A lot of people have been wondering about what's going to happen once the recall petitions against Gov. Scott Walker are certified and a new election is ordered.

I know that Democrats have been searching their cupboard, trying to come up with a candidate whose name isn't Russ Feingold or Tom Barrett, because one doesn't want to run and the other has already been twice beaten for the office.

Well, in a holiday gift to all my Democratic friends, here's an idea born over a breakfast table and endorsed by a couple of seasoned political pros, one from each end of the spectrum of politics.

How about Herb Kohl?

Think about it this way. We have a state that is bitterly divided. The hostilities between the left and the right seem to know no bounds. There is danger afoot in Wisconsin and somehow, some way, we have to get back to a situation where we actually talk to each other, not just shout at each other.

A good friend and very seasoned and respected political consultant said, "Kohl could be our Eisenhower." But there are questions.

Is Herb Kohl the most dynamic politician you've ever seen? No. Is he guided by rigid ideology? No. Does he have patience? Yes (I mean he still owns that basketball team). Is he a nice man? Certainly, as people on both sides of the coin will tell you. He is invariably polite and civil.

Eisenhower? A president who came between the political challenges of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman and the ambitious agenda of John Kennedy.

Some people have called Eisenhower the "caretaker president," keeping the seat warm for a while. That's mistaken, though. He battled the Soviet Union and he ended the war in Korea. He created the interstate highway system. In other words, he didn't just sit on his hands.

But he did prove that governing was possible if people really did work together.

Wisconsin is faced with issues, of course, but nobody is suggesting this state is in dire circumstances. We need to solve some economic problems. We could probably pay a little more attention to the environment. Education continues to be a problem in some areas.

But Kohl would be the perfect guy to be our governor. He's smart and he won't be pressured into any kinds of action. He has very good people around him.

There are important things Kohl could do as the governor. He could bring some business sense to the way government operates. He could spearhead ways to make us all cooperate a little more.

And, and this is no minor attraction, he could engineer a new basketball arena for downtown Milwaukee. He could put lots of assets to work on finding ways to be creative about financing the arena.

One thing that governors know how to do is build things. Ask Tommy Thompson, who built more stuff than Donald Trump ever thought of building.

As governor, Kohl could make the case that the basketball team he owns and the arena he'll build are crucial to the economic health of Milwaukee, which is crucial to the economic and social health of Wisconsin.

I think Kohl would provide a stark contrast to Walker. It would be a race between your favorite rich uncle and your bratty cousin. Not much of a contest if you ask me.

If he did manage to get the new arena built, he could name it after his father, The Max Kohl Center.

Then, when a friend asks you where you are going to the concert to watch Toby Keith, you can reply, "I'm going to the Max."