Wisconsin Recall 2012

The Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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).…

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…

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….…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…