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Wisconsin citizens seem to have demonstrated their liking for conservative state supreme court justices.

Does this mean somone can defeat Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson when she runs for a 4th term next year?

No one has announced plans to run against Abrahamson yet, but the election is a year away. Jim Pugh, a spokesman for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, said conservative judges ? Diane Sykes, Patience Roggensack, Annette Ziegler and now Michael Gableman ? have won each of the past four contested elections.

Gableman was elected Tuesday, beating incumbent Justice Louis Butler, the first time a sitting Supreme Court justice has been ousted in 41 years.

But who dares to challenge the monumental Shirley Abrahamson? Now that an incumbent has lost, perhaps someone with far more weight than Gableman will step up. People around Madison are stunned ? stunned enough that I can see it from Brooklyn ? at Butler's loss to someone who was quite obscure:

... Gableman wasn't well known before he decided to challenge Butler in this year 's race. Hailing from a one-judge county in far northwestern Wisconsin, Gableman announced his candidacy less than six months ago and defeated Butler, of Milwaukee, by 51 percent to 49 percent

So who will take on Shirley Abrahamson? I'm not calling for her defeat, please note. I am only saying that, given the Wisconsin voters' taste for conservative judges, we deserve top-quality conservative candidates.

ADDED: Here's a map showing the voting pattern in the Butler-Gableman election:

I think this says a lot about Wisconsin. My Wisconsin is that dark blue square down at the bottom.

Full post as published by Althouse on April 04, 2008 (boomark / email).