Wisconsin US Senator Takes Leading Role Slamming Scott Walker

"We wanted to make sure you saw Tammy’s email from yesterday: Governor Scott Walker announced he’s running for President. Walker has spent (five) years in Madison destroying the progressive traditions that make Wisconsin great. Now he wants to take his radical, anti-middle class agenda to the White House," reads a US Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) email.

Noting the lack of daily knockdowns of Scott Walker by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) in press reports, progressives have seen elected stalwarts like Baldwin and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) pick up the slack of the still moribund communications team of the DPW.

Wisconsin County Party websites with daily messaging from elected officials? Forget it. See Door County Dems and Manitowoc County Dems sites, for example.

You know the Wisconsin Democratic Party is in trouble when a fundraising email is a more compelling communication than anything the State Party is putting out.

What about daily messaging? Beefing up County websites?

That Jeff Smith-Martha Laning for DPW Chair idea is really paying dividends. The Scott Walker-announcing-for-president story seems like ... something to jump on, and the time to badger every political reporter in the state, right?

Apparently not. Super job, DPW

From the Tammy Baldwin email:

Governor Scott Walker announced he’s running for president in 2016 -- and the rest of the country is about to see what Wisconsinites have been dealing with for the last five years.

Whether it’s rolling back the clock on women’s rights, passing disastrous right-to-work legislation, or cutting funding for our colleges and universities, Scott Walker has taken every chance he’s had to advance his own Tea Party politics by attacking our state’s progressive values. And Wisconsin families have suffered.

Thanks to Scott Walker, Wisconsin has some of the most regressive health care laws against women anywhere in the country. Because of his out-dated economic policies, Wisconsin ranks as one of the least-friendly environments for business start-ups in the nation.

Scott Walker’s radical policies are the exact opposite of what middle class families and workers need. We need real leadership. We need forward-thinking governance. We do not need Scott Walker.

Today I’m asking you to help me take a stand against Governor Walker and his radical agenda. Add your name to the petition today.

It was no surprise when David Koch said that the Republican nominee 'should be Scott Walker.'

The Koch brothers and their group Americans for Prosperity have spent millions of dollars to help advance Scott Walker’s agenda. They even opened up a lobbying office down the street from the capitol building.

Michael, Scott Walker doesn’t care about the middle class. All he cares about is Scott Walker and making his Koch allies happy.

We’ve known for five years that Wisconsin deserves better than Scott Walker. It’s time to let the rest of the nation know, too. Sign the petition today and say you’ll stand with me against Scott Walker.

Thank you.

Tammy

Scott Walker Avoiding Town Hall-Style Meetings, New Hampshire Not Happy

"Local (GOP Strafford County (New Hampshire)) organizers suggested something simple and familiar to most candidates: a town hall meeting. But the Wisconsin governor’s camp, according to three people familiar with the conversations, wasn’t interested in taking questions. They simply wanted to deliver a speech and meet people afterwards."

The event fell through, reports Eli Stokols in The Politco this morning.

Welcome to Scott Walker land: No town hall-style meetings with candidate.

Walker insists that his political events are so choreographed that the arrival of a black man to Walker's kick-off speech Monday caused quite a stir. (See must-read Black Wisconsin Lawmaker Kicked Out of Walker Event.) Who knows what those flinty New Hampshire folks would ask?

Stokols notes, "When Walker arrives in the Granite State Thursday, three days after launching his presidential campaign, it will be a rare appearance — his first New Hampshire sighting since May. According to figures compiled by U.S. News and World Report, only one Republican has been to the state less than Walker — Rick Santorum."

And the New Hampshire voters are finding out what many in Wisconsin know: Scott Walker is an empty suit.

"It sounds (like Walker's) trip really isn’t to New Hampshire," said Renee Plummer, a prominent GOP activist in Portsmouth. "It sounds like the trip is a fundraiser in Boston with a couple stops tacked on."

Concludes Stokols:

After a six-week absence, it won’t be easy for Walker to jumpstart his campaign in New Hampshire, where so many other candidates have been busy campaigning as if it’s the only state that matters.

'He better answer the questions,' said Plummer, who hosted Walker at her business roundtable in March but has been disappointed in his New Hampshire effort since then. 'I would think he reads the news and sees what happens with the Hillary campaign and people being furious that she won’t answer questions. You’ve got Jeb and Carly and Christie here saying, ‘ask me anything’.'

Ask me anything?

This would necessitate Scott Walker thinking on his feet. And Scott Walker is a policy lightweight.