MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin's erstwhile bland politics have been transformed into such a hotbed of nastiness and hyperbole that Tuesday's recall election against Gov. Scott Walker has all but framed itself as a battle of superhero vs. super-villain.
But who's who?
Conservatives have elevated Walker, a Republican, to a one-man team of Avengers — Iron Man, the Hulk and Captain America rolled together — as he aggressively takes on craven public workers, growth-choking taxes and out-of-control spending.
To Democrats and unions, their nemesis is all but sprung from Bizarro World, deceptive and in the pocket of greedy oligarchs out to force the working class to its knees.
All of which may seem over the top except that Wisconsin, in the scant 18 months since Walker came to power, has become a national benchmark for polarized politics in an era when brinkmanship has replaced compromise and demonizing increasingly drowns out discourse.
At its simplest, the recall boils down to a redo of the November 2010 election won by Walker, who was then the Milwaukee County executive, over Democrat Tom Barrett, then and still the Milwaukee mayor.
Separately in the recall, Walker's lieutenant governor is also defending her job, as are four GOP state senators. The loss of just one of those seats would tip the balance of power in the state Senate to Democrats.
Political and interest groups on the right and left are reading a lot into Wisconsin as a barometer for the mood of the nation just five months before the U.S. chooses whether to stick with President Obama or turn to Republican Mitt Romney.
One government watchdog group counts at least $61 million spent so far by candidates or outside interest groups on the governor's recall alone, with the balance heavily tipped in Walker's favor. He has been on a fundraising tear for months, with most of it coming from out of state, some from billionaires in chunks as big as $500,000.
Barrett's name may be on the ballot, but Tuesday's vote is at its heart a referendum on Walker, who seems to be either adored or abhorred by Wisconsin voters. There is little middle ground.
Pat Molitor of suburban Waukesha is firmly in the abhor camp — and she voted for Walker over Barrett two years ago. Over a raspberry salad at Sprizzo's Gallery Caffeon Waukesha's Main Street, Molitor confessed that Walker's my-way-or-the-highway approach to governing had given her a bad case of voter's remorse.
"He's too far right wing," said Molitor, a retired administrative assistant for an engineering firm. "He's become the darling of the tea party."
Kris Smith, another retiree and Molitor's lunch companion, had the opposite take. "I like a lot of what Walker's done, ramrodded through or not," Smith said. "I agree with him making teachers and many other public workers pay for their insurance. The rest of us did."
Of course, that's only a fraction of the Walker agenda that has so endeared him to the right and infuriated the left.
With the help of a Republican-controlled Legislature, Walker also stripped collective-bargaining rights from most public employee unions, though he left them intact for a few public safety worker unions that had backed his 2010 race.
He rolled back tax credits and other benefits for the poor, and he signed laws allowing for the carrying of concealed weapons and the repeal of safeguards giving women the right to sue in state court for equal pay. He also implemented tighter restrictions on abortion. He pushed corporate tax breaks while cutting school spending.
To Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus, such policies are evidence that Walker kept promises to vigorously combat a budget crisis. "Courage is on the ballot in Wisconsin," said Priebus, who lives in Wisconsin. "We need more people to run for office and govern like they campaigned."
But former President Clinton, who campaigned for Barrett last week in Milwaukee, argued that Walker's uncompromising style and divisive agenda were a "dead bang loser." His retention, Clinton said, would only embolden those who say, "We're going to stop worrying about the middle class. We don't give a rip whether poor people get to work their way into it. We've got our way now. We've got it all. Divide and conquer works."
This is only the third time in the nation's history that a state has held an election on recalling a governor.
bsecter@tribune.com
