SCOWI: The Early Line

HT to GOP3.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court's balance is in play and there are two contenders emerging for the seat of conservative Justice Wilcox.


In one corner, you have Linda Clifford, a Madison lawyer with ties to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, who has already poured $140,000 of her own money into her Supreme Court campaign war chest and collected another $60,000. [A lifelong Democrat, Clifford resigned from the party not long ago but concedes that she’s still a friend and strong supporter of Doyle. Since 1996, she and her husband, Keith Clifford, have donated about $18,000 to his campaign fund.]

Facing her is Washington County Judge Annette Ziegler, a conservative jurist who has little in her campaign account but has access to a lot of cash as a member of the family that launched the investment firm The Ziegler Cos. Inc. “I’m on the more conservative end of the spectrum,” said Ziegler, a 42-year-old former prosecutor who was initially appointed to the bench by then-Gov. Tommy Thompson. “I have a very high regard for Justice Wilcox.”

Although the SpiceBoyzz column from which this is taken is a bit old (3/06,) the campaign war-chests have likely grown a bit. This will be important; one wonders how the campaign messages will be shaped.