The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee County Post • September 25, 2015 With Hillary Clinton twisting in the wind, the search by Democrats for an alter- native candidate for president is looking like an archaeological expedition. The only candidates are relics. It doesn't seem that long ago that the Democrats were the party of the long-haired reformers. The Republicans were the tired old goats while the Democrats brought us a new generation raised on rock 'n' roll and vowing to change the world. Now? This isn't the party of mom and dad. It's grandma and grandpa. It's actually closer to great-grandma and great-grandpa. With Hillary wobbly and possibly facing an indictment, the second-place Democrat right now is Bernie Sanders. He's an avowed socialist. He's also 74 years old and has been in Congress for 24 years. The would-be savior is Vice President Joe Biden. But he's 72 and has been suffering from senior moments for two decades. He first ran for president in 1988. There are even rumblings that California's governor will jump in. The only problem is that the guy is Jerry Brown. He's 77. He first ran for president against Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. The Democrats are old. There are no young ones available. The new generation of a party's leadership usually comes from the governors but there are no Democrat governors left. About all they have are California with the antique Brown and New York with the unpopular Andrew Cuomo. Longtime blue states like Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland and Illinois all have Republican governors. So do the swing states like Florida, Ohio and Iowa. The Democrats can't tap their bench of governors because nobody is on it. The Congress? Look at the Democrat leadership. Nancy Pelosi is 75. Harry Reid is also 75 but looks like he's 92. Nobody can even name another Democrat in Congress. The reason Hillary was the presumptive Democrat nominee is because there was no one else. Now that her lying and sour per- sonality are catching up with her, the Democrats are forced to find an alternative in a disappearing party. There are no young elected Democrats because the Democrats keep losing elections. Barack Obama's vic- tories in the last two presidential elections have distracted attention from the fact that the Democrats have lost just about every- thing else the last 10 years. Obama's poli- cies have been so unpopular that they led to Republican landslides in 2010 and 2014 that have wiped out Democrat elected officials. Obama won twice because of extraordi- nary turnout by African-American voters that the party has not been able to produce without a black candidate running for pres- ident. The raucous Republican presidential race is a stark alternative. Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and our own already-vanquished Scott Walker are young and hellbent on changing the political power structure. The oldest Republican running is Donald Trump at 69, but even that is misleading given that he acts like a teenager. The same trend has occurred in Wisconsin. The Republicans are not only winning everything in our state, they are doing it with young candidates. The Democrats are not only losing elections but are doing it with elderly candidates. It is so bad for the Wisconsin Democrats that they literally have nobody — nobody — new to run for office. The reason they are stuck with Russ Feingold as their Senate candidate is because they have nobody else that would be an even plausible alternative. Feingold is trying to do the impossible by winning back a Senate seat that he previously lost, but his party has no choice but to go with him because there is no other choice. They couldn't find anybody to run for governor last year, either. Instead, they had to use a rich woman nobody ever heard of because of a total lack of alternatives. Not only are the Republicans running Wisconsin, they are doing so with relative- ly youthful people. Scott Walker, 47, will be succeeded as governor by Rebecca Kleefisch, who is only 40 and looks younger. The attorney general, Brad Schimel, is 50, which qualifies him as old among the Republicans but would be a kid were he a Democrat. The Republican legislative lead- ers are 47-year old Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and 51-year old Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald. The most prominent Democrat in the Legislature is Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, who is 60 and has been in elec- tive office for 30 years. He's not exactly new blood. Over in the shrinking Democrat state Senate caucus sits Madison's Fred Risser, who is 88. The state's congressional delegation's most famous member is Republican Paul Ryan, who is still only 45 despite being a senior GOP leader. The Democrats? They offer us Gwen Moore, a 64-year old laugh- ingstock. The Democrats have become the party of an institutionalized establishment of unions and other special interests. Their president has essentially destroyed their party. The remaining survivors are relics. Joe Biden? This is the future? Nope. It's the very distant past. (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post. Send your personal correspondences to Mark Belling at Clear Channel Communications, c/o WISN, 12100 W. Howard Ave., Greenfield, WI 53228). MARK BELLING STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE GOP leaders youthful compared to aging Democrats OPINION Last week's question What do you think of Gov. Scott Walker's suggestion to abolish federal unions? OR On the lighter side, what did you enjoy at this weekend's Doors Open Milwaukee? Union busting is what Gov. Scott Walker does. It seems to be his mis- sion. In his world, a union — federal or otherwise — is a special interest group meddling in politics where it doesn't belong, while the NRA, big oil and other such groups are valued campaign supporters exercising free speech through monetary contributions. Someone needs to advise the governor you can't have it both ways and remain credible — at least not in this world. — Sandy Sue Szanderek Bay View *** No union should be abolished. They are very necessary for the protection of the workers — on work, on wages and benefits. Scott Walker is power- hungry and would like to control the nation like the railroad barons did in the 1800s. — Marilyn Faucett Bay View *** Scotty's suggestion to abolish federal unions is as disgusting as when he attacked Wisconsin workers and unions.At least his latest idiotic sugges- tion to attack federal workers and their unions received the attention of the nation and he was forced to drop out of the 2016 presidential race. After he laid out his agenda for fed- eral workers and their unions, he ranked with about one-half of 1 per- cent in the polls and even with such a poor performance the one-half of 1 percent was too high. I wish he would have laid out his agenda for Wisconsin workers and their unions before he was elected governor because he would not have been elected governor and Wisconsin would be in a much bet- ter position.At least at this time he is in no position to harm federal workers or their unions. — Ernie Dex Greenfield *** This week's question What do you think of Gov. Scott Walker dropping out of the GOP presidential primary contest? Editor's note: When responding to the Question of the Week, please include your full name with spelling, phone number and city where you live. Phone numbers will not be published. Anonymous responses are no longer accepted by the publication. Call 744- 6370, Ext. 15 and leave a brief answer. Readers may also send an email with a brief answer to: dmuck@conleynet.com. Question of the week Send your letters to: The Milwaukee Post, c/o Dan Muckelbauer, 3397 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207, or by email to: dmuck@conleynet.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for style, length and clarity. Letters should be typewritten or printed and include full name, phone number and address. Please keep your letters to no more than 400 words. Letters policy

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