The first face to face interview with yours truly and Marc Eisen is in the new Wisconsin Interest.

Scott Walker got in first; Mark Neumann just made it official.

Walker, a former Republican legislator who has been elected county executive three times in heavily Democratic Milwaukee County announced earlier this year that he is running for governor in 2010. Neumann, who served two terms in Congress (from 1995 to 1999) and has since run a successful home building business, The Neumann Companies, jumped into the race on July 1.

Incumbent Jim Doyle has been elected twice, but in mid-June a national Democratic pollster reported that Doyle’s approval rating had fallen to 34%, even in a sample of voters who gave high marks to other Democrats, including President Obama. Not surprisingly, the 2010 contest is expected to be one of the most hotly contested in the country, and Republicans now appear poised to have a lively primary contest among two widely known conservatives.

In late May, Walker, 41, and Neumann, 55, sat down with us in the Hartland offices of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. Both men shared sharp criticism of Doyle’s economic stewardship and tax policy; both pledged not to raise taxes. But differences emerged as well, including on whether recent Republican setbacks could be blamed on the wrong messenger or whether the party needed to change its message as well.

Walker stressed his fiscal prudence in running a county government, while Neumann emphasized his business experience as a homebuilder and touted his “green” agenda. Below is an edited partial transcript. The complete interview was taped and will be podcast on the WPRI website.

GOP hopefuls meet for first time, critique Jim Doyle’s tenure, make their cases to be governor.