By Peter Cohn
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 11

Delegates: 93

Chairman: Terri Spring

Hotel: Hollywood Roosevelt (323) 466-7000

1996 Election:
Clinton – 49%
Dole – 39%
Perot – 10%

For weeks after he conceded defeat to Vice President Al Gore in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley declined to offer the "e-word," as Wisconsin Democratic Party Executive Director Tom Young put it.

But when Bradley finally did endorse Gore during a July 13 event at a Green Bay amusement park, Wisconsin Democrats "were extremely excited."

"It was great to have them both in Wisconsin," which will turn out to be a "key battleground state" in November, said Young. He went on to say that all of the state's 93 delegates to the Democratic National Convention - selected as the result of an April 4 primary - are pledged to Gore, but that there had originally been a good deal of support for Bradley in the state.

State Democratic Party Co-Chairman Terri Spring said the delegation she is leading to Los Angeles is "very team-oriented" and fully united behind Gore. She said that the Gore campaign made a concerted effort to reach out to Wisconsin Democrats, focusing on community activists who have not traditionally had strong ties to the party.

"It may have rubbed some longtime Democratic activists the wrong way" that Gore and the state party went out of their way to recruit disabled persons, minorities and young people as delegates to the national convention in Los Angeles, said Spring. But the goal, she continued, is to win in November, and that means "including as many people as possible in the political process."

Gore will need that kind of unity if he is to keep Wisconsin in the Democratic column. President Clinton twice carried this partisan "swing" state, with pluralities both times: 41 percent to 37 percent over Republican incumbent George Bush in 1992 and 49 percent to 39 percent over Republican challenger Bob Dole in 1996. It is, however, one of 10 states in which Democrats have a three-election winning streak, having given a narrow edge to 1988 nominee Michael S. Dukakis over Bush.

Spring said Clinton should stand back and let Gore take the spotlight, even though Clinton "is a larger than life figure" who "has brought us to prosperity." She said she believes that Gore would be as effective a president as Clinton has been, and even stronger on environmental issues.

Spring also offered that the Republican presidential nominee, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, doesn't hold a candle to Gore as a national leader. "He isn't very serious," she said of Bush. "It's mind-boggling that a guy with six years experience" as an elected official might become president, whereas Gore "has devoted his entire career to public service."

Wisconsin Attorney General Jim Doyle - a longtime Democratic activist whose father drafted the state party constitution - touted Gore from a prosecutor's perspective.

"Being in law enforcement, I really appreciate the Clinton-Gore administration's tough stance on crime," said Doyle. "The Republicans are all rhetoric" when it comes to fighting crime, he continued, giving his credit to the Democrats for enactment of anti-crime legislation. "President Clinton put more cops on the street and devoted more resources" to law enforcement, Doyle said. The law "strikes a very good balance between prevention and punishment," he said.

The last time self-employed consultant Linda Honold was a delegate was at the 1984 convention in San Francisco. She strongly supports the vice president, but admits she "wavered early on."

"It was a tough decision for me . . . I was rooting for both guys," said Honold. At the top of Honold's list of priorities are the appointments to the Supreme Court and federal agencies that the next president will make. She said she believes Gore would safeguard abortion rights with his appointments, among other things.

Not so for the Republican candidate, according to Honold, who said, "Bush is scary. Some of the things that have happened under his watch, all those [capital punishment] executions . . . it's outrageous."

WISCONSIN NOTABLES: U.S. Sens. Russell D. Feingold and Herb Kohl; U.S. Rep. David R. Obey, ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee; U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, who in 1998 became the first lesbian elected to the House; state Attorney General James Doyle; state Democratic Party Co-Chairman Terri Spring, the delegation chairman.