Mark Neumann is Toast

Looks like the Wisconsin Governor's race will be an all-Milwaukee affair in 2010.  Mark Neumann is not getting any traction against Scott Walker and will soon be a laughingstock among the Republican faithful.

The latest problem came in West Bend, where any Republican candidate needs to do well. It seems Neumann made an impromptu stop at the GOP office there with a local reporter in tow, and found the door locked with a Scott Walker sign on it.  Neumann taped one of his own signs on the door and made sure the reporter took his picture doing it.  The resulting West Bend Daily News story is here.

Owen Robinson got the rest of the story from the not-so-happy county GOP chairman, Jim Geldreich, who campaigned for Neumann in 1998, when he narrowly lost to Senator Russ Feingold:

Geldreich: "...Neumann has not attended any of our Washington County GOP events, while Scott Walker has attended numerous events the past few years and has made serious efforts to get to know the Washington County Republicans.  ... I would’ve been willing to meet with Mark Neumann and/or his staff today had I known they were in West Bend, rather than have to deal with this publicity stunt."

Robinson's conclusion:

Neumann hasn’t been in contact with anyone at the Washington County GOP for months and then shows up unannounced and complains about the lack of support?  So what has Neumann accomplished?  He got a story in the paper, but managed to tick off a lot of the GOP loyalists in West Bend in the process.  Not a good move.

Christian Schneider, arguing at WPRI that the Walker - Barrett race will be close enough that it "will most likely come down to that last fish fry in Osceola," may have put it best:

Yes, I am aware that Mark Neumann is still in the GOP field for governor, but there’s a better chance of Liberace showing up and playing at my next birthday party than there is of Neumann winning the GOP nomination.

- Barry Orton

Comments

[R.J.]

Nice guy, swell fella. But zero political instinct in not seeing what everyone else can see.