All three unsuccessful Dem primary candidates publicly threw their support behind Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in a joint appearance today outside Barrett’s Milwaukee home. Kathleen Falk, Kathleen Vinehout and Doug La Follette all said they’d actively campaign on Barrett’s behalf over the next 27 days.
Tom Barrett told hundreds of cheering supporters in his victory speech that “I need you like I’ve never needed you before and more important, this state needs you like it’s never needed you before.” “We have a lot of work to do in the next 27 days,” he said, warning that Scott Walker’s campaign would unleash a barrage of attack ads. Blaming Walker for dividing Wisconsin as he has never seen it, Barrett said, “That division is the exact opposite from the way I will govern.”
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett vowed Thursday to call a special session of the Legislature to restore collective rights for public employees if he’s elected guv. But former Dane County Exec Kathleen Falk countered at a forum hosted by unions and progressive groups that such a move was not enough and again pledged to use the budget to restore those powers.
Aside from Scott Walker, others speaking at the Waukesha County Lincoln Reagan Dinner were presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, along with U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, and Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus. Romney steered clear of Wisconsin references in his remarks, except to chuckle at the fact that speedskater Derek Parra of California, whom Romney chose to help carry the American flag during the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, was able to “beat a bunch of guys from Michigan and Wisconsin and Minnesota.”
An animated and defiant Gov. Scott Walker, in his first public appearance since his recall election became official, conceded he’d learned a hard lesson about acting first and explaining later regarding the collective bargaining measures he introduced last February. “If I’d spent more time making the case in January and February, I bet taxpayers would have said, ‘Governor, you have to fix this,’ ” he said Saturday. “Instead, I just went out and fixed it and explained later. I admit I learned a lesson from that and I’m going to spend a whole lot more time explaining things in the future.”
Gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Vinehout spent Saturday afternoon in the heart of Milwaukee, where she told residents of the Riverwest neighborhood that she’s the candidate who can win over the small but crucial undecided vote that will determine the outcome of the recall. With polls showing Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in a dead heat with Gov. Scott Walker, Vinehout said it makes sense to choose a Democratic candidate who can win swing voters in what she calls Wisconsin’s “fertile crescent” — a curved swath stretching from La Crosse and Eau Claire, through Wausau and up through Green Bay and northward.