Governor's race overshadows crucial fall elections in swing-state Wisconsin

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TheHill:

Wisconsin could determine control of Congress and may be Mitt Romney’s best chance to win a historically Democratic state this election — but any talk of fall races is on the back-burner as the two parties fight a highly charged battle for control of the governor’s mansion.

Both Wisconsin Democrats and Republicans have been in full-on campaign mode ever since Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ® pushed through a law ending government workers’ right to collectively bargain. In the year and a half since his controversial push the state has hosted six elections including state Senate recall races and a state Supreme Court race that both saw spending in the tens of millions.

 

 

Walker will face the voters on June 8, and polls show him with a slight lead over Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D). Whatever the result, the trench warfare between Walker and the unions will likely color November’s elections. Romney has fully embraced Walker, calling him a “hero,” and he and Obama have increasingly fought over labor policies.

Romney accused Obama this week of wanting “to do the bidding of these old union CEO bosses,” while Obama has taken an increasingly populist and pro-union tone since Walker pushed the issue into the national spotlight.

There have been many signs of the long shadow the recall election has cast over all other races in the state. Every Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate has made a point to campaign hard for Walker and routinely invokes his name on the stump, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) sent out a Friday fundraiser for get-out-the-vote efforts in Wisconsin, seeking to capitalize over the attention the race has drawn.

Obama won Wisconsin by a 14-point margin in 2008 and Republicans haven’t won the state at the presidential level since 1984, but the GOP has long been competitive there. President George W. Bush came within one percentage point of winning the state in both 2000 and 2004, and Walker led a Republican revolt in the state in 2010 — the GOP won the governor’s mansion, both chambers of the state legislature, a Senate seat and two House seats.

This time around, control of both the White House and Congress could be determined in the state — and both sides predict a tight general election. Besides the presidential race, there is a dogfight for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), and two GOP-controlled House seats are high on Democrats’ target lists.

“I expect both the Senate and presidential races to be competitive regardless of what happens in the recall,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate told The Hill. “That’s in keeping with Wisconsin’s history — we almost always have close races.”