[Hmwmzian]

Most are calling it fairly even.


http://www.latimes.com/news/politics...,5232536.story

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett's easy victory in Tuesday's Democratic primary turns Wisconsin's recall election into a rematch -- a bitter, $80-million, four-week argument over whether voters will reaffirm, or reverse, the 2010 election.

The campaign to unseat Republican Gov. Scott Walker -- only the third attempt to recall a governor in U.S. history -- has deeply and evenly divided the state. A poll released last week by Marquette University Law School showed Walker and Barrett neck and neck with only 4% of voters undecided. Walker defeated Barrett in 2010 by nearly 6 percentage points.

Already, the recall campaign is shattering state spending records. Walker, who under recall election rules was allowed until recently to accept unlimited contributions, has raised more than $23 million, with about 60% of his money coming from out of state. Barrett has raised only about $1 million, but outside groups on both sides have raised millions more.

Total spending on the race is expected to hit $80 million, with much of the money being used in the four weeks between now and the June 5 election. That would be more than twice what Barrett, Walker and outside groups spent for the entire year leading up to the 2010 contest.

The huge amounts reflect the national attention paid to Wisconsin since early last year when Walker pushed a bill through the state Legislature ending collective bargaining rights for teachers and most other public workers. Ever since, he has been a hero to conservatives and an object of fury among unions and other groups on the left. In January, opponents turned in more than 900,000 signatures on recall petitions – an astonishing number in a state where Walker won roughly 1.2 million votes to gain election.

Walker argues that his move to curtail unions allowed the state and local school districts to balance their budgets without raising taxes. A Barrett victory would take the state "backward," he says.

Barrett points to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that Wisconsin is the only state to have lost a statistically significant number of jobs over the last 12 months.

"This election is not about fighting past battles, it is about moving forward together to create jobs and get our economy moving again," the Democrat said in a statement Tuesday night. "Wisconsin cannot afford to continue to suffer through Walker's ideological civil war."

Walker carries several advantages into the race – the enormous amount of money at his disposal, the fact that he beat Barrett once before and the June election date, which means the state’s colleges will be out of session, probably reducing the number of young voters, who lean Democratic.

On the other hand, the only other governors to face recalls – California’s Gray Davis in 2003 and North Dakota’s Lynn Frazier in 1921 – both lost. And the intensity of anti-Walker sentiment on the Democratic side is likely to blunt the impact of negative ads that Walker already has begun running against Barrett. Turnout on both sides is expected to be very high.

With the primary over, Democrats moved quickly to unite. Barrett gained support Tuesday night from unions that had backed his chief rival, Kathleen Falk, the former chief executive of Dane County, which includes the state capital of Madison. Barrett won the primary with about 55% of the vote to Falk’s 37%, according to preliminary results. Two other candidates were far behind.

A possible wild card in the race is an investigation by Milwaukee prosecutors into unspecified events during Walker’s tenure as chief executive of Milwaukee County. The governor has hired two criminal defense firms. He says he has been told he is not a target of the investigation. Three former aides and a campaign contributor have been charged, but details of the investigation have remained secret.

[crycleascentyv]

Everyone knows that Scott Walker only got to where he is because of the Coke brothers.

[Evdokia]

... doesn't Wi. have over 4,000,000 voters?

[Oberjej]

Ed Schultz just said (I'm paraphrasing slightly) 'the numbers are in and they look bad for Scott Walker'.

I'm just not seeing it, Ed.

[mussmicky]

Scott Walker has been the favorite from the start.

No way. That's not what MSNBC tells us.

[duribass]

He got votes when the election was uncompetitive and the only reason to show up was to make a symbolic move to support him.

[Chooriwrocaey]

You have a 2 party system and he received about 1/3 of the vote without a Dem opponent - I still don't see how that outcome is anythig but pathetic.

[XarokLasa]

Polls? Who cares what polls say when the actual votes tell a different story? In an uncontested primary, Scott Walker generated a huge turnout. Imagine where it'll be when it actually matters. Unless you think the Democrats could somehow galvanize more voters June 5 or that independents will overwhelmingly favor a Democrat, looks like Scott Walker got this one in the bag.




