4 years later...

Wisconsin will finally be creating a system to better track election data.

Wisconsin won a $2 million grant in order to draw a clearer picture of the voting behavior of Wisconsinites in this November 's presidential election.

The state is implementing a Web-based system for collecting election data from Wisconsin 's 72 county clerks and 1,851 municipal clerks in the hopes of getting more complete voting information.

Wisconsin was one of five states to win a grant from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. It will be administered by the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees state elections and ethics laws.

Should have been done after the debacle that was 2004 and is monitoring every election since...

Adult vs. Child debate

This will likely remind us of the Cheney -Edwards whooping that went down in 2004.

The Buffalo News reports that former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards will debate Karl Rove on Sept. 26 on the campus of the University of Buffalo as part of the school’s Distinguished Speakers Series. In the midst of the U.S. attorney scandal, Edwards called on President Bush to “fire Karl Rove.” When Rove announced he was resigning from the White House, Edwards released a statement that simply read “Goodbye, good riddance.”

Good one Edwards. Real dignified.

A new perspective

I don't hate negative political ads. Done right and tastefully, they get the point across. They make an impact, believe it or not.

Republican ad creative Vinny Minchillo has a well-articulated (I wanted to keep reading after the first few lines), well-timed (can you say, "approaching election"?)point to make on bad political attack ads.

When I tell people what I do, it takes them roughly 0.005 seconds to bring up the fact that they hate negative advertising. Guess what. I hate negative advertising, too. Even more than you do.

It's easy to see why anyone with taste would hate it. The traditional negative political ad starts off with a grainy picture of the opposing candidate in an unflattering pose while a baritone-voiced announcer speaks over gloomy music saying things like "What kind of man is Bob Smith?"

I hate those commercials, too. They're bad. And that's my point. People are fine with negative advertising; it's bad advertising they hate.

Focus group after focus group, for political and traditional clients alike, shows that people hate attack advertising. At least, what they perceive as attack advertising. They have no trouble with you pointing out differences, but don't attack the other side. People hate that.

Or do they?

There's an ad campaign running right now that has all the hallmarks of traditional attack advertising. One side portrays the other in an unflattering light and spends 30 seconds hammering away at the other side's flaws. It starts, "Hi, I'm a Mac. And I'm a PC."

Simple, brilliant, effective. A negative ad done with taste.

And guess what? A little good taste works in political advertising, too.

Read the rest.

The next time you complain about a negative attack ad, try to do better. Or tip Vinny off on some new business opportunities.

When I See You Smile

I just love how dudes with bad '80s hair-dos can sum up my feelings...

From the mouth itself

A Democrat said this?

In the breathless weeks before the Oregon presidential primary in May, Martha Shade did what thousands of other people here did: She registered as a Democrat so she could vote for Senator Barack Obama.

Now, however, after critics have accused Obama of shifting positions on issues like the war in Iraq, the Bush administration's program of wiretapping without warrants, gun control and the death penalty - all in what some view as a shameless play to a general election audience - Shade said she planned to switch back to the Green Party.

"I'm disgusted with him," said Shade, an artist. "I can't even listen to him anymore. He had such an opportunity, but all this 'audacity of hope' stuff, it's blah, blah, blah. For all the independents he's going to gain, he's going to lose a lot of progressives."

Someone else agrees that "hope and change" is a crap line!

Grey's Anatomical changes

Don't bite the hand that feeds you...

Is Katherine Heigl dead to the producers of Grey's Anatomy? Maybe.

Latest buzz hissing from the set of the ABC hit is that creator Shonda Rhimes may be entertaining the idea of killing off Heigl's Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens because of the now infamous remarks Heigl made about the upcoming Emmys.

Lest you forget, Heigl took herself out of the running for this year's Emmy race because she felt the writers failed to give her enough good material to work with last season.

She also shot off her mouth about the actor formerly known as Dr. Burke and isn't exactly reserved about sharing her opinion.

Knocked Up wasn't that funny anyway.

Brett Favre isn't just a "football player."

I reiterate, I hate Ted Thompson.

"Our stance is that Brett, just like any other retired player, has the option to ask the commissioner for reinstatement," said Thompson, who placed Favre on the reserve/retired list April 25, just over six weeks after Favre's emotional March 6 retirement news conference. "If he does that, he'll go on our active roster. Then we'll see how it goes after that. We don't know where that goes."

Asked who gives the Packers a better chance to win in 2008, Rodgers or Favre, Thompson replied, "Right now, we'd say Aaron Rodgers, because Aaron Rodgers is on the active roster."

Such a scenario -- having Favre on the active roster, at a $12 million base salary, competing with or backing up Rodgers -- would seem to be an an untenable position for the Packers. Asked if the club could really do that, Thompson replied, "I think we could. I grant you that there'd be some awkward moments, but at the end of the day, football players are football players.

Watch your tongue, wiseass.

Favre

I am daring to post on a matter very close to my heart that has my emotions in a tizzy.

