With the recall primary two short weeks away and the ultimate battle looming a month later, the candidates are all in campaign mode. I’ve sat down to see how I think they are doing, and toss out some grades as the candidates take on the issues.

Kathleen Falk: She attempted to score points with the women of Wisconsin by sending Gov. Scott Walker a letter asking to him to explain his reasons for signing a bill that prevents employees who have been discriminated against from seeking damages in state court.

Falk and others have portrayed the bill as repealing wage protection for women, helping to close the gender pay-gap. In a conference call last Tuesday with Talking Points Memo, Falk said “The fact that we even have to have this conversation in the year 2012 is really the most astonishing … I don’t know any men who would want their wives, or their sisters, or their daughters, to be treated unfairly.” Politifact Wisconsin rated a related claim mostly false, however, as women can still seek compensation in federal court.

While this may be a slight political score for Falk among women over Walker, she failed to follow it up with an effective message in regard to the budget, where most of Wisconsin voters’ eyes are fixed. When asked how she would restore cuts made by Walker, or how much of those cuts she would restore, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Falk could not “promise any level of funding,” she could only “promise what my priorities will be, and that is education.” On the point of education, Falk was able to take a shot at Walker pointing out that he “enacted the biggest cuts to education in our state’s history,” a claim Politifact rated true.

Overall, it was a good week for Falk. It’s hard to come out and say exactly what you are going to do with the budget, especially if you don’t know the revenues for the year. Aside from that she pushed hard on her main platform of education, and while the employee discrimination bill may not be everything Falk claims, it is going to be important to hit Walker on any and all of his recent bills negatively affecting women. 

B+

Tom Barrett: Our other Democratic front-runner, Mayor Tom Barrett, continued his push for a “let’s play nice” Democratic primary by sending a letter to Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Mike Tate asking for a “unity committee,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. This committee would be comprised of all four candidates and, according to Barrett, would “reassure” voters who “look to Democrats” to end “Walker’s administration’s drive to divide us in order to push an ideological agenda from out-of-state interests.”

In other Barrett news, in an interview with Politico he likened the recall to “speed dating” and reasserted that he is focused solely on Scott Walker. Walker, he says, “was far more dedicated in creating this ideological civil war than working to create jobs,” Barrett promised to “end the civil war and focus on the creation of jobs.”

When asked by Today’s WTMJ4, Barrett also didn’t have an answer to how he would change the budget except that “we don’t know the dollar amount (of the budget) … it’s our hope in January we’ll have a much better handle on what to do to reverse his cuts to education.” Barrett did say he would “call a special session” to restore collective bargaining rights, a move fellow nominee Secretary of State Doug La Follette told TMJ4 was a “gimmick” that “won’t work.”

I understand and agree with Barrett’s angle of singling out his focus on Walker, but stuff like the unity committee is pushing it too far. You are trying to win a nomination, Tom, and there is a line between helping the party and trying to stop the other nominees from saying anything negative about your decisions as mayor. Also, the recall might not be a speed date if you had bothered to announce your intentions earlier than a month before the primary. 

C+

Scott Walker: Finally, our governor has begun to field questions on the issue of his cuts to education. Walker’s spokeswoman Ciara Matthews told the Wisconsin State Journal that “By focusing on fundamentals like reading, flexibilities for districts and accountability for results, we have laid a solid foundation for future reforms … Governor Walker is also going to remain focused on protecting property taxes as he did in the last budget.” Walker continues to do a good job of staying right on his message of refusing to raise property taxes.

Walker also trumpeted that his policies have saved Wisconsin taxpayers more than $1 billion so far, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Walker told them, “We made the tough decisions necessary to ensure our children and grandchildren were not buried under a mountain of economically crippling debt. While some states implemented massive tax increases and others laid off thousands of public employees, we chose a better way.” Walker’s opponents were quick to criticize, with Falk telling the Sentinel his cuts to education and health care have “failed us miserably,” but the numbers certainly help Walker score economic points. Points Walker certainly needs to cover up the fact that the Sentinel says Wisconsin is last among all states in job growth over the past six months. 

Overall, Walker agreed with me that Barrett was the better candidate for Democrats “because (Falk) has clearly staked herself out as being in the pocket of public employee unions,” he told the Sentinel. It’s an impressive move that makes Falk and Barrett both look worse at the same time, painting Falk as the extreme leftist and Barrett as someone Walker would like to face in the election. Scott, I can’t lie. You know how to play the game.

Walker did a good job of pointing to the numbers that support his positions, and since he really doesn’t have answers for health care and education after the cuts it makes sense to stay with his bread and butter: tax cuts and preventing property tax hikes. I’ve heard a lot more about focusing on Walker than actually scoring any major hits against him from the Democrats, and he does a good job of maintaining a consistent front. In my book, Scott wins this week. 

A-

John Waters ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism.