After the efforts to recall Gov. Scott Walker kicked off Tuesday night, the Democratic Governors Association took a stance to financially support the recall if enough petition signatures are collected.
On Monday, DGA Chair and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said in a statement the association plans on becoming financially involved, assuming the issue is ultimately put before voters.
“If we have an opportunity to replace a narrow-minded, ideological and ineffective governor with a Democratic governor that gets things done, we’ll be in there with both feet,” O’Malley said in a statement.
Organizers of the Wisconsin recall effort already started their 60-day campaign to collect signatures at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Mike Tate added more than 9,000 people have been trained for the recalls and that he believes Democrats could take back control of the state Senate, which Republicans currently hold by a 17-16 majority.
“I fully anticipate there will be signatures collected in every single Wisconsin county,” Tate said. “I hope to collect at least 600,000 signatures by the deadline.”
Still, Walker has not publicly come off as alarmed about the events. The governor released a statement Monday saying he is trying not to get distracted by the recall and is instead attempting to remain focused on his 2010 campaign pledge to grow jobs in the state by 250,000 before the four-year term he was elected to serve is over.
During the Green Bay Packers’ Monday night football game, Walker came out with his first television ad in reaction to the recall. The 30-second ad had the featured Waukesha school board speaking on the behalf of the governor and was followed by Walker talking directly to the camera.
“Wisconsin’s best days are yet to come,” Walker said in the ad. “It won’t happen overnight, but we are on our way.”
According to Walker’s campaign manager Keith Gilkes, the ad ran in all Wisconsin markets except Milwaukee and will be up for at least a week.
University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin said he expects that, as with this summer’s recall efforts, there will be a great deal of media coverage surrounding the recall efforts. He said between $70 million and $100 million are expected to be poured into the election from both sides – a sum that would be unprecedented for the state.
According to Franklin, DGA would supply a strictly financial contribution to the recall efforts, the extent of which is unknown and unpredictable.
While no official Democratic candidate has been selected to run against Walker should the recall go through, a number of potential front-runner predictions have begun to circulate.
The list includes former U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind from Wisconsin’s third district and state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton. Still, Democrats have not yet announced a candidate to run against Walker, should enough signatures be collected to force an election.
Some have also questioned if former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk would run against Walker. At this point, she has neither accepted nor denied her interest in the position.
“She’s not hiring campaign staff or forming a campaign committee. But I don’t think she’s closed any doors,” Falk’s political adviser Melissa Mulliken said in an email to The Badger Herald.
