Here & Now

Campaign Rhetoric will be 'a Bloodbath' into November

Frederica Freyberg:
The race for governor is our first topic tonight and the fight is on with just over seven weeks to election day. Scott Walker and Tony Evers have the gloves off. We will give you a taste of some of the airwave attacks in a moment but first let’s say hello to a couple of ringside veterans. Capitol Consultant Manager Partner Bill McCoshen and One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. Thanks for being here.

Bill McCoshen, Scot Ross:
Thanks for having us.

Frederica Freyberg:
So are we already into scorched earth territory?

Scot Ross:
Scott Walker’s negativity is a sign of Scott Walker’s desperation. They’ve already spent $10 million in television ads for him since May first and Tony Evers is beating him. Scott Walker is doing what a career politician does. He will say, do and spend anything to try and win this race.

Frederica Freyberg:
And yet Scott Walkers says this is a positive campaign Bill.

Bill McCoshen:
I think he’s run a lot of positive ads but you’ve got to recognize that this is — politics is a contact sport. As you said, using the boxing analogy, if you can’t take a hit, you shouldn’t get in the ring. The fact that Tony Evers is whining about some hits that Scott Walker’s laying on him sort of suggests that his campaign isn’t quite as good as Scot Ross would lead you to believe. I mean there’s 52 days left. This is going to be a bloodbath. It’s a close rate. The last Marquette Poll had it tied. Some races — some pollsters have Evers up by a couple points. They’ll be a new Marquette Poll next week. It’s hard to tell but you can expect this the rest of the way.

Frederica Freyberg:
It seems to be a lot about porn-watching teachers and now prisons. Let’s just take a quick look at one of those ads out there.

Male Voice:
As superintendent, Tony Evers failed to remove abusive teachers from our schools. Now Evers wants to cut Wisconsin’s prison population in half. A dangerous plan that today would mean releasing thousands of violent criminals back into our communities.

Frederica Freyberg:
I want to talk about the prison thing in a moment. But on the teacher porn thing Scot, is that a fair attack?

Scot Ross:
It’s ridiculous. I mean the fact is that Scott Walker passed the buck and Tony Evers helped pass a law. Tony Evers couldn’t get rid of that teacher because of the law. He went and worked hard, did things and got the law changed. Scott Walker didn’t even put out a press release when that law actually passed. This is Scott Walker’s desperation.

Bill McCoshen:
It’s false. The reality is if you disagree with the law and you are in a constitutional position like Tony Evers, he could have challenged it by suspending that teacher, suspending his license and then letting the teacher take him to court. He chose not to do that. And instead stood behind a law. And yeah, he worked to change it over the course of time but he could have acted sooner and he didn’t.

Frederica Freyberg:
This is an all-out barrage. I just got this at home this week. It’ a double-sided similar attack, porn teacher. What do you make of the kind of photo? I mean Tony Evers looks really dangerous here.

Scot Ross:
The fact is what looks really dangerous is Scott Walker’s failed record over the last 25 years as a career competition. I mean he has done top to bottom disastrous stuff to the state of Wisconsin. When you talk about crime and corrections and you talk about porn, there’s only one candidate in this race who’s had a criminal defense fund. That is Scott Walker.

Bill McCoshen:
Here’s what we know from Craig Gilbert’s reporting in the Journal-Sentinel. All the Republicans are going to vote for Scott Walker. All Democrats are going to vote for Tony Evers. So this fight is really about the middle. Those that call themselves independent. I think the Walker campaign is doing an effective job of introducing Tony Evers to those independents so they know what choice they are going to make on November 6. Whether it’s going to be Walker or whether it’s going to be Evers. So all of this is fair game. If it’s part of your record, it’s fair game. You can call it negative ads. You can whine about it but the reality is if these things are part of your record, they’re going to be part of the campaign.

Frederica Freyberg:
Part of the record in the campaign is this discussion of reducing the prison population. Now Scott Walker would say that Tony Evers wants to release rapists and kidnappers and that’s what the last ad just said.

