Gov. James Doyle (D) Elected 2002, 1st term up Jan. 2007
Born:	Nov. 23, 1945, Washington, DC
Home:	Maple Bluff
Education:	Attended Stanford U. 1963-66, U. of WI, B.A. 1967, Harvard U., J.D. 1972
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Jessica)
Elected  Office:	Dane Cnty. D.A., 1976-82; WI Atty. Gen. 1990-02.
Professional Career:	Peace Corps, Tunisia, 1967-69; Atty., Navajo Indian Reservation (Chinle, AZ), 1972-75; Practicing atty., 1982-90.
Office	115 E. State Capitol, Madison 53707, 608-266-1212; Fax: 608-267-8983; Web: www.wisgov.state.wi.us.
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James Doyle, a Democrat, was elected governor of Wisconsin in 2002. He grew up in Madison, in a political family. His parents were part of a group of Madison liberals in the rising Democratic party of the 1950s and the dominant Democratic party of the 1960s--Governor and Senator Gaylord Nelson, Senator William Proxmire, Governor Pat Lucey, Governor John Reynolds, Capital Times editor Miles McMillan. Doyle's mother was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 1948, only the second woman there, but the fourth generation of her family (the Bachhubers) to serve there. His father ran for governor in 1954 and lost the primary to Proxmire; in 1967 he became a federal judge, for years the only judge in the Western District of Wisconsin, and issued dozens of liberal rulings disallowing state and federal government actions. Jim Doyle was a star basketball player and top student in high school in Madison, went to Stanford for three years and then graduated from the University of Wisconsin. With his wife, a niece of Congressman and Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, he spent two years in the Peace Corps in Tunisia; back in the U.S. they marched in Washington in protest of the Vietnam War and then met Laird in his office in the Pentagon. Doyle graduated from Harvard Law School, then worked for three years as a lawyer on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.

He returned to Madison in 1975 and in 1976 ran against Dane County District Attorney Humphrey Lynch, a Democrat, and beat him. He served for six years, then went into private practice in Madison. In 1990 he ran for attorney general and defeated the incumbent Republican. His best publicized accomplishment was the state's $6 billion tobacco settlement, but he was criticized for paying the state's lawyers $847 million; Ed Garvey, a Democrat who had run for governor, sued and got the fee blocked.

Governor Tommy Thompson, long the dominant figure in state politics and the author of the changes in welfare laws that became a model for the nation, left Madison in January 2001 after 14 years as governor to become Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Lieutenant Governor Scott McCallum became governor. He was faced with more serious budget problems than Thompson had faced in many years, and in January 2002 he proposed that the state cut $1 billion in aid to local governments over the next three years. The cut in local aid was unpopular and McCallum's job rating, hovering around 50% in fall 2001, fell to about 35% in spring 2002.

Four Democrats lined up to run against McCallum. Doyle set out a specific program; he would meet the state's budget problems by cutting the work force from 67,000 to 56,000, which is what it was when Thompson became governor in 1987, and would not increase taxes; he would tax business only on Wisconsin sales, not on Wisconsin payroll and property; he would continue current funding levels or more on education and health care. He was endorsed by former Governors Gaylord Nelson, Pat Lucey (who had managed his father's campaign for governor in 1954) and Martin Schreiber. But he was backed by few legislators, many of whom were angry at his prosecutorial attitude toward state Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, who was in trouble because his staffers had been politicking in his state office. Doyle started off much better known than his Democratic rivals, none of whom had a statewide base. Milwaukee Congressman Tom Barrett was well known in his district and, from previous service in the state Senate and Assembly, popular among Democratic legislators, most of whom endorsed him. Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk ran as a candidate with executive experience and was relying on her Madison area base and EMILY's List. State Senator Gary George ran as the candidate with the most experience in state government and hoped to build on his base among teachers' unions and Milwaukee blacks. But Wisconsin's population is only 6% black (three-quarters of whom live in Milwaukee) and George was thrown off the ballot in July for invalid signatures.

The Democratic candidates avoided negative campaigning; the ads were mostly positive. Doyle's showed his two grown sons, who are adopted and of African-American descent, praising him. In the September primary Doyle ran pretty evenly statewide, in no county above 54% or below 30%; the others' support was mostly in their bases.

