No surprise; it's costing a lot to run for state Supreme Court this year. The candidates, attorney Linda Clifford and Judge Annette Ziegler, each expect to spend big money on their own campaigns — and then there are the outside groups. "The Democratic donors are lined up behind Clifford, the Republican donors are lined up behind Zieglar," says Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign . "It really does make a farce out of this whole idea of a nonpartisan supreme court race."
None of this comes as a surprise to McCabe, who predicted weeks ago that this would be the most expensive race ever for a seat on the state's highest court. In fact, McCabe says an estimate of outside spending on the race might well show that we're already there. Voters go to the polls April 3. While the Supreme Court is officially nonpartisan, Ziegler is heavily backed by Republican groups, while Clifford is the clear choice among Democrats.