MADISON, Wis. -- As part of the We The People/Wisconsin series, WISC-TV looks at one of the challenges facing both 2006 gubernatorial candidates -- how to keep recent Wisconsin graduates from leaving the state to work elsewhere.

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It's a complicated issue, but it's at the center of how Wisconsin will grow and if it will thrive in the next few decades.

The state has world-class universities, but attracting young workers is a problem, WISC-TV reported.

Andrea Hellenbrand is one UW-Madison graduate who is leaving the state to work elsewhere.

Hellenbrand said she loves Wisconsin -- she grew up here and her family is here. She said she just doesn't want to work here right now.

"Just right now, I really, really wanted to get out," she said.

The recent UW-Madison business graduate is headed to Colorado for a job with Nestle. She interviewed with Wisconsin companies and said she knows many other students who have left the state.

"No, it definitely wasn't the money. I think most of it was just that I've lived here my whole entire life, and I really wanted to experience something else," Hellenbrand said. "Mostly everybody's in the Minneapolis, Twin Cities area ... Chicago. A couple people went to California."

Hellenbrand's choice highlights a Wisconsin problem, which comes down to major cities. For many, Milwaukee isn’t stacking up with Minneapolis or Chicago.

"Over the long haul, that's going to erode our quality of life," said Jim Haney of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

Haney said the tax culture has to change to attract good jobs. Beyond that, he said the Badger state has a perception problem.

His son had a choice between Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Chicago for a job.

"And we went to Milwaukee ... and lasted about six months and he transferred to Chicago," Haney said. "He said, 'Well, it's a mindset. It's just a little more cosmopolitan, a little more exciting in Chicago.'"

"The major metropolitan area in any state needs to be a draw for young people," said UW System President Kevin Reilly.

Reilly said that, in part, Wisconsin needs to graduate more people. He said losing current grads isn’t the big problem.

"We're not losing a lot of students, we're losing some but every state does," Reilly said. "On the other hand, we're not attracting nearly as many from the outside as we need to in the knowledge economy."

Reilly said the state can graduate more people, but if we don't have the jobs, they won't stay. That's why he's focused on UW research spin-offs, companies that start up here because the research is here, like in bio-tech.

Hellenbrand said she really liked Milwaukee, but job opportunities weren't there compared to other big cities.

"I mean in Minneapolis, you have General Mills, you have Target, Best Buy. A lot people are there because they have those big companies and Wisconsin just doesn't have as many I think," Hellenbrand said.

The silver lining for Wisconsin is that Hellenbrand said she can't imagine starting a family outside the Badger state -- at least not yet.

"Who knows, maybe I'll love Colorado and want to stay there. I have no idea," she said.

Both gubernatorial candidates have different ideas on dealing with the so-called "brain drain" of graduates leaving Wisconsin.

Republican Mark Green said he wants to be the "Chief Jobs Officer." He is proposing replacing a state Department of Commerce with a public-private Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation to attract new business.

He also wants a direct phone line to the governor's office called the jobs line, which would be for companies interested in moving here.

Gov. Jim Doyle touts his record, saying he has created 170,000 new jobs while not raising sales, income or business taxes to fill the budget hole.

Doyle has signed a tax credit for venture capitalists to help start-up businesses, and introduced the state's first economic plan -- the 100-point "Grown Wisconsin."

Note: We the People/Wisconsin is a joint civic journalism project. Look for more reports about jobs and the economy in this Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal and on Wisconsin Public Television's "Here and Now" and also on Wisconsin Public Radio.