Paddy Mac, opposition researcher

If there be any lingering doubt that Patrick McIlheran and the Journal Sentinel have become the conduit to carry the Republican message in Wisconsin, today's paper should erase it.

Paddy Mac, in a column in the paper, followed by another blog item online, trashes a Democratic candidate for the State Assembly in Taylor County.

Paddy probably doesn't even know where Medford is, but he and his Milwaukee-based paper devote a lot of space to an obscure race in the hinterlands.

Think this is an example of great investigative journalism by McIlheran? Or that the Republicans found an outlet to dump their opposition research?

I know which one I'd put my money on.

In the distant past, when Paddy first started to write his daily right-wing drivel, I complained to Ricardo Pimentel, the editorial page editor, who assured me that there would soon be some balance, and I would be pleasantly surprised by the announcement -- which never came. It's been a couple of years now, the JS has greatly reduced its staff, not added any columnists, but still has found room for Paddy.

Will he now work his way through each of the competitive legislative races, doing the Republicans' dirty work for them?

In the past, I'd have been surprised. But nothing the JS does surprises me any more, unfortunately.