Walker’s Presidential Campaign: Down but Not Out, Experts Agree

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has slumped but that doesn’t mean you can predict his future in a race that is in an uncertain state.

Three expert political observers agreed on both parts of that statement in an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program at Eckstein Hall on Wednesday. In short, Walker’s down, but don’t count him out.

“It’s gut check time” for Walker, said Molly Ball, who covers national politics for The Atlantic. Walker has gotten away from the campaign messages that were working well for him both in Iowa and nationally, she said, and the surge of support for Donald Trump has deflated Walker’s campaign. She said it’s surprising to see someone known for his composure to be as rattled as Walker has appeared in some recent instances.  

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Walker Leading in Wisconsin Republican Nomination Race, but His Job Approval Falls

Still in the lead, but with cause for concern on the home front. That was the overall picture for Gov. Scott Walker as the Marquette Law School Poll on Thursday released its first wave of results on political issues since April.

For Hillary Clinton, frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president, the picture was: Still in the lead, but with some cause for concern on the Wisconsin front.

And for Democratic US Senate candidate Russ Feingold and Republican incumbent Senator Ron Johnson, the picture was of a race that is likely to end up being tight and intensely fought.

Walker remained the presidential candidate of choice for Wisconsin Republicans and independents leaning toward voting Republican. But, according to the poll, he had the support of 40 percent of the state’s Republican voters in April and the support of 25 percent in August. In the intervening time, the field of Republican candidates grew larger, there were a lot of developments in the campaign, and, polls of national opinion and opinion in key primary states indicated Walker had slipped in popularity in recent weeks.

But Walker’s 25 percent support still led the Republican field among Wisconsin voters, with Ben Carson at 13 percent, Donald Trump 9 percent, Ted Cruz 8 percent, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio each 7 percent, and Jeb Bush 6 percent.  

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Wisconsin’s State Motto: Forward or Backward? The Potential Demise of Open Records Law

In 1851, the state of Wisconsin adopted the simple word Forward as its state motto. It’s a powerful word that has symbolized the State’s progressive history. Lately, though, it seems like we’ve been going backward rather than forward. Case in point: open records law.

Wisconsin’s open records law has been around since 1981. Embodied in sections 19.31-19.39 of the Wisconsin Statutes, the law begins with a broad declaration of policy: “all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them.” Wis. Stat. § 19.31. The law “shall be construed in every instance with a presumption of complete public access, consistent with the conduct of governmental business. The denial of public access generally is contrary to the public interest, and only in an exceptional case may access be denied.” Id.

Open records law is consistent with transparency in government. Brett Healy, president of the conservative think-tank MacIver Institute, said, “Transparency in government is not a liberal or conservative issue, it is a good government issue. Taxpayers deserve access to government records, so they can keep politicians all across this great state honest and accountable.”

And the law has been used to do just that.

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