Earlier today, a Democratic strategist jumped the shark with this statement:
Sachin Chheda, a Democratic strategist who hasn’t endorsed any candidate, said Democrats are not worried about matching Walker’s spending. “The question is not whether they have as much as Walker. It’s do they have enough to get their message out,” Chheda said. “I think they do.”
The question isn’t whether they’ve got the money to get their message out. Big Labor just dumped $7,000,000 into the race:
Just released campaign finance documents show Big Labor both inside and outside of Wisconsin pouring just over $7 million into the effort to recall Governor Scott Walker and four GOP state senators. In the 2011 recall campaign combined total spending by unions and progressive groups reached $14.7 million, or just over twice what labor unions alone have managed to raise or spend in what is the opening round of the effort to knock out Governor Walker less than two years into his term.
The question that’s most important is whether people will agree with Gov. Walker’s message of lower property taxes and getting spending under control. It isn’t likely that the unions’ message of union rights will appeal to voters.
Supposedly, that’s why the unions are switching to jobs as a topic. It isn’t likely that they’ll gain traction with that message because cutting, then stabilizing, property taxes is an appealing message.
That’s a message that Gov. Walker positively owns. It’s also a message that’s apparently already sunk in with Wisconsin voters.
There’s no question that the enthusiasm gap has diminished. There’s no question, too, that the Democrats’ messaging and behavior haven’t appealed to people beyond their base.
After this is over, Wisconsin needs to change the recall elections laws. It’s highly destabilizing for there to be recall elections based solely on political differences of opinion. Recalls shouldn’t happen without the legislature or the governor causing a crisis for the citizens of Wisconsin.
Causing political problems for special interest organizations shouldn’t qualify as a legitimate crisis triggering a recall.
What Wisconites have to determine is whether the PEUs’ tactics are dirty and whether the PEUs care about Wisconsinites more than they care about their own special interests. I’d argue the PEUs don’t care about anything except their own special interests.
In the end, that’s why Gov. Walker will win his recall election.
Authored By Let Freedom Ring Blog
