits caused by years of irresponsible spending and tax policies, and with a growing consensus that new approaches to education, health care and the environment are desperately needed, it is clear that Wisconsinites must use their ballots in the Nov. 5 gubernatorial election to vote for change. That necessity makes this year's choice a remarkably easy one. Only one candidate on the ballot, Attorney General Jim Doyle, has the combination of experience, values and strength of purpose needed to make the change. Electing Doyle is the essential first step that Wisconsin must make to begin a process of economic, environmental and ethical renewal.
• Doyle has backed up his long-term commitment to public education with a pledge to remove teacher salary caps - a move that would permit local school boards to attract and retain outstanding teachers.
• And, as a three-term attorney general nationally recognized for his consumer protection advocacy, Doyle has a record that assures us that he will reassert the role of state government in protecting health and safety.
• Doyle can make big promises because he has accomplished big things. He earned national recognition for his skilled management of a major state office for more than a decade. Few doubt that he will hit the ground running as governor, something McCallum - a man burdened by special interest ties and seemingly devoid of political courage or competence - was never able to do.

Stevens Point Journal:

• (Scott McCallum) did not make the mess in Madison, but in nearly two years in office, he's made little progress on cleaning up the place. His solutions for filling the state's budget shortfall allowed state government to avoid the problem. Stealing the tobacco money and cutting shared revenues were easy, short-term solutions. McCallum should forever be remembered for signing away most of the long-term return from the state's tobacco settlement for a quick budget fix. He had his chance to show leadership, and he blew it.

Posted November 4, 2002