Subway series

The primary is over, the race for governor coming down to one between the Democrat Tom Barrett, current mayor of Milwaukee, and Republican Scott Walker, the current Milwaukee County Executive.  We have our own, political version of a New York vs. New York World Series!

Thank heaven our primary is so late; there are only seven weeks until the final election for them to blast us with ads.  Milwaukee is not only home to both candidates, it is one of the most populous metro areas in the state.  You can imagine the the constant barrage of misinformation bombarding us, as both boys are determined to win the home game, and mostly likely, the state along with it.

One of the biggest issues is one that may have a substantial impact on the national political stage: high speed rail.  Wisconsin has been awarded somewhere upwards of $800 million to develop a high speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison.  The current governor and Mr. Barrett are all for the project, in fact, the governor is doing everything possible to spend as much of the funds as he can before he is kicked out of office, on the basis that too much will have been spent for us to cancel the project (funds would need to be returned to the government if we change our minds).

Mr. Walker, on the other hand, has vowed to scrap the project if he is elected, regardless of how much has been spent, on the basis that the operating costs - to be borne solely by Wisconsin - will be upwards of $10 million per year, conservatively speaking.  That's a bit steep, considering the only likely riders are those who may need to commute from one city to another for work.

If we scrap the project, it will be a huge black eye for the President's much touted plan to turn us into Europe rebuild American infrastructure.  Odds are that politicians in other states in line for money for HSR will feel their feet growing colder if the Wisconsin voters send a clear message that they will not fall for such a boondoggle.

In other words, the "little people" may actually have an opportunity to make a real difference.  It's nice to be wanted.