Bill McCoshen:
Because he hasn’t clarified. I mean the reality is Kelda Roys in one campaign debate in the Democratic primary said she wanted to cut the prison population by 50%. Tony Evers said I agree. Well what does that mean? If you cut it by 50%, you are going to release violent criminals. That’s no question about that.

Frederica Freyberg:
He has —

Bill McCoshen:
Evers has not clarified that.

Scot Ross:
Let’s be clear. First of all, Kelda Roys is not the nominee. Second Tony Evers said his goal is to make sure we’re putting– that we’re getting non-violent criminals out of prison. Because it’s a drag on the system. But don’t take my words for it. Take Bill’s old boss Tommy Thompson who said Scott Walker has been a disaster on corrections and he’s right. When Scott Walker got in office in 1993, the prison budget is about $200 million. It’s now $2 billion. Scott Walker built his career — and this is what needs to be talked about — Scott Walker’s built his career on putting black people in prison for as long as humanly possible and throwing away the key. He is trying to suppress the vote with his scorched campaign.

Bill McCoshen:
Getting back to the tactics of a campaign, Evers is going to have to answer that. Whether it’s in their first debate or not. And by the way, he didn’t just cancel on you tonight. He canceled the first debate on October 5th and it’s now been rescheduled to October 19th. Why is that? What is Tony Evers hiding from?

Scot Ross:
What I would say is this. I agree that to win an election you have to get more people out to vote on election day. But I disagree with the idea that the independents are going to make this. The race is going to be won because Democrats are running to the polls because the Republicans are led by a racist nightmare in the White House. Plain and simple, Scott Walker stood with Donald Trump every step of the way. No matter what he has done. No matter what he has said from s-hole countries to putting brown kids in baby jails, to having white supremacists and Nazis in the White House, for “many sides”-ing things. This is about Democratic enthusiasm.

Bill McCoshen:
Some Democrats like Scot are all worked up about this but there’s no evidence in the Marquette Poll that Democrats have a significant enthusiasm advantage in the state of Wisconsin. None yet. We’ll see.

Scot Ross:
Charles Franklin’s poll is literally the only poll in the United States that says there’s no Democratic enthusiasm. After we’ve won three races, we haven’t won since 1990s and 70s.

Frederica Freyberg:
This is getting good but let me move along to a new ad out today. And that is from Rebecca Kleefisch, lieutenant governor, who says she is shocked that Tony Evers says Scott Walker would end protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Let’s take a listen.

Rebecca Kleefisch:
I’m Rebecca Kleefisch. I’ll never forget my battle with cancer or the impact it had on my family. That’s why I’m shocked Tony Evers and his allies say Scott Walker would end protections for people with pre-existing conditions. People like me.

Frederica Freyberg:
The thing is that getting rid of the Affordable Care Act would effectively end protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Bill McCoshen:
But the Republicans have been unable to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. Donald Trump himself has said pre-existing condition is not going to go away. So this is sort of a stretching of the facts on the part of the Democrats, the charge against Walker. I would say this. Rebecca Kleefisch is a very effective spokesman and I think the Walker campaign ought to use her in more ads. But on this one in particular as a cancer survivor, I thought she was marvelous.

Scot Ross:
In 2010 Rebecca Kleefisch and Scott Walker ran an ad saying that Tom Barrett was going to have a government takeover of healthcare using the fact that she had had cancer. Politifact called it “pants on fire.” This is another “pants on fire” lie. Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch and the Republicans have been in charge for eight straight years. If they wanted to codify protection, pre-existing protections into law they could do it. The only thing that’s saving pre-existing conditions is the Affordable Care Act that Scott Walker, Brad Schimel and Rebecca Kleefisch are trying to throw out.

Frederica Freyberg:
We need to leave it there. Scot Ross and Bill McCoshen. Thank you very much.