Wagner's wishful thinking rewrites history

Republican radio talker Jeff Wagner, Charlie Sykes's little brother, tries to use Tuesday's election to bludgeon every liberal he doesn't like, starting with Jim Doyle, who once whupped Wagner's butt in a race for attorney general. Says Wagner:

Interestingly, it appears that in the wake of yesterday's electoral flameouts, Doyle is hitting the road to campaign for Obama in North Carolina. Hillary Clinton can only hope that Doyle will bring the same reverse Midas touch to the Obama campaign that he brought to so many campaigns in Wisconsin yesterday.

How soon they forget. It seems like just six weeks ago that Doyle was stumping Wisconsin for Obama, who trounced Clinton in the Feb. 19 primary. (What? Oh, it was just six weeks ago.)

Then there's this:

Another big loser last night was the liberal attack group, The Greater Wisconsin Committee ... This is now the third consecutive statewide race that candidates opposed by The Greater Wisconsin Committee (and the special interest groups that provide it's [sic] financing) have won.

They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and being surprised that the results aren't different. How many more elections will the backers of The Greater Wisconsin Committee have to lose before they realize that their slimeball tactics simply aren't working?

Let's get the disclaimer out of the way: I'm a former consultant to GWC, but retired a year ago and now serve as a member of its board.

Wagner must be referring to last year's Supreme Court race, when the ethically challenged Annette Ziegler won, and, I guess, to Kathleen Falk's loss in the AG's race in 2006 to J.B. Van Hollen.

GWC did a little other work in 2006, too, which Wagner seems to have forgotten. Except for some spending done by its political action committee, GWC does not advocate for or against candidates, but publicizes the records and positions of public officials on issues.

In 2006, GWC was involved in issue advertising involving Gov. Jim Doyle and Rep. Mark Green, and in four State Senate districts. My recollection is that Doyle was reelected handily and that Democrats won all four of those Senate seats, defeating Republican incumbents in three of them and taking control of the State Senate. Perhaps Wagner has a different recollection, but he could always check the Blue Book.