State GOP chairman Reince Priebus today dismissed President Barack Obama's visit to Madison as a distraction from Republican victories in Tuesday's elections.

Priebus said the defeat of New Jersey Democratic incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine and the victory of Republican Bob McDonnell in an open governor's race in Virginia represent a rejection by voters of Obama, who campaigned for Corzine in visits to New Jersey.

"Voters are rejecting the failed policies of bigger spending and bigger government and they did it last night in a huge way," Priebus said.

Priebus said that Republicans supported many of the policies that Obama is promoting in his visit to Wright Middle School, including urging states like Wisconsin to remove legal barriers to using student testing to evaluate teacher performance. A bill to do that is expected to be passed in the Legislature Thursday.

But Priebus said proposals by Democrats in the state Legislature wouldn't be enough to qualify Wisconsin for more than $4 billion in competitive federal stimulus money for schools because they wouldn't allow student testing to be used to discipline or fire teachers.

Lee Sensenbrenner, a spokesman for Gov. Jim Doyle, said the state should be able to qualify.

"We've worked hard with the U.S. Department of Education on the drafts to confirm that the versions being passed meet the requirements laid out under their guidelines," Sensenbrenner said.

If the final guidelines call for more changes from the state,Sensenbrenner said the governor is "prepared to move as necessary."

State Department of Public Instruction spokesman Patrick Gasper said it was difficult to say with certainty whether the state would qualify before final federal guidelines are issued.

But, "the proposed legislation removes a barrier that currently exists prohibiting the use of student test scores … when evaluating teachers. It also goes beyond that to provide an important assurance that tests are not used as the sole mechanism of evaluating teachers and a focus is maintained on using the evaluations to improve student achievement" Gasper said.

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