Scott Walker is, by most measures, the front-runner in the race for governor of Wisconsin. Polls tell us that the Milwaukee County executive is well ahead of his main Republican primary challenger, wild-eyed former Congressman Mark Neumann. Walker's high name recognition in the state's largest media market give him numbers at least as good as those of his likely Democratic opponents in next year's governor's race.

But it's not just name recognition that is powering Walker's bid. He's campaigning hard and smart, focusing on economic issues in a state that is justifiably worried about job losses, and he is targeting appeals to the farm families and rural Wisconsinites who are likely to make up the most significant bloc of swing voters in 2010. As Barack Obama proved in 2008, running the best campaign matters. Right now, Walker is running the best campaign for governor of Wisconsin.

That's what makes him the front-runner.

It's also what makes him a target for outrageous attacks.

The challenges inherent in running for the governorship while at the same time trying to manage the state's most populous county make it hard to determine where the lines between local and state politics are drawn. But it cannot surprise serious observers of the political game that, as Walker bids for higher office, he is taking harder hits at home.

The hardest of these came last week when Milwaukee County Board Chair Lee Holloway, who has been wrangling with the county executive on budget and policy issues, compared Walker with Ku Klux Klan leader and frequent Republican candidate David Duke. Said Holloway: "(Walker) reminds me of David Duke - he's good looking, he's smooth talking. He says he's not race baiting; David Duke says the same thing."

That's raw language. While Holloway later claimed that he was not calling Walker a racist, comparing the county executive with a KKK leader is a good deal more damning than merely charging Walker with racial insensitivity.

In the rough-and-tumble politics of a wide-open gubernatorial race, there is every reason to expect that Holloway's assertion will resurface. Imagine a radio ad or a leaflet distributed on the eve of the 2010 election: "What do the people who work with Scott Walker in Milwaukee County think about him? The chairman of the County Board says Walker 'reminds me of David Duke …' "

It is because of this prospect that it is important for those of us who know Scott Walker to object.

I've known Walker for more than 15 years. When I started writing for The Capital Times in the early 1990s, he started calling to comment on my columns. Needless to say, Walker did not always call with compliments. We disagree about most things, although we share some reform instincts.

Despite our differences, I liked and respected Walker from the start. He's a quick study who loves politics and ideas. Unlike many conservatives (and liberals), he is not afraid of opinions that differ from his own. He reads broadly and knows the nuances of arguments with which he differs. In this, he reminds me of the late William F. Buckley and Pat Buchanan. I knew Buckley for the better part of a quarter century and have known Buchanan for about that long. While our debates and appearances together have had their contentious moments, there was with Buckley and is with Buchanan a habit of taking one's sparring partner seriously. I get that from Walker and, as with Buckley and Buchanan, I have always delighted when Walker and I find a measure of common ground.

So I speak of Scott Walker as someone who has known and observed the man for a long time. And I have to say that - as someone who covered Duke's campaigns in Louisiana and interviewed him a number of times - I don't accept the Duke comparison. Walker is one of those Republicans who, in the tradition of Jack Kemp, has a record of challenging race baiters and racists who occupy the party of Lincoln. As a young state legislator, he personally called Duke out during a 1992 televised debate. Toward the end of a charged encounter that aired on the old public television program "Smith & Co.," Walker declared that there was no place for Duke or people like him in the GOP. The debate ended with the Klansman shouting, "Shame on you, Scott Walker, shame on you."

So Scott Walker can claim the honor of having challenged and unsettled David Duke.

This does not mean that he should be Wisconsin's governor. It does not even mean that Walker should necessarily be the Republican nominee for the state's top job in 2010.

But it does mean that those who disagree with Walker should tackle him for his stands on the issues and his actual track record - not on the basis of the fantasy that he is Wisconsin's David Duke.

Walker says he's not demanding an apology from Holloway, which is wise because the two men must continue working with one another - and because Holloway has some legitimate gripes about crude attacks on him launched by the group Citizens for Responsible Government, which frequently backs Walker's initiatives. Holloway should offer an apology, just as Walker should distance himself from the CRG folks. That would ease tensions in Milwaukee County.

As for the gubernatorial race, those who seek a responsible politics in Wisconsin should be on our watch for individuals or groups that try to exploit Holloway's unfortunate remark. And we should rebuke them. That rebuke must come not from the Walker campaign but from those of us who frequently disagree with the man and his ideas but know that he is no David Duke.

John Nichols is the associate editor of The Capital Times. jnichols@madison.com

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