Former Mayor Paul Soglin got local politicos all in a huff on his blog earlier this week when he made a tongue-in-cheek threat — if the Democrats cannot field a candidate by Thanksgiving Day, he’d announce his candidacy on Dec. 1, 2009.

He seemed bewildered when many people took it seriously. On Monday, he backed off the post and tried to calm readers with a plea for a candidate with progressive principles: “Let’s elect someone who embraces government, knows its limitations, and is committed to making it better.”

That’s right! Just not me.

Or Barbara Lawton.

And not Tom Barrett, he has a school district to save.

Or Kathleen Falk. She’s lost campaigns by mere votes! Certainly she can’t engage in political campaigns while Dane County’s prosperity is on the line.

Ron Kind would love to, but he doesn’t want to lose his place in line for a Senate seat!

This sounds like a very complacent and wishy-washy party to me. Where have I heard that complaint before?

Oh, of course. From everyone who ever lived under Jim Doyle. Even if the man didn’t destroy the state of Wisconsin, I don’t think anyone can claim he was a dynamic or bold leader for the majority of his term. When Doyle dropped out of the race this August, strategists likely had one thing on their mind for Democratic candidates — get as far away from Doyle as possible. Be bold. Fight for progressive policies. Fight for tight fiscal management. Fight indecisiveness.

Hell, fight boredom.

Apparently, the Democratic party decided to outsource to the Republicans. And they’re not the best contractor either.

So now we have a governor’s race with five Republican candidates and one 18-year-old McDonald’s manager. While I would bet the McDonald’s manager probably has more fiscal expertise than Scott Walker, the result is a total wash for Democrats.

You’re becoming Jim Doyle, folks. Even if, at the end of this week, Barrett decides to give it a shot, it’s going to look forced. What’s more, it won’t come spring-loaded with a platform. That’s going to take time. And considering Lawton didn’t put any ideas on the table in her brief quasi-campaign, it allows Walker and Neumann to get in a few early jabs before he’s even put the gloves on.

Basically, the only person who’s doing an adequate job at not being Jim Doyle is, well, Jim Doyle.

When Doyle announced he wouldn’t embarrass himself by running for a third term, he made it very clear that he would not hang the lame duck label by his neck. This would be an action packed 18 months and you are all going to see some changes.

Surprisingly, he seems somewhat resolute, in comparison.

For example, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called out Wisconsin for not meeting the standards necessary for Race to the Top grants. Doyle was shamed; Doyle acted. Only a week after announcing his intention to take down these barriers, the Legislature granted him his wish. Congratulations, you can now do the same thing every other state does and possibly get money for it.

There’s been a trend toward other goals too, even before he announced his decision: BadgerCare Core Plus (even if it was only a temporary fix), the shift toward biofuels and alternative energy, even Doyle telling legislators to make the third OWI offense a felony. Sure, it’s not going to happen, but at least he demanded something. From anyone.

So the tables are turned. Sort of.

The issue is, of course, that despite any sort of action from Doyle or the Legislature, they still can’t deal with the economy in any sort of way that’s even remotely helpful. Racine managed to create a whole 28 jobs and it only took a million dollars in incentives. And we’re supposed to see this as progress?

Until Democrats come up with a feasible and reasonable plan for economic growth, they’re not going to be able to launch a very successful campaign. And if they can’t launch a successful campaign, they won’t launch any campaigns.

Wrong plan. Walker doesn’t have a substantive platform and that didn’t stop him from announcing back in April, did it?

Dems, if you want to stay in this race, you have to man up and run. I don’t care if you’ve got better things to do. I don’t care if your head isn’t always in the right place. In fact, all potential and dream candidates should all declare candidacy at the same time just so there’s some unified voice from the Democratic Party. Then we’ll decide who actually deserves the nomination.

Then that person will likely lose. Unless people realize that Walker can barely run his county.

Then we can draft Soglin.

Forward?

Jason Smathers ([email protected]) is a graduate student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.