Wisconsin Dems to pick Scott Walker's recall opponent
Mark Hirsch/Getty Images
(CBS News) Democrats in Wisconsin today will nominate the candidate to face off against the contentious Republican Gov. Scott Walker in the June 5 recall election.
The most recent poll shows Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in the lead -- and with just four weeks left before the recall, Barrett and Walker are already taking swings at each other.
Both Barrett and Walker rolled out ads Monday criticizing each other's records, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Walker -- who has raised an astounding $25 million to defend himself against the recall -- is planning to make campaign stops in four cities across the state on Tuesday.
Democrats, meanwhile, canceled a celebratory "unity" event planned for Wednesday in favor of focusing on get-out-the-vote efforts.
"After serious discussion, we believe we can't afford to lose a single day of voter contact," the Wisconsin Democratic Party wrote on its Facebook page, noting the recall election will come down to turnout. "It is imperative that we do everything we can to contact and turn out the voters we need to achieve what we have all worked so hard for over the past fifteen months - recalling Scott Walker."
In addition to the primary for the gubernatorial recall, today's Wisconsin primary includes a lieutenant governor's race and four state Senate recalls.
The recall efforts against Walker and several other state legislators were spurred by the controversial law Walker passed in the spring of 2011, nearly eliminating public workers' collective bargaining rights. The fight over the legislation prompted weeks of raucous protests in the state and inspired some Democratic lawmakers to flee the state.
Protesters march outside the state Capitol Saturday, March 12, 2011, in Madison, Wis. While Gov. Scott Walker has already signed a contentious collective bargaining bill into law, demonstrators insist the fight is not over. For some, the focus has shifted from trying to stop passage of the bill to generating momentum for recall efforts against Republicans. Others are simply venting their frustration over the law taking away most of public workers' collective bargaining rights. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
/ AP Photo/Morry Gash"More than most politicians, Walker's political strengths are inseparable from his political weaknesses," writes the Journal Sentinel's Craig Gilbert. "The same policy agenda that inflamed opponents and led to the third gubernatorial recall election in U.S. history has given Walker a national following in his party that could sustain him in politics for years to come... The opposition he inspires has put his job in peril. But the support he inspires makes beating him a very daunting task, because he mobilizes Republicans like mad."
A poll released last week by Marquette University Law School showed that Barrett has the best chance of defeating Walker -- in a head-to-head match up, the two are in a dead heat.
That same poll shows that Barrett has a 17-point lead over his closest Democratic primary opponent, former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk (Barrett wins 38 percent to Falk's 21 percent).
Politico reports that several high-profile labor groups backed Falk in the primary election, putting $4 million behind her campaign. Falk is more closely associated with the pro-union movement and protests that eventually led to the recall election. The liberal publication Mother Jones points out that she took to the streets with other protesters and filed the first lawsuit against Walker's anti-union bill.
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Republicans are accusing Democrats of canceling their Wednesday "unity" rally because of Barrett's rocky relationship with unions. A Barrett spokesman told the Journal that was a "laughable" theory.
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What is so mind boggling is how they brainwashed so many Republicons into actually WANTING this to happen to America. It's stunning.
Please fill me in too DJ because I don't have a clue either. Tell me what have the republicans done for the working class in the last 30 years.
decide who can vote, how much you can make, and whether the country needs to spend anything on education! Its not an accident that the US is near Guinea Bissau in academic ranking in most subjects! While India and China spends billions to take advantage of the now largely uneducated and rural America, that is likely to remain so if the CON servatives keep getting their way! You have to be afraid for the nation!
GEE, now who would ever had suspected an "independent" with an ayn rand user-name would be voting for the corrupt scott walker, who may be in legal trouble as the investigation into his administration as Milwaukee county executive continues. It seems more and more likely that the governor was part of a broad conspiracy to use government resources for political purposes.
You republican voters hiding behind the term "independent" sure know how to pick the corrupt losers tied to the koch brother's machine!
Those calling themselves economically conservative like paul ryan, are truly jokes, since his austerity budget didn't balance the federal budget until 2040, only because he's allergic to needed tax increases and will follow grover nitwitt over the cliff of insanity!
They had no choice but to follow the rules, unlike the koch heads!
PALM BEACH -- David Koch has become the face of conservative America's obsession with weakening organized labor.
They describe a clandestinely built political machine that disdains government regulation and taxes, obfuscates the science on global warming, and now pulls the strings of decision-makers at every level, from Florida Tea Party members to Wisconsin state senators -- even U.S. Supreme Court justices.
More at:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/david-koch-intends-to-cure-cancer-in-his-2185046.html?page=2&viewAsSinglePage=true