Republicans would be wrong to limit their options now.

The Journal Sentinel (h/t Fox Politics) takes a look at the Republican race for governor and concludes that Scott Walker is off to a quicker start than Mark Neumann's.

While that is certainly accurate, I'm not sure it amounts to much. The article goes on to note that:

The worry among Republicans is that an expensive primary would leave only six weeks for the victor to go head to head against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett before the general election. Barrett is the only major Democrat in the race....

Another potential candidate for governor this year was Sen. Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield), who dropped out, in part, because Walker was so strong. He now supports Walker.

"He's put years into this - he's more organized," Kanavas said. "And there is this kind of a feeling that we need to get behind one person if we have a chance to win."

This seems like entirely wrong way to think about the race at this point. We are about a year away from the election and it would be a gross understatement to say that a lot can happen in a year.

Also, isn't there the possibility that a competitive primary would keep the names of Republican candidates in the news? Especially if no Democrat makes a serious run at challenging Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Admittedly, there can be a drawback to this if the primary devolves into excessive mud-slinging, but there has been little evidence of that at this point.

The JS article misses entirely any of the other candidates for governor such as Mark Todd. They spend more time talking about Barrett.

A spirited, but principled debate about whom the Republican candidate for governor should be and what principles they should espouse would be a good thing for Republicans and a good thing for Wisconsin.