Wisconsin gets a look at a couple of presidential contenders this week. Today in Madison it's Senator Barack Obama . UW political scientist Charles Franklin says the Democrat is a candidate with a problem. “It seems that he's got a core of 20 or 22 percent of strong backers who remain loyal to him,” says Franklin. “But, over the last five or six months he hasn't done much to add to the size of that coalition.” Franklin says Obama needs to do something to overcome the “air of inevitability” surrounding Hillary Clinton.
On Thursday, GOP front runner Rudy Giuliani attends a thousand dollar a plate fundraiser in Milwaukee. “Republican rank and file have really, so far, said 'yeah, we know we don't agree with him on all these things, but you know that's really not the most important thing to us in voting.' So Giuliani has to manage to keep the conservative voters with him, and not defecting to others,” says Franklin.
Late last week, Giuliani picked up the endorsement of former Wisconsin governor, Tommy Thompson. Unlike Obama's event in Madison, Giuliani's is closed to reporters.
