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Bill Clinton headed to Wisconsin to campaign against Scott Walker
Hotair ^ | 06/01/2012 | AllahPundit

Posted on 05/31/2012 4:12:25 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

On the one hand, is there a single vote left across the entire state that's still in play here? Wisconsinites have been gorging on recall politicking for literally years now. Barring a catastrophic gaffe by Walker or Barrett in the last few days before the vote, who's still making up his/her mind on this election?

On the other hand, dude, I'm nervous:

Former President Bill Clinton has decided to go to Wisconsin to campaign against Scott Walker in the final days of the battle over whether to recall the Wisconsin Governor, a move that could give a boost to the anti-Walker forces in a campaign that will depend heavily on who turns out to vote, a source familiar with Clinton’s plans confirms to me...

Democrats badly want Clinton to campaign in Wisconsin for Tom Barrett, and had lobbied him heavily for weeks. But Clinton remaind undecided until today...

Labor and Dems are widely believed to have a superior ground game to that of Walker, though it’s still unclear whether it will be enough to compensate for Walker’s seeming lead in the polls. A Clinton visit, Dems hope, will galvanize base turnout (the black vote in Milwaukee, for example) just enough to put Barrett over the top.

Clinton’s a famously good campaigner and he and Hillary have always appealed to blue-collar Dems, so if there’s anyone out there who can squeeze a little extra turnout out of Barrett’s base, it’s him. That’s not really the part that worries me, though. What worries me is that he must be sufficiently convinced by Barrett’s internal polls showing that this is a winnable race that he’s willing to stake a little of his own political capital on it. In fact, maybe that’s part of the logic of this — if Clinton shows up with Barrett, it’s a strong signal to depressed Wisconsin Dems that this thing might still be winnable after all. Doesn’t even matter what he says. Just the fact that he’s there is the message.

Then again, if Barrett’s internal polls are so compelling, why are other top Democrats running away from Wisconsin?

President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Minneapolis, which sits along the border of Wisconsin, on Friday, but has no plans to visit the Badger State.

White House press secretary Jay Carney distanced the administration from Barrett’s campaign at Wednesday’s briefing…

During an MSNBC interview Wednesday morning, Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter tried to downplay the significance of the recall effort, saying it had “nothing to do” with the presidential election.

“This is a gubernatorial race with a guy who was recalled, and a, you know, a challenger trying to get him out of office,” Cutter said. “It has nothing to do with President Obama at the top of the ticket. And it certainly doesn’t have anything to do with Mitt Romney at the top of the Republican ticket. So, no, I don’t think, you know, there may be some that will, you know, predict that it means doom for us in Wisconsin in the fall elections, but I think they’ll be proven wrong.”

Actually, there’s good reason to think that the recall effort will help Republicans contend in Wisconsin in the fall. The RNC claims it’s made more than two million voter contacts in the state and has opened 20 field offices that will segue to organizing for Romney once they’re done organizing for Walker. Worst-case scenario: Obama holds on to win the state in November but ends up having to spend money there that he had earmarked for a swing state. Best-case scenario: Romney pulls the upset and the Walker recall effort ends up exploding like a 20-megaton bomb in the Dems’ faces. That might also be part of the logic in sending Clinton out there: Even if Walker ends up winning, the closer the Dems can make it on Tuesday, the more Romney will think twice about gambling on the state by spending his own money there. He’s got a heavy lift to start with — Obama beat McCain in the state by 14 points — so absent a very solid Walker victory, Mitt might conclude that it’s a lost cause even if he’ll probably significantly improve on Maverick’s results. Clinton’s task is to make sure the victory isn’t so solid, even if it happens.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: billclinton; milwaukee; recall; scottwalker; tombarrett; wisconsin; wisconsinrecall
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To: Puckster

He let Osama go twice. Impeached ashole!


21 posted on 05/31/2012 4:42:21 PM PDT by crazydad
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To: SeekAndFind

When I heard about that sink stainer Clinton going to Wisconsin, I immediately went to scottwalker.org and donated some money. I want the Clinton-Obama alliance to fail miserably.


22 posted on 05/31/2012 4:43:33 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: SeekAndFind

HA....Kiss of DEATH....hasn’t anyone Clintoon has gone to campaign for lost?


23 posted on 05/31/2012 4:47:43 PM PDT by goodnesswins (What has happened to America?)
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To: SeekAndFind

Bah, win or lose he scores big points with the unions- the nstional unions, not just in Wisconsin.

I’m surprised there aren’t more ