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What part of "we want real tax limits" do some politicians and editorial boards not understand? Could the people speak any louder on an issue in Wisconsin and be so roundly ignored?

The voters keep speaking loudly and clearly. They want a Taxpayers' Bill of Rights (TABOR). They want a real property tax freeze. They want smaller government, and they want property tax relief.

But the governor offers them a Potemkin freeze with exemptions so broad you could drive a freight train through them. Unfortunately for him, the falseness of his "freeze" will be readily apparent to many Wisconsinites at tax bill time.

And we still don't have TABOR. The governor opposes it, lawmakers talk and talk about it but don't act on it, and editorial boards blather on against it. Talk about being out of touch with the people. Of course, the fact TABOR didn't make it through the last time allows the Legislature to revive it closer to the '06 election and provoke the governor into more self-defeating saber-rattling opposition.

Meanwhile, the public keeps speaking and the "tax issue" keeps changing our political landscape.

The tax issue -- which I would define as public anger toward higher taxes in general and desire for tax limit approaches in specific -- has already taken out a Senate majority leader, Mary Panzer. A recent poll by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute found broad public support for TABOR, an issue that even resonates among Democrats. The tax issue propelled state Rep. Dan Vrakas into the Waukesha County Executive's seat last week with 68 percent of the vote, nearly the same percentage of the public that supported TABOR in the WPRI poll (disclosure: I helped Vrakas' campaign). The Wisconsin Alliance of Cities promptly responded to the WPRI poll by claiming that the trend line in polling shows support for TABOR is waning. Hardly. Support for TABOR in three polls from 2004 to present has remained well above a majority in Wisconsin. In politics, such margins would be called a landslide.

And the tax issue might just drive a Republican into the governor's office.

The latest tax contrast battleground -- not on TABOR specifically but on lowering taxes in general -- will be in Racine, and the contest between County Executive and former Sheriff Bill McReynolds, a Republican, and Democratic state Rep. John Lehman of Racine to replace incumbent Republican Cathy Stepp, who's leaving on her own.

Every now and then, a candidate's quote manages to frame a race from the start. In the Waukesha County executive's race, candidate James Dwyer's quotes bashing TABOR and the Legislative property tax freeze ultimately doomed him. In 2004, for example, Dwyer had stated of those measures, "This is simply an effort to shift the focus and shaft somebody else." He then went on to criticize state government for its spending, but that point got lost, proving the tax issue's resonance with the public.

In the Racine contest for Stepp's seat, the race has likely already been defined by a particularly politically tone deaf Lehman quote. Right at the beginning, he told the Racine Journal Times: "Bill McReynolds does not have a legislative record, but he does have a record as sheriff and county executive that I would be happy to debate. ... He has the philosophy of small government, watching taxes. And the question is if that philosophy will best serve Racine County" when it comes to creating jobs.

Lehman is actually bashing McReynolds for being the candidate of "small government, watching taxes'' -- as if that's a liability! McReynolds is happily accepting the mantle as the small government, low taxing candidate.

A poll commissioned by a builders group and released last week suggests the power of the tax issue. The poll showed 37 percent would definitely or probably choose McReynolds and about 31 percent would select Lehman. When the poll asked voters if they would be more or less likely to vote for McReynolds based on the statement by Lehman criticizing him for being the candidate of small government, watching taxes, 50 percent of voters said they would be more likely to vote for McReynolds as a result, including 37 percent of undecided voters and 42 percent of independents. The poll also indicated that McReynolds was pulling some Democrats to his side, perhaps by virtue of his name recognition but likely also because of the tax issue.

Lehman is also on record touting his support for Doyle's "responsible property tax freeze." The tax issue contrast is not quite as stark in Racine as it was in Waukesha. McReynolds has expressed reservations about TABOR in the past; his campaign says he supports TABOR with a provision for mandate relief and some arbitration changes. But he's always supported the GOP Legislature's property tax freeze, his spokesman says. He's trying to hook into continuing anger over the stadium sales tax by coming out against a costly video board display at Miller Park. And then there's that Lehman quote.

In conservative Waukesha County, it would be expected that the tax issue would resonate with voters. In fact, that's why so many leading Republicans -- from Tommy Thompson to Jim Sensenbrenner to Scott Walker -- took an interest in what was, after all, a non-partisan local contest. Had the vote gone the other way -- had a leading opponent of TABOR and a legislative property tax freeze won election in such a conservative county -- Gov. Jim Doyle, the Democrats, and the media would have had a strong argument to proclaim the tax issue essentially dead. Doyle would have gained a beachhead in conservative Waukesha County in the form of a new county executive who would likely have continued to use his bully pulpit against what are the key Republican issues in the governor's race. That's why the stakes were so high.

But the Stepp seat is in one of the swingiest districts in the state. George Bush even lost the district in the last election, although by the most razor thin of margins. The seat hangs in the balance of a couple hundred votes.

Since independents and conservative Democrats will be driving the train this time around, maybe politicians and editorial boards will finally begin to listen. The tax issue is not just resonating with Republican voters. And the Racine race may continue to prove it. That should be a real wake up call for Doyle and those opposing the people's wishes.

Jessica McBride, a former newspaper reporter married to Waukesha County DA Paul Bucher -- a Republican candidate for state attorney general -- teaches journalism at UW-Milwaukee and writes a blog. She has also helped the Vrakas campaign.

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