Mark Green vacated his congressional seat to run what appears to be a losing campaign to unseat Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle. A rabidly conservative state Republican legislator, John Gard, is running for Green's seat against a surprisingly popular Democrat, Steve Kagen. The race is close, so the dirty tricks should come as no surprise.

Repeat calls to the same home with the same message are being made in the 8th Congressional District, where Kagen is locked in a tight race with Republican John Gard, said Kagen spokeswoman Stephanie Lundberg.

"People are getting incessantly called," she said, noting that similar complaints had cropped up in other competitive House races around the country. The calls describe Kagen positions in ways Gard and Republicans have portrayed him, for example, saying he favors raising taxes, Lundberg said. Kagen supports rescinding some of the President Bush tax cuts for "the wealthy."