Wisconsin Preps for Heated Recall Election of Gov. Scott Walker - East Idaho News
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Wisconsin Preps for Heated Recall Election of Gov. Scott Walker

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GETTY P 030811 WiscGovScottWalker?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1333104897452Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(MADISON, Wis.) — While the national media attention has been focused on the upcoming GOP primary in Wisconsin, there’s another political battle gearing up in the Badger State, and it involves both Democrats and Republicans.

On Friday, the Government Accountability Board of Wisconsin officially certified the roughly one million petitions turned in in January to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker.  With a special gubernatorial election pending, Democrats and Republicans in the state are bracing for a tight race ahead.

A special election is scheduled for June 5, with a Democratic primary to take place four weeks earlier, on May 8.  Three Democrats have declared their candidacies — former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk, Wisconsin secretary of state Doug LaFollette and state senator Kathleen Vinehout.

Tom Barrett, the Democratic mayor of Milwaukee who ran against Walker for governor in 2010 and lost, is reportedly considering another run, but he has not declared his candidacy yet.  He is expected to make a decision by the beginning of next week.

Democrats in the state are flying high ahead of the official start of what will be a relatively short election season.

“We’re feeling great,” Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Mike Tate told ABC News.  “I think the people of Wisconsin are ready to fire Scott Walker and hire a new governor.”

The overwhelming success of the efforts by United Wisconsin to collect the signatures necessary to bring about a recall election might be interpreted as a sign that Walker is going to face a seriously uphill battle in this special election.  However, recent polling shows that is not the case.

A Marquette Law School poll out earlier in the week shows Walker with a narrow lead over Barrett and Falk.  When matched against Barrett, Walker had a two-point lead, 47 to 45 percent.  Against Falk, Walker’s lead widened a little to four points — 49 percent to Falk’s 45 percent.

Although these numbers demonstrate a decrease in support for Walker since the previous Marquette Law School poll in January, which showed Walker with 6- and 7-point leads against Barrett and Falk, respectively, Wisconsin Republicans are still very confident about the state of the race.

“We at the Republican Party of Wisconsin, we feel extremely confident that Gov. Walker will win this recall fight,” spokesman Ben Sparks told ABC News.  “It comes down to the fact that voters went to the polls in 2010 because they wanted to turn our state around.”

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