Evers V Walker - What to Expect

By Jeff Simpson

Labor day is typically the home stretch for election season and baseball season.  Unfortunately in Wisconsin, we have too much election season and not enough baseball. 

While I believe the Milwaukee Brewers will end up in the wild card game, lets focus on the election season and what to expect. 

The race between Tony Evers and Scott Walker will steal most of the headlines, with just a few left over for the Tammy V Leah race. 

While every election is close, I believe that Tammy will win rather easily because her opponent stands for absolutely nothing. 

The race that will be the most interesting is the Governors race.  I truly believe, at this moment, that this race can go either way. 

Let us take a look at what to expect.

*  Why Scott Walker can win:

Typically the incumbent always has the best chance to win.  Walker is a two term incumbent and a career politician. 

While not having many, one of his strengths is to perpetually stay on message and never stray.   Walker has the ability to speak and speak without ever saying anything and the incredible ability to say things that are patently false without ever breaking a sweat. 

Walker has also learned how to play the media.  After 8 years as Governor, he knows that they will print anything he wants them to print, no questions or fact checks asked. 

Walker also has a humongous advantage in money.   When you add the "Friends of Scott Walker", Club for Growth, Republican Governors Association, WISGOP, and countless other PACS, SuperPACS, out of state billionaires, slimy casino owners, etc... all spending money hand over fist to make sure their employee continues running the state. 

The right wing echo chamber.  While Chuck Sykes isgone from the radio and an imbecile is running his old website, there is still a right wing echo chamber pushing hate, ignorance and racism that too many people listen to.   The Mark Bellings, Vicki Mckennas and Dan O'Donnells of the world are still there whipping up the fear to far too many people. 

Finally, apathy.  Wisconsin has been stuck in perpetual election season, and now that we are in the final stretch, the negative and disgusting ads will be flying non stop.  They are meant strictly to turn people off from voting and getting involved.  If they did not work, they would not spend millions running them.  Voter apathy has helped many a crappy politician continue in their careers. 

* Why Scott Walker can lose: 

Scott Walker is a career politician and people are sick of career politicians. So sick of career politicians that they have started electing reality TV "stars".

Walker, has been on the state stage for 8 years (and on the national stage for 8 seconds) and people know him.   To know Scott Walker is not to love him.   You realize that once you see beyond the incredible ambition that there is no there there.  An empty husk that stands only for Scott Walker and what is best for Scott Walker, Wisconsin and its citizens are not even in his radar. 

Public employees, and unions.   Scott Walker has made a career of making enemies of public employees and union members.  Eventually the chickens come home to roost. 

He gambled hard on divide and conquer.  It worked well, but after 8 years the people of Wisconsin have come to realize that their neighbor the teacher or snow plow driver is on their side and the politicians in WI, especially the Governor are not.

Finally jobs.  While Scott Walker runs around touting his amazing unemployment stats, people in WIsconsin are not seeing it.   Yes people have jobs, sometimes they have 2-3 jobs at a few hours a week desperately trying to make ends meet.,  The ones who do have good living wage paying jobs, are both working too many hours and are scared that the next  communication from their company is the one that says they are closing the doors. 

By the way, Scott Walker still has not created the promised 250,000 jobs in WI. 

*  Why Tony Evers can win.  

This is a public education election, and Tony Evers personifies public education in Wisconsin.   There is a reason Scott Walker has tried to rebrand himself as "the education Governor", and has run ad after ad about how much he loves public education. 

The people in Wisconsin, much to the WISGOP surprise, have been passing education referendums at an almost 80% clip and now they are understanding what the damage of Scott Walker $1.5 billion cut to education has done to their local school.   

Scott Walker, basically enacted Tony Evers education budget, because he was worried that Tony would be his opponent and wanted to neutralize the public education part of the race.  He failed. 

Secondly, Mandela Barnes.  Mandela is an up and coming star in Wisconsin politics and the perfect partner on the Tony Evers ticket.   I would highly recommend that Tony come up with some actual responsibilities and make Mandela a true partner, and not the figurehead, money sucking position it is now. 