Doyle came out of primary night swinging at McCallum. "He's living proof that not all on-the-job training programs are successful," said Doyle. He continued to run on cutting $1 billion by reducing the number of state employees and attacked McCallum for spending the state's entire tobacco settlement on balancing one year's budget. McCallum, who emerged from the primary with three times as much money, ran an ad showing a messy desk and spilled coffee and attacked Doyle for missing deadlines while doing the state's legal business. McCallum said he would balance the budget through revenue growth and said Doyle had promised teachers' unions and other groups programs that would cost $2.7 billion on top of an anticipated $2.8 billion shortfall. Into the fray also stepped a third candidate, Libertarian nominee Ed Thompson, who ran the Tee-Pee Supper Club in Tomah and was elected mayor of the town. But the real reason Thompson attracted attention was because he is Tommy Thompson's brother. In public polls Doyle had the lead, but never took off, while McCallum never seemed to rise above his lackluster job rating and Thompson ran in the high single digits.

In November Doyle beat McCallum 45%-42%, with 11% for Ed Thompson; Thompson carried the county where he lived and the next-door county where he grew up. It was a narrow win for Doyle, and one accompanied by Republican gains in legislative races: Republicans won control of the state Senate 18-15 and enlarged their Assembly majority to 58-41. In many ways this was a different race in different media markets. In the Milwaukee market McCallum led 47%-44%, with Thompson at 7%; in the Fox River Valley McCallum led 47%-41%, with Thompson at 8%. This eastern part of Wisconsin, with 57% of votes, went Republican. Where Doyle won was in the Madison market, where he led 49%-30%, and Thompson got 17%, and in the Wausau and Eau Claire markets, where he led 44%-37%, and Thompson got 15%. These two areas cast 35% of the state's votes. In the farthest west counties, served by Twin Cities and Duluth TV, Thompson was not much of a factor, with just 5% of the votes; here Doyle led 50%-24%.

In office Doyle faced a $3.2 billion deficit but, working with Republican legislators, was able to balance the budget without increasing sales, income or corporate taxes. A tax on job creation was eliminated and a single-tax formula based on corporate sales established. So was a sales tax exemption for the cost of energy used in manufacturing. Doyle declared that taxes as a percentage of income were the lowest in Wisconsin in 34 years and said Republican legislators deserved some of the credit. They also cooperated on bills authorizing member-owned health insurance cooperatives, creating five regional health care purchasing alliances for farms and small businesses and establishing tax credits up to $50,000 for modernizing dairy farms. But Doyle clashed with Republicans on some issues. He called for no new prisons in four years. He vetoed bills establishing a right to carry concealed weapons, allowing local governments to hire private contractors without consent from unions, freezing property taxes and ending the Farmland Preservation Program. He sought to scale back or cut the school choice program in Milwaukee, long a target of teachers' unions. He resisted efforts to require voters to show identification at the polls; he cited his mother who had no driver's license of state ID. Republican legislators frustrated his attempts to raise the minimum wage.

In December 2004, he cut state employment by 1,500--a little below his goal. He sought to increase Wisconsin's trade with China (which is encouraging milk-drinking, despite its people's reputation for being lactose intolerant), Japan and Mexico. And in fact Wisconsin was gaining jobs, even manufacturing jobs, in 2003 and 2004, when job growth in nearby states like Michigan and Ohio was flagging.

In January 2005, facing a two-year projected deficit of $1.6 billion, Doyle again came out against a tax increase. He proposed to increase school aid by $850 million in order to hold down property tax increases (Republicans again wanted a freeze) and said he would not cut $930 million in aid to local governments. He called for $120 million in business tax credits and expansion of the Enterprise Development Zones authorized in 1995. He sought to expand the Badger Rx program for state employees and retirees and employees of participating companies. He called again for in-state college tuition for children of illegal immigrants who meet certain standards and for health care coverage for domestic partners of university and state employees.

Through all this Doyle was raising campaign funds for 2006 and in December 2004 had $2.25 million cash on hand. Republicans were busy running too. In January, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, with a record that included freezing property taxes, said he would run. Green Bay Congressman Mark Green, who stumped for Assembly candidates all over the state in 2004 and in January 2005 transferred $1.3 million from his federal campaign fund to a state campaign treasury, announced in May 2005. Tommy Thompson, heading for the private sector in early 2005, refused to rule out a run for the office which he won in four of the last five elections.

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent
2002 general	James Doyle (D)	800,515	45%
	Scott McCallum (R)	734,779	41%
	Ed Thompson (Lib)	185,455	10%
2002 primary	James Doyle (D)	212,066	38%
	Tom Barrett (D)	190,605	34%
	Kathleen Falk (D)	150,161	27%
1998 general	Tommy G.Thompson (R)	1,047,716	60%
	Ed Garvey (D)	679,553	39%
	Other	28,745	2%