Ladies And Gentlemen, We Have Us A Recall!

In the world of politics, there is what is commonly referred to the "Friday news dump" in which a politician will release some bit of controversial and/or negative news, hoping that it gets lost in people's excitement about it being the weekend.

A prime example of a recent Friday news dump is when Scott Walker finally admitted to forming his legal cooperation fund.

As to what the news dump actually is, Vice President Joe Biden mentioned it when he was in town on Thursday:

Biden then praised Doyle, saying, "Oh, what a difference a governor makes! Elections have consequences, man, and nobody in the country knows that better than you here in Wisconsin and maybe our friends in Ohio.”

He then said, "I wish you luck on your recall efforts,” which reportedly drew "hearty applause."

And a recall it is!

The Government Accountability Board announced that they have over 900,000 valid signatures as needed to initiate a recall against Walker as well as more than ample to get one going against his independent-thought-less sidekick Becky Kleefich:

GAB staff said in a memo released Thursday that 900,938 valid signatures were collected on petitions seeking to recall Walker, and about 808,990 were gathered on those seeking to recall Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. The minimum needed to trigger a recall was 540,208 signatures for each of them.

If the board orders elections on Friday as expected, recall primary elections — if necessary — are expected to be held on May 8, followed by a June 5 general election. At least three Democrats are running for governor, and another three have said they are running for lieutenant governor, making primaries likely. Four Republican senators also face recall.

But I do have some bad news for you, gentle reader.

That was the easy part.

Now we must chose who will be our champion in the contest against Walker and his millions of dirty money supporting him.

And that choice won't be easy. That much is evidenced by the spirited debate going on among people all over the state, some of which does get rather heated.

I think part of the reason for the temporary division stems from the general disappointment that Russ Feingold, who would have had the state handed to him on a platter, refuses to run. That disappointment has left a lot of people with searching about for another champion which won't be decided until the primary in May.

The choices now include these announced and potential candidates:

Kathleen Falk:  I'll come out with saying that I like Falk.  She is saying all the right things and supporting all the right causes, including, but not limited to, collective bargaining, education, women's rights, voters' rights and the environment. She is not afraid to make bold statements and say things directly and plainly, which I admire and think will be needed in the upcoming race against Walker.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that hold a level of animosity towards her, but have not been able to provide, from what I've seen, a clear reason why they feel this way.  What does have me concerned is this "Wisconsin for Falk" group.  While I agree with their message, they way they are delivering it makes me uncomfortable.  What we don't need is a liberal version of Americans for Prosperity or a liberal MacIver Institute.  We've seen how they've turned off everyone but the deepest Kool-Aid drinkers.  We don't need to do the same thing and drive the middle into a feeling of apathy.

Kathleen Vinehout:  Vinehout has a very faithful, if not very large, base of supporters.  However, I cannot throw my support behind her.  She has already started to present a shifting picture on where she stands on some subjects, most notably collective bargaining and women's rights.  Because she is unwilling to take a clear stand, much less one on the right side, on these important issues, I cannot, in good faith, take a stand supporting her.

Doug LaFollette:  LaFollette, I'm afraid, is running on his iconic last name and the hero worship he received when he struggled with Act 10.  That's not enough to win the race.  There are other things which I'm not willing to divulge due to their nature, which makes me concerned about him being the potential candidate.

Peter Barca:  Barca, like Falk, has said many of the right things and supported the right causes.  But the fact that he hasn't decided in all these months leading up to this moment causes me no small concern.  It makes him appear wishy-washy and/or unwilling to run, which would spell disaster.

Tom Barrett:  Barrett has a lot going for him.  He enjoys a high level of popularity and name recognition from his unsuccessful run last year against Walker.  He also probably has the largest campaign war chest.  He has also said many of the right things and supported the right things.  But there is one notable exception to that.  Barrett is not a big supporter of the unions or of collective bargaining.  He also has other issues to contend with such as timing.  He is currently running to be the mayor of Milwaukee and it's a real turn off to know that he is already looking to hop in the gubernatorial race.

Chris 'capper' Liebenthal - Oh wait, never mind. I just put this in to see if you're still paying attention (and to make some Republican heads explode.).

What we each need to do, every one of us, is to look into our own hearts and minds and decide if what we want is to nominate the person who is most likely to beat Walker or are would we rather nominate someone who can both win AND will start correcting all the wrongs that Walker has caused.

I, for one, did not work so hard or for so long just to change the name of the governor.  I want to fix the wrongs that he has caused as well.

And even though we may be temporarily at odds as we each seek out the person whom we think is the best candidate, there is one thing that I do know with utmost certainty.

That one thing is that regardless of whoever the nominee ends up being, we will again come together with the cohesiveness that is brought on by hundreds of thousands of people working for a single cause - to Reclaim Wisconsin.  And all of the millions of dollars of dirty money Walker raises and all the airtime he buys with that lucre (not to mention all the free airtime squawk radio gives him) won't be enough to stand up to the ground game we have.