Conservative
Type 40
Scott Walker Recall Attempt Worries Some Democrats - WSJ.com
Walker will win.
With little more than two weeks until Wisconsin's gubernatorial recall election, some Democratic and union officials quietly are expressing fears that they have picked a fight they won't win and that could leave lingering injuries.
Over the weekend, Wisconsin's largest newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, backed Mr. Walker in the recall election. The paper called Mr. Walker's move to limit public-employee bargaining rights "an overreach of political power," but said it "is simply not enough to justify a vote against the governor."
Democrats say they haven't come close to matching the $25 million that the Wisconsin governor has raised. Mr. Barrett entered the race late and faced a primary election, during which labor-backed groups spent more than $5 million supporting a candidate they preferred, only to see her lose. By a late April filing date, Mr. Barrett had raised $831,000.
But the national party turned down Wisconsin Democrats' request for $500,000, one party official said.
Top Democrats now say that when labor groups first raised the specter of a recall, the party's officials urged their allies in Wisconsin to reconsider. "We told them it was a bad, bad, bad idea," one Democratic official said.
A union official said both the Democratic National Committee and the Obama campaign expressed reservations. "I don't know that anyone was enthusiastic about it over there," the union official said.
Walker will win.