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Gov. Jim Doyle won't seek re-election
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle has told associates he will announce this week that he won't seek a third term in 2010, POLITICO has learned.
The governor has been coy for months about his intentions, stockpiling money but at the same time not saying publicly whether he would run for re-election. But sources familiar with his decision not to seek a third term say Doyle recognized the difficulties he may have faced next year and didn't want to go through another campaign after a long political career. He's had to raise taxes and fees while furloughing state workers to help plug a $6.6 billion budget deficit. In doing so, his approval numbers have fallen below 40 percent. And just this week, he faced the embarrassment of seeing his legal counsel quit because she hadn't passed the state bar. "His legal counsel resigns, poll numbers have been in the tank, the state's unemployment rate is hovering above 9 percent, he's bickering with Dem lawmakers on the Finance Committee, and he's taking shots from the Madison media over one of his appointments to the Dane County bench," wrote the popular state political site Wispolitics.com in their insider "Stock Market" column last week. "And there's continued heartburn among Dems because he still hasn't officially announced if he's running for governor next year. It all adds up to a rough patch for the guv, insiders from both sides say." National Democratic strategists privately expressed concern about Doyle's re-election prospects, especially in the face of a strong GOP field that includes Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former Rep. Mark Neumann. "It's not the worst thing in the world," said one top Democrat, citing Doyle's declining popularity and a solid bench of prospective Democratic candidates Posted by: Fred 2009-08-16 |
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