Oshkosh Holiday Season Fever: Rieckman v. Hentz, Rieckman v. Roesseler, Bloechl v. Hintz, Brooks v. Owens, Tower v. Underheim?

Oshkosh, WI - Oshkosh is getting Winter Fever, which means speculation about next year is on the rise. As Stew Rieckman points out, the Internet Media isn't beholden to the standards of Print Media, so I can say what many are already saying privately amongst themselves.

• Rieckman v. Hentz Stew Rieckman, Executive Editor of the Oshkosh Northwestern, wrote in his Sunday column about his recent experience on Eye on Oshkosh with Cheryl Hentz and Tony Palmeri, two individuals he has ripped time and time again, as he admits. Stew has entered the fearsome blogosphere with his "Everyday Editor" Blog.
• Rieckman v. Roesseler & Underheim For all the hype between Rieckman and Palmeri they seem to have two things in common: 1. People tend to either love 'em or hate 'em; and 2. they both think Oshkosh state assemblyman Gregg Underheim and state senator Carol Roesseler are failing to represent Oshkosh. Rieckman got my attention when he wrote this column calling Carol and Gregg out.
• Bloechl v. Hintz Related, the big news scoop is at TonyPalmeri.com, who reports that former Mayor Melanie Bloechl may run for the 54th Assembly seat as a Democrat, pitting her against 2004 candidate Gordon Hintz in a Democratic Primary. Bloechl challenged Underheim in 2000 as a Republican, but then again 2004 Democratic candidate LuAnn Bird in the 53rd used to be a Republican as well, so go figure. No one ever said that the Democrats and Republicans were that different anyway, right?
• Brooks v. Owens Speaking of the 53rd, the sleepy Republican 'powerhouse' Carol Owens might get a 'wake up' call herself in the primaries. Rumor has it that Winnebago Co. Sheriff Mike Brooks might challenge her for the staunch Republican seat. I can't remember where I heard that, so don't tell anyone. Any Democrats up for the challenge next year? Any Greens?
• Wisconsin 54th Assembly Back to the 54th, has Underheim found another job yet? Since winning with less than 50% of the vote last year, Underheim first publically applied for the job of Superinendent of Education, held by Elizabeth Burmeister, and lost. Is he looking for a job in the private sector now? Underheim should be facing a challenge in the Republican primary, given the two major parties penchant for shooting wounded horses. Is Frank Tower up for the job? And what about Green Party Palmeri? Tony says he is not running for the 54th in 2006, but will the local Green Party capitalize on his incredibly strong third party showing of 9% of the vote? The 'word on the street' is that the Greens have spoken to several women about challenging the 54th, but will Melanie Bloechl (rhymes with Poeschl) nip that search for female representation in the bud?
• As for the municipal elections in April, all I will ask at this point is: will the Oshkosh City Council put the "Iraq War Referendum" question on the Spring Ballot or not?

Disclaimer: All statements unattributed to others are unsubstantiated and nothing more than rumors, monkey dust in the wind. "Babblemur!" is not a newspaper, and has no editorial oversight; "Babblemur!" relies on the 'still, small' voices of Darwin and Lao Tsu to whisper the voice of truth and reason into our digital ears. Local (Fox River Valley) input provided by the ghost of Houdini.