Wisconsin was a key primary state, 51 years ago

In 1967, potential presidential candidates were spending time in Wisconsin preparing for the ’68 April primary.  The Badger State had the first major primary after New Hampshire, and one favored GOP candidate was Michigan Gov. George Romney, the father of Mitt Romney.  Wisconsin political activist Wilbur Renk said if Romney were to lose the state, he would be out of the race.  But Romney dropped out before Wisconsin anyway, after he was criticized for saying in a TV interview that he had gotten a “brainwashing” from the military, to get him to support the war in Vietnam.

“Activist judges” were a concern in Wisconsin in the 60’s.  Incumbent Supreme Court Justice George Currie was defeated by Circuit Judge Robert Hanson, who suggested that Currie believed in what is now called “legislating from the bench.”  In the same ’67 election, Wisconsin voters approved a constitutional change, doubling the terms of governor and lieutenant governor to 4 years. 

Movie-goers in La Crosse paid money to see Paul Newman in “Hombre”…the Disney animal comedy “Monkeys Go Home”…and the film version of the musical “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”  Fifty-one years ago, 1967, yesterday in La Crosse.