First and foremost, Ted Thompson, we hate you. I use a collective WE, I am not alone.

A trade may be the best resolution, but Thompson and McCarthy declined to discuss that possibility. Thompson said he had not received any inquiries from other teams as of Saturday morning.

"We've communicated that to Brett, that we have since moved forward," Thompson said. "At the same time, we've never said that there couldn't be some role that he might play here. But I would understand his point that he would want to play."

When asked whether that role might be as a backup or coach, Thompson said: "not a coach."

Added McCarthy: "He did ask about that, though."

(WELL, WHY NOT AS A COACH!?) But as for Brett... I'm concerned. If he wanted to come back to the Packers, he should have fought for the right to more time earlier. We would have waited. We waited before...

I worry that if he were to get his release, going to another team would ruin his reputation among Packer fans world wide. Can anyone say Riot? We see this man as a man of honor, a man of his word. When he speaks and the tears roll down his face and he says "I have nothing left to give," we shake our heads and cry in empathy. OK, Brett, OK. We'll let you go...

To go to another team and play for a year or two, it's Reggie White at the Panthers all over again, minus the one-year of retirement. No one wants to see that.

Brett always said he wanted to end his career as a Packer. Why would he change his mind?

I'm hoping he just wants all the rumors to end, to get his release and retire for good, to not be tempted and to not burn bridges with Green Bay. Here's hoping.

Correct Change

I had dinner out with friends tonight, and my bill was $11.69. What am I brought for change for a $20?

$8 and a quarter.

To me, $8.25 + $11.69 = $19.94.

Am I really going to make a big deal out of 6 cents? No...BUT, do I want my change to be correct? Bingo.

I guess, keep the change, honey.

WMC Speaks out

In today's paper, WMC President James Buchen had some harsh and true words for the "politically tolerant" of Madison:

The free speech rights of Wisconsin business are once again under assault. This time it is not an official government action that is attempting to stifle the voice of the business community, but rather an organized campaign involving misinformation, intimidation, and threats of boycott. The effort is being spearheaded by certain Madison-based politicos, unions, and other like-minded interest groups who feel that the business community, and more specifically Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, have been too effective at blocking their political and policy agendas.

Whether it is higher business taxes, more regulatory roadblocks to creating manufacturing jobs, or an activist majority on the Supreme Court, this faction has failed to convince the public to embrace its liberal agenda. They blame the business community and are now trying to silence the primary voice of the business perspective -- the WMC issue advocacy program.

In the Alice in Wonderland world of Madison politics, where the virtues of tolerance and diversity are considered sacred, there apparently is no room for an alternative political or policy perspective that strays from liberal orthodoxy.

The campaign to silence WMC includes both the current and former mayors of Madison, a handful of other Dane county politicians, and at least one newspaper editor. They have a Web site devoted to WMC bashing and a couple of daily blogs. There is a weekly editorial rant in one of the local papers, which usually contains specious accusations of racism. They have organized pickets at WMC events, "meetings" with WMC board members, and boycotts of WMC member companies. Their objective is to intimidate business leaders into withdrawing their voice from the marketplace of ideas. That way they ensure that the public is exposed to the only "true and correct" political and policy perspective as expressed by the Wisconsin Education Association Council and the Greater Wisconsin Committee.

This misguided effort fails to account for the fact that Wisconsin business leaders are neither stupid nor cowards. As our economy sags and we continue to bleed manufacturing jobs, the WMC leadership is more resolved than ever to advocate for sensible policies aimed at improving the business climate and creating jobs in Wisconsin.

WMC leaders feel the business community has an obligation to help policymakers and the general public understand how high taxes and increasing regulation harm our competitiveness. They also believe that public disclosure of the voting records and policy positions of elected officials, be they members of the legislature or the Supreme Court, contributes to a healthy democratic process. And they are most firmly committed to ensuring that the public debate on politics and policy is not reduced to a monologue of left-wing rhetoric.

James A. Buchen is vice president of government relations for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

In a city that is so tolerant of political opinion and expression, it is true that those to the right of center feel silenced and unwelcome.

Well said, Mr. Buchen, well said.

Please tell me who cares?

Obama's kids won't be doing more interviews. Let's please write a thousand more pointless articles about a subject that impacts no one.

Just a day after the week's first installment aired, Obama seems to think so. MSNBC reports that the candidate all but called the sit-down with his wife and two daughters, Malia and Sasha, a lapse in judgment:

Barack Obama said it was a mistake to allow his daughters to be interviewed extensively by "Access Hollywood," and he will not allow it to happen again.

"I think that we got carried away in the moment," the Illinois senator and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee told TODAY's Matt Lauer Wednesday. "We were having a birthday party, and everybody was laughing. And suddenly this thing cropped up. I didn’t catch it quickly enough. I was surprised by the attention it received."

OMG, you're awful parents beacuse you let your kids be on camera. Get over yourself.

Can we get a news story that impacts American lives?

To Be With You