Big developments in the Milwaukee mayoral race today as Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt was hit with five civil charges for violating campaign finance laws. Pratt responded at a press conference claiming full responsibility for the mistakes his campaign had made, but then charged that this course of events has been politically motivated. My first response would be that if Pratt is claiming full responsibility for his violating the law, he shouldn't try to claim that this all happened as a result of some sort of conspiracy against him.

This comes on the heels of a new poll put out by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel over the weekend showing that 44% plan to vote to elect Pratt, 44% will vote for former Congressman Tom Barrett, and 12% are undecided. In just over a week, those undecided voters will get to decide who the next mayor of Milwaukee is. The speculation is that turnout may actually be lower than it was in the mayoral primary since it fell on the same day as the Democratic presidential primary. Like any tight race, this one is going to come down to which campaign is better organized at getting its supporters to the polls.