Stage set for Walker-Barrett rematch
The intense political divide that has consumed Wisconsin for the past year will culminate on June 5 when Gov. Scott Walker faces Milwaukee Tom Barrett in an historic gubernatorial recall election.
Barrett earned 58 percent of the votes in Tuesday’s statewide primary recall election, followed by Kathleen Falk who received 34 percent.
At an election night event in Milwaukee, Barrett promised to “fix Wisconsin.”
“We’ve seen billions in tax giveaways to the super rich, while our classrooms suffered the biggest cuts in history,” Barrett said. “And under Scott Walker, Wisconsin lost more jobs than any other state in the entire country.”
Walker’s campaign responded to Barrett’s victory in a statement attacking his tenure as Milwaukee mayor, saying his “record of raising taxes” will not resonate with voters.
Next month’s election will be a rematch of the 2010 gubernatorial race, when Walker defeated Barrett 52 to 47 percent.
But will history repeat itself? The five Democratic candidates received a combined 670,278 votes and Walker alone received 626,538 in an essentially uncontested race, a number UW-Madison College Republicans Chair Jeff Snow called “significant.”
“It shows the base is definitely excited to support walker,” Snow said.
Walker has a large lead in campaign finances, having raised $25 million since the beginning of 2011 compared to Barrett’s $831,000.
With 28 days to go, the gubernatorial recall is already the most expensive race in Wisconsin history; the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel estimates individual campaigns and independent political groups have already spent $42 million.
However, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Director Mike McCabe down played the effect money will have on the election.
“I don’t think this race is going to come down to a money-centered battle,” said McCabe, citing the latest Marquette Law School poll that has Walker and Barrett tied despite the vast differences in resources between the candidates.
UW-Madison College Democrats Chair Chris Hoffman agreed money is not the most important aspect in the election, saying instead it is crucial to reach the 10 percent of still undecided voters and to make sure students get out and vote.
“Across campus, Barrett won on a pretty significant scale so I think they will be very much willing to unite behind him and recall Walker,” Hoffman said.
—Tyler Nickerson
Barrett celebrates victory, but says ‘the work has only begun’
Supporters cheered as Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett took the stage, congratulating his opponents and condemning Gov. Scott Walker’s “ideological civil war,” after winning Tuesday night’s gubernatorial recall primary.
Barrett announced his candidacy just five weeks ago, but secured an early lead against fellow frontrunner former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk despite her significant lead in fundraising and endorsements from major statewide unions.
Dane County, which overwhelmingly supported Barrett Tuesday, will be “crucial” for a win in June, said former Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who attended the Milwaukee celebration Tuesday.
Also “crucial,” Cieslewicz said, is Madison’s large student population.
“The students were very involved from the beginning in the protests against Walker’s policies,” he said. “The very first protests at the Capitol were led by teaching assistants.”
UW-Madison Young Progressives’ outgoing president Sam Gehler said although his group endorsed Falk in the primary, their support is now fully behind Barrett.
“The over-arching goal is that we remove Scott Walker from office June 5,” Gehler said.
Although Barrett lost to Walker in the 2010 gubernatorial election, the mayor said Tuesday the recall is “not about the past; it’s about the future of Wisconsin.”
“The work has only begun,” Barrett told supporters. “In the next 27 days, I need you like I’ve never needed you before. And more importantly, this state needs you like it’s never needed you before.”
Minutes before statewide polls closed Tuesday, Republican Party of Wisconsin Communications Director Ben Sparks released a press release stating Democrats remain “divided” over Barrett, adding that the mayor “represents nothing more than the failed policies of the past.”
Democratic party officials and state union leaders will join Barrett for a press conference Wednesday as Democrats project on a unified front going forward to the statewide recall election June 5.
—Alison Bauter
Dems unite behind Barrett
The losing Democratic candidates in Tuesday’s gubernatorial recall primary urged their followers to rally behind Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett following his victory.
Coming in second place with 34 percent of the vote, Kathleen Falk congratulated Barrett and told her supporters to unify against Gov. Scott Walker.
“The next four weeks might be the most important in our state’s history, and each one of you has an important role in it,” Falk said at her election night event in Madison. “Let’s make sure that this people’s movement continues and that our voices are heard across our state and across our nation.”
Democratic candidate Kathleen Vinehout also told her supporters to stand behind Barrett, but offered several suggestions for his campaign.
“[Barrett] lost in the rural areas and right now there’s a lot of strength that the governor has in those areas, and he also needs to motivate the people in the cities to turn out,” Vinehout said. “We gotta figure out how to get democrats to the polls on election day.”
Following calls from Falk and Vinehout for party solidarity, democratic challenger and current Secretary of State Doug La Follette pledged to do all he can to help Barrett win.
“I will do my best to get people out to vote so we can get a new governor in June and get things back on track,” La Follette said.
Arthur Kohl-Riggs, who ran as a Republican and lost, said Walker is the wrong person to lead the GOP as Wisconsin’s governor.
“If the citizens of Wisconsin are provided with the facts of our financial situation, they will know that Scott Walker is the wrong person to lead the state,” Kohl-Riggs said.
— Andrew Haffner, Kendalyn Thoma and David Jones
