A brief roundup of links to news and opinion from around the state on the day before Wisconsin participates in a historic recall election. For more, see our Election 2012 Blog at TheDailyPage.com/election2012.
A last-minute refresher on what's happening Tuesday (Isthmus) and how to participate in what many are predicting will be turnout approaching presidential election numbers.
GAB executive director Kevin Kennedy said in a statement the lack of precedent for a statewide recall makes it "difficult" to predict turnout, but the GAB used the 2010 gubernatorial election and 2008 presidential election as barometers.
Witzel-Behl has similar expectations for turnout, saying she is preparing for numbers "similar to a presidential election based on the number of absentees and the number of phone calls from voters."
Both candidates attended a farm breakfast in De Pere (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) on Sunday, but didn't cross paths.
Sunday's dairy breakfast was a godsend for any politician looking to meet and greet a lot of people, who came to eat, check out the cattle and socialize with friends and families. As hungry visitors came onto the premises, there was a small sign for all to see, saying: "Please, no political solicitation."
Too late for that.
Public Policy Polling has Walker up by three in a poll released Sunday (PDF), but with Barrett leading among independent voters.
"What's going to determine Tuesday's outcome is pretty simple," said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. "If Democrats turn out in the same numbers that they did in 2008 Tom Barrett will win a surprise victory. And if they don't Scott Walker will survive."
In Madison, police and downtown bars are preparing for a big night (The Capital Times), regardless the result.
With the mix of high political emotions, copious amounts of beer, and the sheer spectacle of it all, police aren't quite sure what to expect. But Gloede thinks they will be ready for whatever comes.
"There will be additional resources available around the Capitol Square to manage any crowd issues that may arise," he says.
On her blog, Each Little World, Linda Brazill is capturing homemade political signs she has found around town, including one urging people to vote early.
The message is too late for local folks but, for those of you in other states, this is just one more example of how personal politics have become in Wisconsin. Did you ever in your life see a handmade sign about polling dates and times.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial board, which endorsed Walker in the recall, wrote over the weekend that the governor ought to avoid distractions again and refocus on economic development issues if he's reelected.
... Walker and legislative leaders, in our view, got sidetracked. They failed to agree on a reasonable plan to boost start-up capital for young companies -- a key ingredient in the economic development stew in many states these days. And they rushed through a half-baked bill to loosen up mining regulations that angered opponents who felt left out of the discussion -- and even some supporters.
The director of UW-Milwaukee's Center for Economic Development, who is quoted in a Walker ad, calls the governor's record on jobs (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) an "unmitigated disaster."
... even using the muddled, misleading and politicized figures released by Walker, his "best-case" data show job growth in Wisconsin at only 57% of the national rate during his first year in office. And this does not even include the first quarter of 2012, when, at least according to CES estimates, Wisconsin's job performance fell off the cliff.
Conservative columnist Christian Schneider says the last year-and-a-half have exposed Wisconsin (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).
When Walker's bill was introduced and the Capitol protests began, it changed Wisconsin's "Midwestern polite" reputation. The statehouse occupation showed the nation that you didn't have to scrape off much veneer for Wisconsin to suddenly devolve into a Hobbesian state of nature.
Bernard Hlavac, a former Republican and Sentry Insurance executive, has taken out ads in several state newspapers (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) laying out why he feels Walker should be recalled. Here's a copy of the ad.
Hlavac said he supported the Republican Party for years, but he said the party had became a party that favors the wealthy and "is based on fear."
Hlavac provided his email address in the ad. He said he believed he received several hundred emails in response.
"They were mostly very good," he said. "Some were bad, some were very bad."