I don't watch him. I hear him. I also hear Sharpton, Maddow, and Chris Matthews.

Those people constantly tell us what is right and what Americans believe in. I love it when it's shown wrong.

I'll get so much satisfaction when Ed Shultz is embarrassed by a Walker victory.

If by "huge turnout" you mean "slightly less turnout than the Democrats" then you might have a point. Of course Walker is popular with the base, if he wasn't a polarizing figure there wouldn't be a recall election. And having a grudge against an idiot on cable news is kind of sad.

[Maryjasmine]

Apparently he's now attacking Barrett by claiming that employment went down when he was mayor of Milwaukee. He seems to have forgotten that jobs went up in 2011 and at the time he tried to claim the credit for it.

You stay classy GOP.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n-jobs-exposed

[Sakkola]

Coke Brothers

Pepsi brothers

[oemcheapdownload]

And there were over 900,000 votes against him.

So... about 14% of registered voters voted... and Walker got about 1/3 of those votes. Bra-vo...

Wrong...and wrong again.

Wisconsin's overall turnout Tuesday was 1,316,736, or 30.3%, of the state's 2011 voting-age population, very close to what state officials forecast last week. That's more than any September primary in six decades, though many presidential primaries have generated higher turnouts, including 2008.

[parurorges]

I dont like the notion of public sector unions pushing recall efforts, or laws, or anything other than their job

and msnbc is shameful, they're approaching Fox "news" territory with their BS

MSNBC is way worse than Fox news. Al Sharpton and Ed Shultz organize political rallies. I don't know that O'Reilly or Hannity do any such thing, but I could be wrong.

The other thing about Fox is that O'Reilly and Hannity love to argue so they always put people they disagree with on their shows. Schultz, Sharpton, and Maddow virtually never have someone they disagree with on the show. Chris Matthews at least has guys like Michael Steele on.


If anyone hasn't seen MSNBC's political block for a few years, I highly suggest they check it out just to be amazed by the partisanship. It's beyond Fox levels of partisanship.

[no02rSx2]

No, there weren't.

Yes, there were.

[arriplify]

Hannity does. I don't think O'reilly does, mostly because O'reilly is unlikeable guy that people find interesting but wouldn't mind seeing being hit by a bus.

well......if somebody's gotta be hit by a bus

[AromeWahmaron]

Of course it is, which also explains why Berzerker hates them.

[CreativeSuiteDown]

Good. Then we will have more high payed workers- who can pay taxes. All workers should be paid fair wages, not the 'race to the bottom' sh*t going on in the US. Minimum wage should be at least $15/hr.

Governments should be responsible for services, and government employees should maintain those services. The shi* going on with municipalities in the US (and to a lesser extent in Canada) refusing to tax has resulted in an increadible infrastructure deficite in both countries. You USers have gone so far as to have huge urban waistlands in most of you cities. Its time the middle class and working class realize that all the Repugs trickle down economics does for them is allow them to be shat upon. Make the F*cking rich pay their fair share. Stop calling corporations people and treat workers like humans.

[VUzgOhgv]

Then you should be retrained?

JM

[cakaeroryrere]

Minimum wage should be at least $15/hr. Personally, I'd rather not pay 15 bucks for a hamburger.

[Gakeincidoniac]

Then you should be retrained?

JM

No, then you should get paid what you're worth. "Sorry, you're not skilled enough to be allowed to have a job, even though there are jobs you could perform, just not for 15/hour"

[DialOne]

Labor costs account for 15-20% of costs in a fast food restaurant. A doubling of the minimum wage (currently $7.25/hr) would necessitate at the minimum a 20% spike in prices at the retail level just to cover labor costs, but since the wage law would also increase costs at the distribution and production levels, food costs would also rise.

Wouldn't be any $15 burgers at McDonalds but a 40% increase in prices is likely. Expect that $3.50 Big Mac to cost $5.00 What about the suppliers? If the price of Big Macs double and your paycheck increases by the same amount, how have you gained anything? Not to mention the fact that everyone who has anything saved just lost half their money.