While the drive to recall Gov. Scott Walker has been a high-profile affair, leading Democratic candidate Tom Barrett sat down at der Rathskeller Thursday for a more intimate conversation with a group of students.
Barrett faces three competitors in the May 8 Democratic primary, but said Thursday he is not concerned about them.
“I’m focusing on Scott Walker and Scott Walker alone,” the Milwaukee mayor said.
A Marquette Law School poll released Wednesday has Barrett easily beating former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, and Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette in the primary.
The poll also shows Barrett and Walker tied in a head-to-head contest. Walker defeated Barrett when they faced off in the 2010 gubernatorial race.
Barrett told the group of about 15 students at the event hosted by College Democrats the recall election will be a referendum on Walker because people are not satisfied with the governor’s performance.
“Are the people of this state satisfied with having a governor who has had the worst job record of any other governor in the country?” Barrett asked. “I know the answer to that is no.”
He also criticized Walker for the “ideological war that has been going on” in Wisconsin since he took office and said people don’t feel comfortable about how much out-of-state money Walker has raised, compared to the individual, in-state donors Barrett said have contributed to his campaign.
“It was great to have him,” said College Democrats of UW-Madison Chair Chris Hoffman. “We tried to get all the candidates on campus to meet students before the primary so they could see all of their options for the primary.”
While College Democrats cannot endorse a candidate until the primary because of its affiliation with the Democratic Party, another liberal group on campus, Young Progressives, has endorsed Falk in the primary.
“We chose to endorse Kathleen Falk because we think her values most closely match up with our own,” Young Progressives’ Chair Sam Gehler said. “She took a situation much like Scott Walker was handed in 2010 and she managed to balance a budget while receiving her union contracts.”
