Another DUer who wishes to remain anonymous (but

[Jackpine Radical]

whose initials are ewagner) and I were talking about getting a band of political activists together to go around doing interesting things in local races.

Well, I got a great first project for us. Let's figure out how to beat Michael Huebsch in the 94th (La Crosse area) Sure, it's trespassing, but what the hell? The guy is a real bottleneck as Assembly Speaker, and life would just be better in this state if he were out of power. I don't even know who (if anyone!) is running against him, but I wanna see him retire.

Any DUers in the 94th?

Any additional volunteers?

There's gonna be plenty of stuff to work with. Even a lot of Republicans are getting unhappy with Huebch's brand of obstructionism.

[HereSince1628]

1. You chumming for the FBI's version of Carnivore?

You sure loaded that with a lot of key phrases HSD and the FBI are interested in.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Jeez, you're right, if you read it for that.

Still time for a light edit...

[HereSince1628]

3. Looks much more like the meaning you intended!

[Viking12]

4. I have a second project: Mark Westphal in the 55th...

...to unseat perennial pain in the ass Dean Kaufert. Westphal garnered 48% of the vote in 2006 and with a good ground game could potentially beat Kaufert.

Edited to add: http://markwestphal.org/

[sybylla]

5. Rumor is there's a candidate

but they haven't made it public yet. Huebsch is a pain in the posterior. Would be nice to keep him battling on the home front if we accomplish nothing else. Count me in.

[LiberalFighter]

6. You need to pick the right candidates to unseat

In this case, I think your main objective is to remove him as Assembly Speaker. What is the split in the Assembly Chamber? If you can elect enough candidates so that the Republicans are not in control of the Assembly he will no longer be the Speaker.

That should be the first part of the strategy. The second part would be to attempt to vote him out of office in case the first part fails.

[sybylla]

7. I think we stand a fine shot of taking the majority in the assembly

We only need three seats for a majority. The first part of your strategy is already in strong play. But if Huebsch remains minority leader, he'll still be a pain in the posterior. I like the idea of targeting him as a DU mission.

[LiberalFighter]

8. Then it is being done right.

The other thing too would be to target some seats that should be reasonably safe and take it. That might be the way to tick off his supporters off to elect someone else.

Make sure you all get Wisconsin cleaned up before I move back up there next year.

[sybylla]

9. We'll do what we can!

There is an incredible amount of targeting taking place across the state by several Democratic and progressive organizations. What JackpineRadical is talking about is something we can specifically focus on as DUers. Of course each of us will be participating in local efforts. But those of us who can afford to expend a little extra effort in unseating Mr. Huebsch, or in some other endeavor, are looking forward to a little added success - putting a little cherry on top of that 2008 Democratic Sundae.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. I want both. I want him defeated along with enough Puggies

so the Speaker will have a D behind his name.

Huebsch has really been setting himself up for a fall. He's one of the major obstacles to the Great Lakes States not being able to put together a resolution opposing the theft of water via pipeline for the Southwest like Richardson wants to do. I think that with a bit of research and a barrage of letters to the editor & whatnot, we could turn him into a beautiful dog turd (Huebsche Hundscheisse.)

[ewagner]

11. I'll contribute what I can

in terms of time and effort too....

:hi:

[Jackpine Radical]

12. Aw, I thought you were gonna send money.

Shucks.