Wisconsin Election Is Referendum on Governor
By MONICA DAVEY
Published: April 4, 2011
Enlarge This ImageMEQUON, Wis. — Until a few weeks ago, this state’s election on Tuesday for a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court was widely expected to be dull and predictable.
Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, via Associated Press
David Prosser, who is seeking re-election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and JoAnne Kloppenburg, his rival, before a debate.
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But fights over the agenda of Wisconsin’s newly powerful Republicans, including cuts to collective bargaining rights, have turned this quiet judicial match into a bitter, expensive, highly personal and politicized battle, inflamed with advertising dollars expected to reach into the millions from outside liberal and conservative groups, including the Tea Party Express.
The race has turned into a referendum on Wisconsin’s new Republican governor, Scott Walker, his collective bargaining bill, and, more broadly, the Republican