Tom Barrett
The Wisconsin recall elections aren't only about Gov. Scott Walker's elimination of collective bargaining rights for public workers,
no matter how much Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch wants you to believe that. But however much or little the recalls are about labor rights, it's not anything other than
an asshat move for former Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, a supporter of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett's Democratic candidacy for governor, to not only detail how the public employee unions' opposition to Barrett is a strength, but to play into the Walker/Kleefisch message of big scary, "special interest"-y unions:
A candidate beholden to big unions is no more appealing to independent voters than one who answers to the Koch brothers. [...]
Wisconsin voters like politicians like Robert La Follette and Gaylord Nelson and Bill Proxmire, all of whom bucked their own party bosses, and yet the unions seem to want to offer them Jimmy Hoffa instead.
By rather tortured implication, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, Barrett's chief Democratic opposition and AFSCME's favored candidate, is Jimmy Hoffa and AFSCME is the Koch brothers. Because two oil billionaires are exactly like Wisconsin workers and their elected representatives.
Already in this primary AFSCME has admitted to having "used poor judgment in directing our members' attention to an Internet video that went over the top to make its point." They were right to do so. Now, Cieslewicz has gone off the deep end with this, wrapping attacks on the unions representing tens of thousands of Wisconsin workers in an unappealingly tepid "Barrett is a sensible moderate who can attract independents" message.
Polling does suggest that Barrett is slightly stronger than Falk against Walker. But whatever Barrett's specific union-related message, we've seen time and again that Democrats don't win by portraying themselves as mushy non-fighters. Whatever it is you fight for, you win respect by fighting for something. Yet mushiness is exactly what Cieslewicz manages to convey even as he protests against it:
And the usual rap on Barrett — that he doesn't have the proverbial "fire in the belly" — just isn't accurate. He did well the last time he took on Walker in 2010. Barrett got 47% in a Republican tsunami. You have to like his chances this time around if he tries again. His polling shows him to be the strongest candidate against Walker, and his name recognition hasn't faded that much in the 18 months since the last election.
You have to have a better answer for "fire in the belly" than "didn't do so bad last time around." Hopefully Barrett has that answer, and will be cluing Cieslewicz in on that in addition to suggesting he apologize for the "unions=Koch brothers" crap.
Let's keep our eyes on the real goal: Help defeat Scott Walker with a $6 donation to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.