This Tuesday, democrats in Wisconsin will cast their votes to determine who will be the democratic challenger to Republican Governor Scott Walker in the upcoming June recall election.
The democratic candidates, Kathleen Falk and Tom Barrett, display two ends of the Democratic party. Falk, the far-left liberal who has been attacking Walker with abandon, is the more extreme choice. Barrett, the current mayor of Milwaukee has more moderate views.
Given the fierce political division that has prevailed in Wisconsin for more than a year since the passage of Act 10, one could be forgiven for thinking that Falk — early and unstinting in her assault on Walker’s measures — ought to be wiping up the floor with Barrett among angry Democrats.
In fact, the opposite seems to be true. Barrett was statistically even with or ahead of Falk in most polls even before he declared his candidacy. As soon as he did declare, he began to gain steam. In the latest poll, released Wednesday by the Marquette University Law School, Falk had dropped precipitously to lag Barrett by a 17 percentage point margin.
Wisconsin is the battleground for a national debate over state spending and the power of public-sector unions that is facing governors across the country. As Walker and Lieutenant Governor Kleefisch have stood their ground on restoring solvency to their state, they have been singled out as enemies number one and two of the national (and international) public-sector union advocates.
As the democratic voters of Wisconsin make their choice between Falk and Barrett, their decision may not mirror the wishes of the national leftist elements who see this battle not as for Wisconsin, but for their own agendas.
So far, the unions have been split in their endorsements.The public-sector teachers union endorsed the more liberal Falk, while the police endorsed more moderate Barrett:
…Barrett secured the endorsement of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, the state’s largest police union. Falk and Barrett have been wrestling for weeks over union support. Most of the unions so far have lined up with Falk, most notably the AFL-CIO, the state’s largest state workers union, and the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state’s largest teachers union.
If Walker and Kleefisch are reelected, it will be a sign that America is committed to a path different than Europe and that our citizens will embrace the tough choice that France and Greece rejected.
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If Walker and Kleefisch are reelected, it will be a sign that America is committed to a path different than Europe and that our citizens will embrace…
plain old math and sanity.
Funny that that should be up in the air in Wish-consin.
Entirely too polite. “…more liberal Falk…more moderate Barrett…” should be “…extremist Falk…slight less-extreme Barrett…”
Why buy into the weltanshauung of people like the NYT who claim [and possibly believe] that they are “centrists”?
Alternative headline: Wisconsin Primary Tuesday to decide who’ll loose to Scott Walker.
There’s a reason that Falk is tanking in the polls. The local Democrat voters realize that Falk has zero chance of beating Gov. Walker. None. If by some miracle she does manage to beat Mayor Barrett tomorrow, Gov. walker will wipe the floor with her, and then use the trouncing to launch a media blitz about how he was supported by a landslide of Wisconsin voters who approve of his message, tactics and outcomes, and that the Senate should immediately pass his other proposals lest Democrats face the wrath of the voters.
Generally, voters are sheep, and want to vote for winners. Proper shaping of the message coming out of such a win would be DEVASTATING to the Liberals heading into the November Presidential election because it would crush the notion that there is some huge liberal backlash waiting in the wings. Crushing that notion would tip a lot of on-the-fence individuals to tell the Unions to go pound sand the next time the unions come sniffing around for money.
Mayor Barrett has the possibility of actually beating Gov. Walker, but it’s a slim chance. A lot will depend on turnout and GOTV efforts.
This will be a much different recall election than the previous one, largely due to factors already discussed here in prior posts (lack of student involvement due to end of semester; differences in state office voter makeup vs local Senator election voting politics).
It will be interesting to see what the turnout numbers are tomorrow for the primary. The exit-polling will be telling to determine exactly how much support there is for the radical leftists vs the moderate liberals.
Every Republican in the state should vote for Falk
Walker does have a primary opponent, on the ballot with just 2000 signatures. He is a leftist Democrat, Arthur Kohl-Riggs . His hope is to win the primary and get Walker off the ballot altogether. Republicans still need to go out and vote for Walker.
Ah I did not know that
[…] in the way of a Democratic man’s ambitions.Tuesday is the Democratic primary in Wisconsin, as Ann Sorock at Legal Insurrection reminds us. Progressives are backing Kathleen Falk as their candidate to take on Republican Gov. Scott Walker. […]
My great hope going into this election is that everyone remember the realistic uncertainty that existed during the Madison Wars over whether the various police departments involved could be trusted to do their jobs and enforce the laws they had all sworn at hiring to enforce, or whether they were willing to become the lawless goons of the Democrats.
If Wisconsin residents think back, there wasn’t an obvious answer to this question back then.
And then they should ponder how those cops have endorsed one of the two would-be usurpers of the already-democratically-elected Governor of their state.
And then, once Walker is retained, they should start cleaning house.