This makes for two interesting races this spring, then

by folkbum

As I said to Jane Hampden on "Lake Effect" back when she was doing that "Wisconsin Bloggers" series, every time I think about quitting this gam, there's always one more election on the horizon that I want to be in mix of. This spring, there's two (statewide; there's a school board race here in town). First, Wisconsin State Supreme Court, and now State Superintendent:

Elizabeth Burmaster, state superintendent of public instruction since 2001, said Monday that she will not seek a third term as the state’s highest ranking kindergarten-through-12th grade education official.

Tony Evers, Burmaster’s deputy since she first took office, said he will run in the election in spring, and Burmaster threw her support behind him.

I'm very curious to see who else lines up in this race. I anticipate the race will be about just one or two things--with some variation depending on how quickly the Obama administration makes adjustments to No Child Left Behind. One will be the state funding formula for public schools. There are enough districts (MPS is hardly the only one) for whom adequate funding is no longer a given in any particular year. The second will undoubtedly be MPS itself.

The article also drops this out of nowhere: "There has been some speculation that Burmaster wanted to run for governor in 2010 if Gov. Jim Doyle does not seek re-election." Perhaps I do not mingle in the right Democratic circles, but of all the names I've heard, Burmaster's is not among them. If Doyle is offered an takes a position in an Obama administration, there will be a primary in 2010, and Burmaster's hardly the frontrunner for that job right now.