Walker Talks Policy, Dems Talk Hooters

The Wisconsin recall race is nearing a climax, as Democrats will hold a primary on May 8 to select a challenger for Governor Walker, and the general election will take place on June 5. The recall election is expected to be close, with pretty nearly everyone in Wisconsin already having made up his or her mind on the race.

On the other hand, one of the Democrats’ problems is that they don’t just get to run an anti-Walker campaign. They have to nominate a specific candidate to run against the governor. That puts them in more or less the same position as the Republicans on the national scene, where a generic Republican has tended to run better against President Obama than any particular candidate does.

The two principal Democrats in the primary race are Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett and union sweetheart Kathleen Falk; both candidates have weaknesses. The latest polling–conducted on behalf of the Daily Kos, so take it for what it is worth–shows Governor Walker leading Barrett 50-45 and Falk 50-43.

As Christian Schneider notes in the linked post at The Corner, Walker has had a good week:

His campaign created ads critical of both Barrett and Falk (although he reportedly has only begun airing the anti-Barrett ads), and his staff has unearthed favorable educational data that the teachers’ union had tried to hide from the public. Furthermore, a report issued by Walker’s administration showed that due to his package of government-employee reforms, property taxes in the state have decreased for the first time in twelve years.

One of the reasons the Democrats wanted to try to recall Walker rather than merely running against him in 2014 is that the more Wisconsin residents see the results of Walker’s policies, the better they will like them.

So what have the Democrats been doing to regain favor with Badger voters? Accusing Walker’s communications director, Ciara Matthews, of having worked at Hooters as a college student. Seriously. And they are circulating this photo of Matthews, which they are convinced discredits her. You be the judge:

Somehow, I think both Matthews and Governor Walker will survive this devastating revelation. It makes you wonder, though: with all their talk about women, why is it that whenever someone in public life is attacked for something that actually has to do with being a woman, the attack always comes from the Democrats?

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