Walker vs. Barrett: The Rematch

WLUK TV

Updated: May 9, 2012 5:55 PM

In politics, you don't usually get a do over. But Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and his Democratic supporters are getting just that.

"As governor of this state, I will end Scott Walker's ideological civil war," Barrett told his supporters Tuesday night.

Barrett is taking on the man he lost to in the 2010 gubernatorial election: Governor Scott Walker.

"I stand with the taxpayers of this state and I'm going to continue to stand with them," Walker said from the podium Tuesday night.

In 2010, Walker beat Barrett 52 percent to 47 percent. Of the 2.1 million votes cast, Walker won by 124,638 votes.

Walker dominated in much of the state, winning 59 counties. Barrett won just 13. Walker won every county in Northeast Wisconsin except Menominee County. Barrett won Menominee County but it had the fewest total votes cast in the state.

Some of Barrett's biggest support came in the state's biggest counties. Barrett dominated in Dane County bringing in 68 percent of the vote. In Milwaukee County, the mayor took 62 percent of the vote.

But Walker has his own areas of dominance, particularly in suburban Milwaukee. In 2010, Walker got 69 percent of the vote in Ozaukee County, 72 percent of the vote Waukesha County and 75 percent of the vote in Washington County.

St. Norbert College political science professor Charley Jacobs says one of the keys to the Walker-Barrett rematch is which candidate will be able to energize his hardcore supporters and get his backers to the polls on June 5th.

"People have picked sides. They've chosen a candidate," Jacobs said. "Now, who gets the most bodies to the polls, that's going to be the real issue for both sides."

While the recall effort began as an attempt to roll back the Walker-led restrictions on collective bargaining for most public employees, analysts on both sides don't expect the issue to dominate the campaign.

"Collective bargaining was one issue and it was an important issue but there's a lot more that he did when he came in with his 'bomb' as he called it on the state, trying to implement an agenda he really hadn't talked about when he ran," said Bob Kiefert from the Brown County Democratic Party.

"It just shows the joke of the whole recall," said Mark Graul, a Republican campaign consultant. "This recall was a political power play by Democrats who didn't like the results of the 2010 election so they're asking for a do over."

Both sides are already digging in for the four-week battle that will decide the direction of the state.

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