The Daily Beast is promoting Mary Burke as the Woman Who Could Beat Scott Walker:
Republicans call her “Millionaire Mary,” but Mary Burke has plenty of assets aside from her wealth to make her a strong contender to derail the reelection of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, along with his dreams of the presidency. Polls show the former Trek Bicycle executive either tied with Walker or trailing by just a few percentage points, while the Republican governor, who weathered a recall election in 2012, looks headed for a closer race than anyone expected….“The things he has done with women’s choice issues puts Wisconsin right there with Mississippi,” she said over an iced tea Tuesday afternoon. Burke, who was in Washington for an Emily’s List dinner that night, has the pro-choice group’s endorsement, and it is making a big push to elect more Democratic women as governors….At 55, Burke is a political novice, and in a polarized electorate, that might be a winning formula.
The polling is, indeed, competitive, but Walker has faced such challenges before and prevailed. It’s Wisconsin, so of course it will be relatively close, but close is not good enough and Burke knows it.
So Burke has resorted to War on Women rhetoric that even Politifact Wisconsin rated False:
Walker just signed a $504 million dollar tax cut:
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a Republican, on Monday signed into law a measure that uses the state’s projected surplus to give a tax break of more than $500 million to workers and property owners.The law puts into place $504 million in tax cuts, consisting of $406 million in property tax relief and a $98 million state income tax break for those in the lowest tax bracket.A typical state homeowner will see a $100 reduction in property taxes and a worker who makes $40,000 will save about $58 annually, according to the governor’s office.
The collective bargaining changes are paying off to the extent that Burke is not making it a major issue.
Maybe the comparison to Wendy Davis is unfair. Davis is a single issue candidate in a red state.
Perhaps a better comparison is to Tom Barrett, the Milwaukee Mayor who — with national Democratic money and supporters pouring into Wisconsin — was going to beat Walker in the 2012 recall election.
The polling was tight, and Democrats had high hopes that Barrett was the one who “could beat Scott Walker.”
Will Mary Burke fare any better? I doubt it. But it will be a tough fight.
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