The assault fails to mention that Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is down, business creation is up and the state has built up a hefty surplus thanks to the Walker-led initiative, but correcting the record doesn’t appear overly concerned with telling the whole story.
In short, the Clinton machine’s early attack on Walker shows national Democrats don’t see the Wisconsin governor, best known for his public-sector collective bargaining reforms, as just some Republican dark horse. They see him as a bona fide threat.
The left has hit Walker hard on his jobs pledge, harder than the mainstream media has punched at the anemic national economic recovery under President Barack Obama.
Walker political adviser Jonathan Wetzel told Politico, “You can add this to the list of national liberal special interests who have made it clear that they’ll spend whatever it takes to try to defeat Governor Walker. We’re confident that Wisconsin has no desire to return to the failed policies of the past, which is the sole focus of these out of touch interests.”
John McAdams, political science professor at Marquette University, said Hillary Clinton supporters mean business.
“When people attack you like this and when they are raising money against you it means they are taking you seriously,” he said.
But the assault is a double-edged sword, the political observer said. Walker may be forced to spend early money responding to attacks. A lot of outside money aimed at Walker, who has not committed to a presidential run, could hurt his re-election bid in 2014. The governor is no stranger to that. Special interest groups dumped tens of millions of dollars into the 2012 recall election. Walker easily won that historic race.
“On the net I’m sure this is a tribute to Scott Walker. It says he’s serious enough that serious Democrats with serious money want to attack him,” McAdams said. “But I’m sure he would like to be a little more low-profile right now and not so much a target.”
With the release of his new book and his growing cred among tea party and mainstream conservatives, flying below the radar will easier said than done.
Contact M.D. Kittle at mkittle@watchdog.org. |
