The Wisconsin State Journal is reporting that Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett hauled in more than $750,000 during the first seven weeks of his candidacy, and has more than $1.5 million in cash-on-hand.
Barrett is the only major Dem in the race and is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination to replace Governor Jim Doyle (D) who, with sinking poll numbers, opted not to pursue a third term. Current Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton declared the same day Doyle announced he would not seek a second term, and was fundraising and collecting endorsements right up until her surprise withdrawl from the race on Oct. 26 - more than two weeks before Barrett announced, but during a time when rumors of Barrett's impending jump into the race were becoming stronger.
One liberal political blogger from Milwaukee, Dan Cody, made a post the same day (Oct. 26) that Lawton's abrupt withdrawl
can mean only one thing: that Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is preparing to enter the race and the field is being cleared for him to do so.
Two bits of info suggest that may well have been the case: first, there has never been any real love between Jim Doyle and Barbara Lawton; she announced mere hours after Doyle indicated he wouldn't run again, which was seen as a snub to him, and Doyle subsequently not only didn't endorse Lawton, but consistently damned her with faint praise after she announced.
A more important bit of info came after Barrett announced his candidacy, however; he stated that the White House had been very encouraging. Barrett had been an early supporter of Barack Obama, as had Doyle, while Wisconsin's two leading female politicians, Lawton and Tammy Baldwin, actively supported Hillary Clinton through the end of the '08 Presidential primaries.
In reporting Barrett's fundraising haul this morning, Wisconsin Public Radio noted that Barrett's likely Republican opponent, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, is reporting slightly less COH - about $1.2 million. Walker, however, has been an announced candidate for several months; Barrett only announced his candidacy last November 15th. Barrett had put off declaring his candidacy for several reasons, including the fact that, in August, he was seriously injured outside the Wisconsin State Fair Park, as he went to the rescue of a woman being attacked. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Barrett struck with pipe after responding to woman's cries for help near State Fair
And it ended with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett lying in a pool of blood with a broken hand after he rushed to confront a pipe-wielding suspect officials described as a "vicious thug."
Wisconsin is likely to see it's first "all-Milwaukee" campaign in many years; it has long been held that a Milwaukee-area candidate cannot win state-wide; a Barrett/Walker match-up nullifies that conventional wisdom (Walker is favored but does not have an uncontested path through the Republican primary - former U.S. Congressman Mark Neumann is also in the race.
Some excellent analysis by by the afore-mentioned Wisconsin blogger Dan Cody on news of Barrett's declaring for governor (this is an excerpt, but the entire post is worth a read):
The second factor? Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Mayor Barrett is a widely popular politician who has very little baggage and is generally seen as a "good guy" even by those who don’t like his politics. His entry into the race would instantly nullify the Walker "Milwaukee advantage" as Barrett would more than likely outperform previous Democrats like Jim Doyle in Milwaukee County. The narrow margin of a loss in Milwaukee County the Walker campaign had been banking on would turn into a massive margin of victory for someone like Barrett.
Third, Mayor Barrett was also a well liked Congressman who represented some of the Milwaukee suburbs that the Walker campaign had been counting on. In as much as the Walker campaign was counting on those big margins of victory in Wauwatosa and West Allis to offset the vote from the city of Milwaukee to propel his campaign to a win, a candidate Barrett would turn the tables on him and use the same strategy to equalize the race in the suburbs and make Milwaukee County even more of a Democratic stronghold than it has been previously.
Lastly, Barrett has good name ID outside of Milwaukee County helped in no small part by his heroic actions last August when he stepped in to stop a fight and was severely beaten himself while leaving the Wisconsin State Fair. This got a ton of national coverage and made a lot of people stand up and take notice of the Mayor of the largest city in the State.