Now this is a real bright spot on election day:

Just days before an election that could decide the fate of a planned high-speed rail line, state and federal administrators quietly signed a deal to commit the state to spending all $810 million of the federal stimulus cash allocated to the Milwaukee-to-Madison route, transportation officials confirmed Monday.

The unannounced weekend agreement frees outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle’s administration to sign contracts for much if not all of the work. That could hamstring efforts by Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans to kill the project and spend the money on something else if they take control of the governor’s office and either or both chambers of the state Legislature and Congress on Tuesday.

Hahahahahahahaha…. oh man this is priceless.

Basically, the situation is this: under the Stimulus bill, Wisconsin was to (finally) get a direct passenger rail line connecting Madison to Milwaukee, and from there to Amtrak in general. Bizarrely, the state capital is not connected at the moment.

However, Barrett’s tanking his campaign, and Walker is running on a platform of blocking the railroad, thinking that he can somehow take the federal money and spend it on roads (which he can’t actually do, but he’s an idiot).

So Doyle decided not to leave things in the hands of his old political rival – and simultaneously arrange a secret deal that, if exposed, could be really bad news for the Barrett campaign, which has been trying to distance itself from Doyle.

Word got leaked to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (somehow) and, well… the rest is history.

*snicker*

See, now, this is politics I can respect. Governor Doyle wanted this rail line, and by the dark gods, he’s going to get it.

Poor Scott Walker is so upset he’s calling the waaambulance:

Walker, the GOP candidate for governor, blasted the deal, saying, “This is just raw political power at its worst. This is why the Doyle administration is corrupt and unwilling to listen to taxpayers.”

If Wisconsin taxpayers are so stupid they want to turn down an 800 million dollar bag of money, they deserve to be ignored on this one. It’s a giant sack of cash for something we should have gotten years ago. It’s fantastic economic stimulus in a terrible economy – and Scott Walker wants to risk it all so he can get a tiny fraction back (most likely) to pave potholes.

He’s a moron.

Of course, this does make Barrett look not just inconsequential (and out of the loop) but, in fact, like Doyle’s bitch, an image he’s desperately been trying to avoid:

Barrett was campaigning Monday and did not return a call seeking comment. His spokesman, Phil Walzak, said the mayor was unaware of the agreement but would expect that all such deals follow proper procedures.

…

News of this deal is likely to hurt the Barrett campaign, according to Sumana Chattopadhyay, an assistant professor at Marquette University who has been tracking the impact of advertising and the debates on voter preferences.

“That is a constraint, and it sort of ties Barrett to Doyle, somewhat closer,” Chattopadhyay said. “That is something that might sway people to say, ‘We don’t want a third Doyle term’ here.”

By contrast, Charles Franklin, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the development reinforces the image of Doyle as someone forcing an unwanted rail line on the state, but is not likely to add many votes for Walker or Barrett.

I wonder if people have forgotten that Doyle and Barrett used to be political rivals:

After the 2000 census determined that Wisconsin would lose a congressional seat, redistricting combined Barrett’s district with fellow Democrat Jerry Kleczka’s 4th district. Rather than run in a primary against his colleague, Barrett decided to run for governor in 2002. In a heated Democratic primary, Barrett came in a close second to then-Attorney General Jim Doyle, who went on to win the general election, with Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk coming in third.

If this is score-setting then it’s a piece of pure Machiavellian genius. If not, it’s just fantastic policy.

I salute you, Governor Doyle, you magnificent bastard. I salute you.