Tony also has a huge advantage in character.  Unlike his opponent, Tony is a good man of character, ethics and integrity.  Tony is not full of ambition, Tony is not using Wisconsin to run for President, advance his career in the party, or use it to fundraise and increase his bank account. 

Tony wants what is best for Wisconsin. period. End of sentence. 

What is best for Wisconsin right now is electing Tony Evers Governor. 

*  Why Tony Evers can lose:

M O N E Y.   Money makes the world go round, and it also buys hours of negative nasty ads.   Scott Walker has unlimited money, Tony will have a decent amount but nowhere near as much.   It is not insurmountable but it will be an obstacle. 

The Democratic Party.   In a state which leans blue, where Progressives were born, which has a history of being involved in politics, the Democratic party has a history of losing elections. 

Now they have done it again.    They hired the campaign manager for Russ Feingold's latest loss, to come up with a strategy to win WI.   Yes they decided to hire the campaign manager for one of the most popular politicians in Wisconsin history, who led his candidate to a loss to one of the dumbest politicians in Wisconsin history to help Tony Evers win.   

While there are no words for the perpetual rewarding of incompetence, it is also not surprising.  You see lots of people being hired onto the Evers team, whose experience comes from the Hillary or Burke campaigns.  Without relitigating those candidates, their campaigns were run horribly.  Why anyone would think this is a good idea, is beyond me but it is. 

The media is also an obstacle to overcome.  They are used to 8 years of taking dictation for Scott Walker.  The night Tony won, Walker put out an ad falsely claiming that Evers should have taken a license from a teacher in Middleton that he had no jurisdiction to take. 

The media, instead of asking why his first ad was negative against his opponent when Walker has said he was going to run a positive issues oriented campaign only, treated the story like there were two legit sides to this story.   There is not. 

Voter apathy.  Anger gets people to vote and get involved.  Hard core Republicans are always angry.  They, with the help of right wing radio and politicians, understand that every thing bad that ever happens to them is the fault of the PC liberals. 

They get a sliver, a flat tire, lose their job, run out of gas, burn their toast and it is the liberals fault and they need to get out and vote to make sure they never burn their toast again. 

The Democrats on the other hand need a reason to vote.  They need to be in love with someone who mostly respects their views to get out and vote for them.    The ads Scott Walker will run will mostly be made to keep you from falling in love with Tony Evers so you stay home on election day.   

Now my advice, on how we win in November.  

Decide today that you like Tony Evers, he is not perfect and there will be things that he has done and will say(we will really consider tolls?) but understand that no matter what he does or says, he is better than Scott Walker on his worst day.  |

Secondly, ignore the party.   They will do and say things that are head scratchers because too many in power care about staying in power, and not winning elections.  We care about winning elections, so ignore the stupid things the party does and will do and work to get Tony/Mandela elected the best way you know how.   Talk to your friends and family about how important it is to vote and especially how important it is to elect Tony. 

Finally, and this is the most important way to change our state, if you are going to work for, or donate to a candidate, pick your local (or a local) race for state Assembly or Senate. 

If you have a race in your district for either Assembly or Senate(or both), understand that it IS a competitive race. 

Your candidate can win.  Period.   

There will be many people who think they are experts, who will tell anyone who listens, that only certain seats are winnable.   That is not true.  We will not win them all but we absolutely can win some of the "unwinnable" seats. 

The best way to win statewide, is to win district wide.  If we can steal some seats we are not supposed to with local candidates that no one expects, not only will Madison be more representative of the people, but the increased Democratic turnout in these districts are what will push the upper part of the ballot over the edge. 

Like an economy, we will win these races from the ground up not the top down. 

We will be addressing some of the down ballot races between now and the election here at CogDis. 

Stay Tuned but for now, lets be prepared to talk to our neighbors like our kids futures depend on it!

It does!