Regardless of policies and politics, on Oct. 31 all of Madison unites behind the essential platforms of Halloween-costumes and candy. On Sunday night, The Daily Cardinal made trick-or-treating rounds to some of Madison's more prominent citizens, to see how they choose to celebrate All Hallow's Eve.
The first visit, made to the mansion of Gov. Jim Doyle, found the governor and his wife not in attendance. Instead, assistants filled in by handing out mixed bags of candy.
The bags provided a \healthy"" blend of sweets with fruit-flavored offerings such as Twizzlers, Tootsie Pops and berry-flavored Fruit Roll-Ups. While Doyle did not choose the candy personally, it received his unofficial endorsement as conveying a ""positive message.""
A visit to the house of U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, found the representative sporting a pair of disco-ball alien antennae and handing out Reese's Pieces and Peanut Butter Cups. Baldwin said she specifically made the choice for both trick-or-treaters and herself-while peanut butter is a popular type of candy, it is not her personal favorite.
""I won't be tempted to eat all the leftovers,"" Baldwin said.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz did not hand out any one type of candy, providing a large mix of small candy bars including Twix, Baby Ruth, Milky Way and Snickers. He was not exactly sure why his wife chose this ""big mess of candy,"" but stated they were very well-prepared with approximately five pounds- worth.
While not sporting a costume, Cieslewicz said he would not have minded going incognito for the holiday. Remembering his favorite costume as a child, a cat suit and painted whiskers, he said he would have liked to go as Bucky Badger-an idea that came from seeing a big-headed Hello Kitty costume.
""You can't go wrong with Bucky,"" Cielewicz said.
Support for the Badgers via costume came through as well on the part of UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, who sported a white vest with a Badgers symbol on it and went as ""the coach."" Wiley's house was fully decorated with more than a dozen pumpkins and an orange light-festooned porch, offering three huge bowls of candy filled to the brim with M&M's, Baby Ruth bars and Butterfingers.
Unlike Baldwin, Wiley's taste in candy reflected his own tastes. ""It's what I like-what do you think?"" Wiley joked. ""Whatever's left I take to the office.""
