Scott Walker Recall: Tom Barrett Showing Signs Of Momentum Ahead Of Democratic Primary

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is showing signs of pulling ahead of the Democratic competition less than two weeks before a primary that will determine who faces Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker in a recall election.

MADISON, Wis. — Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is showing signs of pulling ahead of the Democratic competition in the race to determine who faces Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker in a recall election that has become a nationally watched battle over union rights.

Polls show Barrett with a lead less than two weeks before election day, and a labor group supporting his chief opponent, Kathleen Falk, recently pulled its television ads off the air. A state teachers union that backed Falk now says it will support whoever emerges from the Democratic primary on May 8.

"It's pretty clear that Tom Barrett is winning the Democratic primary, which is remarkable considering those who are driving this recall support a different candidate," said Mark Graul, a leading Republican strategist.

Barrett's strength suggests that the recall election, which has attracted heavy spending by liberal and conservative interest groups from across the nation, could be a rematch of the 2010 governor's race, in which Walker beat Barrett by 5 percentage points and then pressed a legislative initiative to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights.

Walker's move triggered huge protests and unions led the effort that forced Walker to face a recall ballot, but they haven't been able to make their favorite candidate his likely replacement in office.

Most of the state's major unions, including the statewide teacher union, have backed Falk, the former county executive from the liberal capital city of Madison. Traditional Democratic backers including the Sierra Club, immigrants' rights groups Voces de la Frontera and the Young Progressives of Wisconsin have also campaigned extensively for her. She has promised to veto any state budget that didn't restore public workers' bargaining rights.

Barrett, who has clashed with unions during his eight years as Milwaukee mayor, refused to make the same promise. But he is much better known across the state as the result of his 2010 campaign and is considered more acceptable to moderate Democrats.

The unions now face a predicament as Barrett appears to be leading the field. A Marquette University poll earlier this year showed him leading Falk 36 percent to 29 percent, and two recent polls have shown him with a solid lead. Two other Democratic candidates, longtime Secretary of State Doug La Follette and state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, have failed to gain traction.

Polls have indicated that the recall election in June should be close, with Walker appearing to hold a slight advantage over a Democratic opponent.

On Tuesday Barrett picked up significant backing from the statewide police union representing about 10,000 officers.

Falk's campaign maintains that the larger union organizations backing her will deliver heavy turnout both in the primary election and in the general election in June.

"Kathleen continues to travel around the state, she continues to gain support and she's the candidate who is best poised to defeat Gov. Walker because she has built the big tent," said Falk's spokesman Scot Ross. "That's the only way you're going to beat him."

Falk was active in circulating recall petitions against Walker after he launched his legislative budget initiative that curbed union bargaining rights. Falk, 60, served 14 years as Dane County executive before retiring in April 2011.

But some unions are beginning to hedge their bets. The Wisconsin Education Association Council, the statewide teachers' union, had endorsed Falk before voting last weekend to support whichever candidate emerges to take on Walker.

Russ Young, a history teacher who proposed the measure though he supports Falk, said union members must be realistic in light of Barrett's strength.

"When we started the recall effort it wasn't to elect Kathleen Falk," Young said. "We started the recall to get rid of Scott Walker."

Last week, WEAC and unions that had spent an estimated $3 million on Falk advertising stopped their TV ads. A spokesman, Michael Vaughn, said the organization will return to the air soon.

All three of the major candidates – Barrett, Falk and Walker – have blanketed the airwaves with ads. The Republican Governors Association and Walker both launched new spots Wednesday targeting Barrett.

In her campaign, Falk has started to attack Barrett more vigorously, stressing that she is the "only one" who took on Walker from the outset last year.

But former U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, who is backing Barrett, said Wednesday that Democrats can't afford to weaken one another through attacks.

"It would be a suicide pact for people not to get together behind the winner in the primary," Obey said.

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Comments

[gfm975]

10:54 AM on 05/29/2012

Barrett has some momentum and serial liar scott Walker is afraid to talk to anyone who isn't already a supporter. In fact, Scott Walker's recall strategy: avoid Wisconsin voters if they're not already Walker voters. Why?

Why is the KOCHED up Walker afraid to talk to people he supposedly works for?

Simple answer, he doesn't work for the people, he works for special interest, big money, the KOCH Brothers, etc. Why else did out of state donors give him over 13 million?

[Broderick Crawford]

10:46 AM on 04/30/2012

If the government doesn't act in support of public employee unions, recall it. Who cares what is good for the people. So far Walker has turned back the devastating consequences of unbridled unfunded state liabilities and the unions in other states don't like the fact that if the Wisconsin reforms take hold they will be implemented in other states a s well. The telling fact that less than 12% of unionized participation in private companies from what once was better than 40% participation hasn't taken root in the public sector because they don't have to turn a profit to operate. Being funded at the largesse of taxes without regard to product viability is sucking the well dry. Back in Illinois, Dana Levenson, Chicago's former chief financial officer, has projected that the average city homeowner paying $3,000 in annual property taxes could see his tax bill rise within five years as much as $1,400. The reason: A 2010 Illinois law requires municipalities to raise the funding levels in their pension systems using property tax revenues but no additional contributions from government employees. The legislation prompted former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in December to warn residents that the increases might be so high, "you won't be able to sell your house."

