Based on what we know today it seems like the governor's race was lost a month ago before Barrett even won the primary making him the Democratic challenger. Exit polls showed that 88% of voters had already decided on who they were going to vote for at least a month ago. That means all of the months that Walker had to collect millions of dollars, send out mailers and have numerous TV and radio ads had already convinced people to vote for him. The Koch brothers had set up a $10 million field operation back in January which allowed them to get organized and make millions of phone calls.
Barrett was at a significant disadvantage not only from a monetary perspective but from the limited time of one month that he had to get his message across. About 60% of the people who voted were also against the recall process itself which hurt Barrett.
Clearly the rules for recall elections need to change in Wisconsin especially the rule that allows the person being recalled to collect untold sums of money.
Progressives need to do a better job of getting their message out and start much sooner before an election. Many voters believed that Walker's "reforms" were working and believed Walker's employment numbers. Some thought that the John Doe investigation was going nowhere and was a liberal ploy!
Fortunately, the Democrats won the Senate race in Racine and gave the Senate back to Democratic control so Walker will no longer be able to steam roll his radical bills through the legislature. Come November the Assembly could also revert to Democratic control but we need to start working on this now. A side benefit to the recall election was getting many new voters registered and this is something we need to keep working on to turn out the vote.
Finally I do want to thank everyone across the country who pitched in with money donations, phone calls and moral support. We in Wisconsin couldn't have gotten this far without you.