On Wednesday night, 4.25.12, Wisconsin’s Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant governor (and a few other Democratic candidates) attended a forum at UW-Whitewater, in Whitewater, Wisconsin. I’m a resident of Whitewater, Wisconsin (population 14,622), where I also publish a city blog, FREE WHITEWATER, and a blog of news squibs, Daily Wisconsin. I would have attended…
Wisconsin Recall 2012
Unions, Wisconsin Recall 2012
The Wisconsin Unions’ Doomed Primary Pick
Kathleen Falk, the choice of every Big Labor board in Wisconsin, received fewer than half the votes in a Democrats’ straw poll in her home base of Dane County. It’s hard to overestimate how telling this is: union leaders are sure she’s the best candidate to take on Walker, but even Democrats she knows aren’t…
Elections, Politics, Wisconsin Recall 2012
The Wisconsin Democrats’ Recall Strategy
Here in the land of recall primaries and recall general elections (5.8.12 and 6.5.12 respectively), the WisDems have a strategy that’s light on collective bargaining, but big on education, legislative issues perceived to be affecting women disproportionately, and Walker’s honesty & candor. Writing in Mother Jones, Andy Kroll describes the tack the Dems plan to…
Wisconsin, Wisconsin Recall 2012
Are Kathleen Falk’s union backers the best thing that ever happened to rival Tom Barrett?
In the Wisconsin recall battle, could Tom Barrett have any better asset than the unions who favor Kathleen Falk over him? Nietzsche would say no: Any union criticism of theirs that doesn’t kill him actually makes him stronger. Falk trails the late-entering Barrett for the race to challenge Scott Walker, and she’s desperately willing to…
Wisconsin Recall 2012
Recall Candidate Tom Barrett States His Case
I wrote yesterday about Kathleen Falk’s interview on Here and Now, a Wisconsin Public Televsion program. It was another in a series of mediocre appearances –she’s a candidate past her prime. (For earlier posts along these lines, see Assessing the (Current) Recall Challengers’ Public Speaking and Assessing Kathleen Falk’s Initial Campaign Steps in a Recall…
Wisconsin Recall 2012
Recall Candidate Kathleen Falk’s 3.30.12 Interview
Kathleen Falk, former Dane County Executive (until she quit mid-term), was the first recall candidate to challenge Gov. Walker. Despite her core of institutional support, I doubt she’ll be the nominee. Here in Wisconsin, I’ve met countless Republicans who hope she’s the Democratic challenger, on the (correct) theory that she’d be easier for Walker to…
Elections, Wisconsin Recall 2012
Republican Betting on Walker’s Recall Opponent
The Republican Governors Association expects Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to be a candidate in the recall race against Gov. Walker (Barrett’s promised to announce his intentions between 3.30 and 4.3). Most people expect him to be a candidate. (I’d guess that, should he run, he’d beat candidates Kathleen Falk and Kathleen Vinehout in recall primary).…
Politics, Wisconsin Recall 2012
Wisconsin’s Shoddy Partisan Analysis
Wisconsin has a fuller political calendar than most states: we’ve not merely the traditional state and federal races, but recall elections likely for May and June. A libertarian will look at these issues with sharp interest, but without a partisan attachment. Perhaps all those contests, sure to be fought tooth and nail, have made some…
Wisconsin Recall 2012
In Wisconsin, Gov. Walker Sets Up Legal-Defense Fund
In a state with a recall election ahead, and thereafter sure to be a battleground of the presidential election, the portentous: Gov. Scott Walker announced Friday that he has set up a legal-defense fund to help pay expenses incurred as a result of the John Doe investigation of activities during his time as county executive….…
Wisconsin Recall 2012
Recall Organizer Lori Compas’s Declaration Speech
Embedded below is a video of recall-organizer-turned-candidate Lori Compas declaring against Sen. Majority Leader Fitzgerald in Wisconsin’s 13th District. Despite Sen. Fitzgerald’s numerous challenges to petition signatures, I’d guess a recall election in his district will happen. (It’s a partisan video, from SSWIDTMS. Compas’s remarks are my only interest; the origin of the video isn’t…
Politics, Wisconsin Recall 2012
Assessing Walker and Barrett as Debaters
Among the Democrats who might challenge Gov. Walker is one who challenged him in 2010. Milwaukee’s Mayor Tom Barrett ran and lost in a 1,128,941 to 1,004,303 tally. Barrett may run against Walker in a recall, so here’s an assessment of Barrett and Walker as debaters in the 2010 campaign. There’s more to write, another…
Elections, Wisconsin Recall 2012
Lori Compas Declares Recall Candidacy Against Sen. Majority Leader Fitzgerald
News from the Wisconsin state senate recalls that are running parallel to a gubernatorial recall – Compas led a recall petition drive against Sen. Fitzgerald, and she’s now declared her candidacy for the13th Sen. District. I’ve no idea how the race will go, but it will be worth following. (I’ve written a bit about Compas…
Politics, Wisconsin Recall 2012
Assessing Gov. Walker’s Public Speaking
It’s almost tongue-in-cheek to talk about Gov. Scott Walker’s speaking style; virtually all Wisconsin has an opinion of him that rests on more than a manner of delivery. And yet, and yet — Team Walker has, and has always had, national ambitions for their man. Walker may be traveling across the country to collect donations…
Politics, Wisconsin Recall 2012
Assessing the (Current) Recall Challengers’ Public Speaking
As I write, there are three declared challengers to Gov. Walker, should there be (as there will be, really) a gubernatorial recall race. More will enter, but for now it’s Kathleen Falk, Hari Trevedi, and Kathleen Vinehout. I’ll consider their presentations at the challenger-friendly Fourth Annual Grassroots Fest Candidate Forum held February 18, 2012 in…
Elections, Politics, Wisconsin Recall 2012
Reviewing Kathleen Vinehout’s Initial Campaign Steps in a Recall Race
Many Wisconsinites have never heard of Kathleen Vinehout, a Democratic state senator representing western Wisconsin’s 31st Senate District. (Vinehout lives in tiny Alma, population 781.) She, like all her partisan senate colleagues, left the state in 2010 to prevent a quorum. She was not, and is not, as well-known as some of those who left…
Elections, Politics, Wisconsin Recall 2012
Reviewing Kathleen Falk’s Initial Campaign Steps in a Recall Race
I wrote before, at FREE WHITEWATER, about Democratic recall candidate Kathleen Falk’s campaign announcement. (See, Reviewing Kathleen Falk’s Recall Campaign Announcement.) The post was part of an ongoing series on candidates and advertisements during the 2012 Wisconsin elections. I’ll survey the range of candidates for state and federal office, and I started with Falk.) These…
Elections, Politics, Wisconsin Recall 2012
Reviewing Kathleen Falk’s Recall Campaign Announcement
Kathleen Falk, former Dane County Executive, declared her candidacy yesterday for governor. Below I have embedded her video declaration, a screenshot of her website, and a chart from the Journal Sentinel of Democrats who may run against Walker. These are first impressions of Falk’s campaign announcement. They address only the politics, and not the merits,…