[richardglund]

07:30 PM on 05/09/2012

Incredibly good news that Walker got almost as many votes as the Democratic yahoos combined. Governor Walker was not afraid to make the difficult choices to balance the budget and bring government spending under control. Thank God for Governor Walker and lets all unite behind this fine man.

[richardglund]

07:34 PM on 05/09/2012

Walker is the best Governor in America. At last a person of integrity and selfless service.

[gincho]

09:34 AM on 04/26/2012

What is really fantastic about this recall is that this is the will of the people - grassroots, pure and simple democracy. If your goverment does not act in according to the will of the people, it needs to be eliminated. Let's clean up the mess made in the 2010 elections and start over.

[Proud Conservative 1]

05:34 PM on 04/26/2012

This is NOT grassroots democracy. It's about a special interest (Government Unions) spending millions of dollars to unseat a duly elected Governor..."pure and simple"...and if you can't see that, then I hope you don't live in Wisconsin.

[DougH2]

08:11 AM on 04/27/2012

If I'm not mistaken, Wisconsin's laws for recall bear equal consideration as the laws regarding elections. Hundreds of thousands of individuals (grassroots) had to sign their names to petitions. The process was put in place to check the power of an elected official who refuses to carry out the will of the people.

If Walker had campaigned on stripping public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights, you'd have an argument, but he didn't. Walker is facing recall because he tried to slip one past his electorate. Fortunately for the people, they were paying attention and took action.

[84BADGER]

06:08 PM on 04/28/2012

Special interests? What do you call the Koch Bros. PACs?. And why is Walker fundraising extensively out of state? I'm guessing not a lot of the people at his New York fundraiser live in Wisconsin. Come to think of it, neither do the Kochs. Far right wing special interests are trying to buy the election (again). The working man will prevail.

[Mollyjb]

04:10 AM on 04/26/2012

I like Kathleen Falk but Barrett has the better chance of beating Walker and that is my prime motivation for voting - to get rid of Walker.

Wisconsin is the only state in America to show a statistically significant job loss over the past year! Over 20,000 jobs lost! Bloomberg ranks Wisconsin 42nd out of 50 states in terms of economic health. Walker has destroyed the economy. He campaigned on creating 250,000 jobs but his policies have only resulted in lost jobs. Walker turned down $800 million for a high speed train which would connect Chicago to Milwaukee and on to Madison. That would have created jobs. But now that money and those jobs are gone.

Walker has only passed laws that attack women, children, seniors and students. We need someone who supports the middle class and values education.

[RepublicansAreFail]

12:05 AM on 04/26/2012

Vote for Falk Wisconsin.

[HunterDouglas]

09:17 PM on 04/25/2012

To the Democrat candidates, please tell us what you would have done with the $3 Billion deficit left by the Democrat Jim Doyle and how you would have balanced the budget. Easy to run against Scott Walker now but that strategy does not give specifics on how you are going to handle the fiscal crisis. Walker has guts to make the tough choices. Barrett in Milwaukee has not. It is time that the people of Wisconsin realize that you cant have all of the spending that you want. Walker believes you dont spend what you dont have. Good lesson for Madison and Washington.

[bremdog]

03:49 PM on 04/28/2012

I guess I would have started by not actually increasing spending which his budget does (by 1% both years). I don't think the 2.3 billion in tax breaks and incentives for the wealthy and business class did the budget much good. If those breaks were supposed to create jobs, we can all see that was an epic fail. I would have NEGOTIATED with unions on adjustments to pension and benefits instead of attacking them. Mostly, I would have done what I campaigned on. Walker's brown bag ads said he wanted to eliminate wasteful spending, I guess I don't see education as a waste, but then I didn't drop out of Marquette to take handouts from the Koch brothers either.

[Jim Biggs]

09:47 PM on 05/30/2012

since when do dems not increase spending ?????

[emmanuel kalu]

05:48 PM on 04/25/2012

pick a democrats and get on with defeating walker. we can't afford to waste money, time and attacks on each other. this is a very important election, and if we lose, it would be a huge blow to the country. we must stop republicans at every level.

[sueoseland]

06:10 PM on 04/25/2012

I agree. We all must stick together. There still is a chance for a Walker defeat!!!!!

[Erinn12]

10:32 PM on 04/25/2012

And we are not wasting money with the current administration in office right now? Obama and the democrats are putting our country in more and more debt. I live in WI, voted for Walker, and will vote for him again. We must stop DEMOCRATS at every level.

[Mollyjb]

04:18 AM on 04/26/2012

Are you kidding me? The Republicons destroyed the economy just like Walker is destroying the Wisconsin economy.

When Bush took office the national debt was $5 trillion but when he left it was over $10 trillion. When Bush took office the unemployment rate was 4.2% but when he left it was 7.8% and climbing. Jobs were being lost at the rate of 750,000 per month. Only 3 million jobs were created in 8 years of Bush. The Dow Jones average sank to below 8000. The economy shrank 9%! Bush and Republican policies are a disaster.

Obama has turned the economy around. The Dow Jones average is up to 13,000! Almost 4 million jobs have been added to the economy. The automobile industry was saved and GM is now the world's largest car maker again. There have been 25 straight months of economic growth. Things would be better if the Republicons didn't block everything Obama and the Democrats wanted to do to improve the economy and add jobs.

[idisVA]

04:41 PM on 04/25/2012

I hope Democrats coalesce immediately around the winner, and not fall for the Republican shenanigans so as to achieve our primary objective of booting Scott Walker out of office.