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Perhaps the most surprising of all last night’s results - at least to me - came from Milwaukee’s Sixth Aldermanic District, where incumbent Michael McGee fought off eight challengers to garner 32% of the vote in last night’s primary. Finishing a close second was Milele Coggs, setting up a showdown between the two on April 1st. My quote of the night comes from Dorothy Carter, a McGee supporter:

I think he’s a nice person, and I think he’s been railroaded. I don’t think he can do as good of a job in prison. But I think if he’d been a white man, he’d already been out of jail.

That’s the only explanation I can come up with as to why McGee got 32% of the vote from behind bars: folks in his district believe he’s been railroaded and will ultimately be exonerated. Despite his “strong” showing yesterday, I don’t see McGee winning on April 1st, because I see all those folks whose votes were split by the eight challengers to McGee will start to coalesce behind Milele Coggs.

In many respects, Michael McGee is like a bad rash that won’t go away, but hopefully on April 1st the citizens of the Sixth Aldermanic District will finally put some ointment on that rash.

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Disgraced Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee, currently in federal custody awaiting trial on federal charges of extortion and bribery and state charges of conspiring to beat up a teenager, is eligible for re-election in April 2008, despite his current legal situation. Because he hasn’t yet been convicted of a felony, McGee can continue to serve as an Alderman and can run for re-election, but the question remains, could he win re-election from behind bars? That’s a scenario Greg Borowski over at Proof and Hearsay is suggesting could happen, and I have to agree.

Despite his current legal woes, McGee seems to still be fairly popular among folks in the Sixth Aldermanic District, with some going so far as to call him a “political prisoner.” McGee survived a recall attempt, though two of his campaign workers from that recall election were subsequently charged with buying votes in that election. However, despite whatever lingering popularity McGee might have in the Sixth District, I have to believe his current legal situation - which is just another in a litany of legal woes that have plagued McGee - will be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

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