Wisconsin Democrats Face Divisive Primary in Advance of Fight Against Walker

By Sean Sullivan  //  March 30, 2012 | 7:34 p.m.

Former Dane County (Wis.) County Executive Kathleen Fallk and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (AP Photos--Friends of Kathleen Falk/Andy Manis (Barrett))

Somewhere in Wisconsin, Scott Walker is smiling.

The embattled Republican governor, whose law curbing collective bargaining for public employees has aroused anger from coast to coast on the left, officially received word on Friday that he will face a recall election this summer. He also learned that on the other side, a nasty Democratic primary that threatens to shred party unity in advance of the general election is brewing. On one side is a Madison-area labor-backed woman. On the other, a man who has friends in high places, including former White House chief of staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the man Walker defeated by six points in a 2010 open race, announced that he would enter the race for governor. Just four days shy of his own mayoral election, Barrett on Friday reminded voters of his 2010 run, vowing a renewed fight against the polarizing first-term governor.

"In the end, Russ Feingold and I both fell short in a Tea Party wave. But we can all take pride that we took the fight to Scott Walker, and the past 15 months have shown why that fight is so important," he said in a statement.

But to get a second chance with Walker, Barrett will first have to survive a May 8 primary. Former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk is also running in the Democratic race. She's favored by organized labor and the left, while Barrett is no friend of the union community. Expected to get the almost all labor money, Falk will have a well-stocked war chest and a liberal Madison area base behind her. Like Barrett, Falk has run for governor before. In 2002, she finished third to Jim Doyle in a three-way primary. Barrett finished second.

"I welcome Tom to this important race. I have been working side by side with citizens around our state for over a year fighting hard against Gov. Walker's extreme agenda. I have a plan to reverse the damage that Gov. Walker has done - by bringing back openness, transparency, and accountability to government," Falk said in response to Barrett's decision to run. "It's a battle to invest in education, repeal billions in tax giveaways to corporations, protect women's health care and restore integrity to state government. Wisconsin needs to come together and we need jobs, and I am eager to heal our state and move us forward."

While Falk has her labor allies, Barrett boasts high-profile support of his own in a network that extends beyond the borders of the badger state. Emanuel appeared at a fundraiser for Barrett this week (though he has not endorsed him in the recall election). And Barrett made his own appearance at a fundraiser for the Obama Victory Fund featuring Vice President Joe Biden.

Republicans, unsure of who the Democratic nominee will be, have begun assailing both candidates. The Republican Governors Association has launched two television ads attacking both Barrett and Falk. "It is shocking that despite the downward spiral of Milwaukee's economy that Tom Barrett has presided over that he would ask Wisconsinites to not only stop the progress the state has seen in Governor Walker's first year in office, but completely reverse it by electing him as governor," Walker spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said in a statement responding to Barrett's entrance into the race. Recent polling shows single digits separating Walker from his Democratic competition and a sharply divided electorate split down the middle with virtually no undecided voters. The mood of Wisconsin voters was almost identical during last summer's state Senate recalls in which Democrats came one pickup short of seizing back control of the upper chamber. Walker has been preparing for a recall election for months, raising millions and launching television ads portraying his record in a positive light. The general election -- which is slated for June 5 -- is a real tossup, and Walker may go down, less than two years into his first term. But Barrett's entrance into the race means the governor can rest a little easier for now, as the likely Democratic infighting will mean expending resources that won't be there in the general election and a potentially wounded Democratic nominee.

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