Is the Adelman Travel Contract Indictment Having an Impact?

Is travelgate sticking? Has it had an impact beyond the insider political and media circles.

Well, thanks to a trip to the grocery store this morning, I can save all three gubernatorial campaigns thousands of dollars in polling and focus group expenditures.

The answer is yes.

After overhearing a conversation I was having with my brother, and asking me where exactly I went for a Fish Fry last night, a 50-something year old bagger at Pick 'n' Save looked at my shirt and asked me, "What is The Markesan Group?" I told him it was a corporate and political consulting firm. (I did not say conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, or where it was located.)

He immediately asked me:

"So, do you think this Adelman thing will sink that Doyle character?"

I said that I didn't know, that time would tell.

"I bet it does, " he said. "Shady!" he added.

I have a few theories why this particular indictment and associated allegations are having such an impact. First, the Doyle team has done an abysmal job of responding to inquiries and thus have not been able to impact the story. Second, the situation fits the template for Doyle that Republicans and others have been drawing for years: Supporters get what the want (Think tribes, teachers and trial lawyers.) Finally, and perhaps most significantly, Adelman is a well-known Democratic family name in the Milwaukee area. Everyone assumes it's a cozy relationship between the company and the Governor.

As I have said, repeatedly, an indictment does not indicate guilt. And Georgia Thompson's indictment does not mean others will be implicated.

Yet, while the legal process is the pursuit of the truth. The political process is about controlling people's perceptions.

The Doyle team has to master both to maintain control of the East Wing.

So far, no one knows about the current status or ultimate outcome of the legal process. But the Doyle team is clearly getting whacked right and left in the political arena.