Here & Now

“The First Hundred-Million Dollar Campaign”

Frederica Freyberg:

In tonight’s closer look, the election for governor in Wisconsin is now just shy of a year away and democrats are lining up to run against Scott Walker. Tonight, some insight into the race from a political expert, the two majority political parties and the candidates themselves.

Scott Walker:

Rebecca and I are asking for four more years to serve as your governor and lieutenant governor, to move Wisconsin forward!

[cheers and applause]

Frederica Freyberg:

With that announcement earlier this month, the race is on.

Scott Walker:

Four more years. Four more years to keep moving this state forward. And looking ahead. We want a state where everyone shares, everyone shares in our economic prosperity, whether you live in a big city or a small town.

Frederica Freyberg:

And the incumbent figures to power through.

Mordecai Lee:

Scott Walker had a near death experience as a result of his run for president.

Frederica Freyberg:

UW-Milwaukee Political Scientist Mordecai Lee says the bottom dropped out for Scott Walker at that time, his polling in the mid-30s.

Scott Walker:

Today, I believe that I'm being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive, conservative message can rise to the top of the field. With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign.

Frederica Freyberg:

But he’s back, his numbers in a position to win. Lee calls him a political Ever-Ready battery.

Mordecai Lee:

I think we should recognize that the way he clawed his way back to political viability is an indication of his political skills. Notwithstanding all the criticisms that Democrats will make of him, one has to respect what an adaptable and fleet-footed politician he is.

Frederica Freyberg:

And there’s no shortage of Democrat jumping on board. At least 15 so far. Walker says they’re all the same. Not so say the candidates we’ve interviewed, when asked what sets them apart from each other, starting with Tony Evers, who has won three statewide races for superintendent of public schools.

Tony Evers:

The last time I won with 70% of the vote. I won 70 of 72 counties.

Andy Gronik:

Someone who’s helped companies solve problems and access billions of dollars a year so they could grow and create jobs. It’s a very different skill set.

Mike McCabe:

They all have at least one thing in common. They seem very, very comfortable operating within the political system as it currently functions. And I'm not.

Dana Wachs:

I think being an advocate for the middle class, I think I'm best-suited to take our case into that building and make sure that the middle class is being heard.

Kathleen Vinehout:

I come to politics later in my career. I worked in health care. I spent ten years as a university professor.

Matt Flynn:

I was the chair of this party for four years, for two terms, retired our debt. We elected a Democratic governor and we elected Democratic majorities in the legislature.

Bob Harlow:

We all have a vision for a prosperous Wisconsin. And as governor, I will lead our state forward toward that vision.

Mahlon Mitchell:

I've been a firefighter for 20 years giving back to my community. As firefighters, we lead. We don’t divide. We unite each other. We have one common goal and that is to help others.

Martha Laning:

The Republicans have spent all their time doing what’s right for the wealthy and for giving handouts to corporations. It’s time we bring politics back to the grass roots, to the people. That’s what we’re going to stand for. We’re going to be out there talking about those issues. We already are. Our candidates are doing exactly that.

Mark Morgan:

I think the confidence that we derive is from the strength of our candidate and the strength of our message. You know, we’re very confident in the fact that Governor Walker when he has the chance to lay out his reforms and lay out his message for the voters, it’s a compelling message. When you get to talk about how the state has come back from where we were in 2010 and what his plan is to keep us moving forward. So that I think we’re very confident in.

Frederica Freyberg:

Mordecai Lee says after his first term of shock and awe, campaign watchers should expect a continued play to the middle from Scott Walker.

Mordecai Lee:

I think his last budget was the least ideological budget in the sense of, yeah, he refused to increase the gas tax and it was a sop to the ideological purist, I’ll never increase taxes. On the other hand, the main feature of that budget was he increased funding for public education, which is a very popular thing to do. I think what we’re going to be seeing this time around is a governor running for reelection as a moderate Republican as opposed to as an ideological Tea Party Republican.

Martha Laning:

His agenda doesn’t work. He was big and bold and made all kinds of promises, the job creation that he claimed he was going to make. He still hasn’t delivered on that. It’s seven years later.

Frederica Freyberg:

Though not making it a centerpiece of his campaign, Walker did sign the $3 billion deal on a potential 13,000 jobs with Foxconn, something Democrats call a reckless giveaway. Aside from the issues, Lee says personality plays a role.

Mordecai Lee:

What the Democrats need is somebody who’s good on their feet, who’s good verbally and who’s got the discipline to only say what should be said and not start improvising or saying things on an ad hoc basis.

Mark Morgan:

Collectively, the biggest flaw all of them have is that they're going to have to find some way to actually articulate a reason that people should vote for them.

Frederica Freyberg:

Articulating messages on both sides will be aided by a change in Wisconsin law that now means candidates of all stripes can coordinate with independent spending groups. And Mordecai Lee says with, quote, money being the mother’s milk of politics, this change will open up the floodgates.

Mordecai Lee:

This is so revolutionary in terms of its impact on Wisconsin politics, I think we’re going to see the first $100 million campaign in Wisconsin. We’re going to see wall-to-wall TV advertising. We’re going to experience things we’ve never experienced before.