This is my last column before the election next Tuesday and so, I have debated and thought and listened to friend and foe alike and I have finally reached a decision.

I have weighed and examined the issues and the personalities and the promises and the past records and I’m done. Here are the top 14 reasons to vote for Mary Burke.

1. Mary Burke is not Scott Walker. She actually has some experience in something other than being a politician. She seems really nice and she’s not polished to a sheen by political handlers. She seems genuine and I like genuine. Scott Walker is like a right-wing robot.
2. Mary Burke is almost certainly not going to run for president, which means she will most likely be the governor for four years and we won’t have to keep having recall or special elections.
3. Mary Burke seems kind of shy and she is not real comfortable in a crowd or before television cameras. Some people say the most dangerous place on Earth is between Scott Walker and a TV camera.
4. Mary Burke admits she doesn’t have all the answers. She’s willing to learn some things. Not only does Scott Walker think he has all the answers he is so certain of things he doesn’t think there are even any questions.
5. Mary Burke is a woman. We have had lots and lots of guys running things in Wisconsin and they haven’t done all that great a job. I say let’s give the reins to the women and see what happens. They can’t do any worse and they might be a whole lot better. Scott Walker is not a woman.
6. Mary Burke supports a minimum wage increase, the right of women to control their own bodies, the use of marijuana for medical reasons and equal pay for equal work. Scott Walker doesn’t.
7. Mary Burke admits that Wisconsin has fallen behind the rest of the Midwest in job creation and economic development. Scott Walker has his rose-colored glasses on and doesn’t think we have a jobs problem. He thinks "we have a work problem." I don’t even know what that means.
8. Mary Burke went to Georgetown and Harvard for her degrees. Scott Walker dropped out at Marquette. I don’t think you need a college degree to be governor but I do like people who finish what they start.
9. Mary Burke seems familiar with the location of the middle of the road. Scott Walker has been called the most conservative governor in the country. I don’t want the most conservative OR the most liberal governor in the country. I want a governor who thinks that good ideas can come from any side of the political spectrum.
10. Mary Burke thinks that public education in Wisconsin needs more resources. Scott Walker thinks that public education in Wisconsin needs more competition. If anything has been disproven it’s that voucher schools will provide meaningful competition and force public education to get better. What’s happened is that resources have been stolen from public schools making their task so much harder.
11. Mary Burke smiles and laughs when she talks. I know because I’ve heard and seen her do it. Scott Walker is more like the uber-serious grinch. He is always serious. He just wants to take things away from working people and protect wealthy people. I think that’s ass-backward.
12. Mary Burke is not married to someone named Tonette. As a matter of fact she’s not married at all. And Scott Walker seems to think that’s a real problem because he refers to "my wife Tonette" about every other sentence. We get it already. You are married and your wife’s name is Tonette.
13. Mary Burke wants to restore the Homestead Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit. Scott Walker eliminated them and it resulted in low-income individuals and families paying $170 million more in taxes. Wealthy taxpayers got the most tax cuts authored by the governor.
14. I have never met Mary Burke. I’ve known Scott Walker for over 20 years and I know him pretty well. Enough said.