Wisconsin: Polls favor Walker to win recall vote but race is close.

The recall vote pits Gov. Scott Walker against Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett. The election will be June 5th but advance polls have already been held.

A Reason-Rupe poll puts Walker ahead of Barrett by 50 points to 42 among likely voters. A St. Norbert College/Wisconsin public radio survey put Walker at 50 per cent and Barrett at 45. Some campaigners for Barrett have complained that the Democratic National Committee has not committed sufficient help to counter the huge sums that are behind Walker.

The fight is key for labor. One would think that Obama would be throwing everything he could into the campaign. Walker successfully limited collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin. If he returns the right wing drive to weaken unions will gain even more momentum. For more see this article. Or here. Or here.

Wisconsin Democrats want recall campaign funding from national office

Wisconsin Democrats are angry that the national party has so far refused their request for a big investment in the Scott Walker recall.according to this article.

At the same time the national Republican Party is sensitive to the importance of ensuring that the right wing anti-labor governor should remain in power. They are investing a lot of money in the campaign to defend Walker.

A top Wisconsin Democrat told the author:“We are frustrated by the lack of support from the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Governors Association,”“Scott Walker has the full support and backing of the Republican Party and all its tentacles. We are not getting similar support.”

Even though Scott Walker has already spent 30 million on his campaign the Democrats are still even in the polls with the Walker defense. The official continued:“We can get outspent two to one or five to one. We can’t get spent 20 to one.”

The Wisconsin Democrats apparently have asked the national party for half a million dollars to help with their field operations. The DNC (Democratic National Committee) has supported Wisconsin Democrats rhetorically but no financial help has come so far. The recall vote is scheduled for June 5th.

Polls indicate that most in Wisconsin have already made up their mind. Although the Walker campaign spent a great deal of money the polls have not changed much. Whoever is able to get the best turnout will probably win. The Wisconsin Democrats want funds for their field operations.

The Wisconsin Democrats are particularly angry because a loss in the recall could hurt them in the fall as well in the presidential election. A Wisconsin Democrat official told the author:“Scott Walker has made this a national election,”. “If he wins, he will turn his victory into a national referendum on his ideas about the middle class. It will hurt Democrats nationally. The fact that [national Dems] are sitting on their hands now is so frustrating. The whole ticket stands to lose.” If Obama is really committed to labor he must show it by helping fund this key battle against an anti-union Republican governor. For more see this article.

Wisconsin: Governor Scott Walker to face recall election in June

The Government Accountability Board found that petitions for the recall of both Governor Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefish met the recall standard. Walker's anti-union legislation brought about the petition. The legislation sparked many demonstrations in the state and at the state capitol in Madison.

Just over 540,000 signatures were required to trigger the recall vote but over 900,000 were counted a valid. Even so there were 26,115 names declared invalid including. They included Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Adolf Hitler, I wonder if there aren''t actually people with some of these names!

Governor Walker also lost out to a court decision as well. A district court judge ruled that the requirement that most public-employee unions must re certify annually violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection since the law made an unsupportable distinction between general employee and public safety unions.

The recalling of governors is rare. In the U.S. only two governors have ever been recalled. Gray Davis of California was recalled in 2003 and Lynn Frazier of South Dakota way back in 1921. For more see this article.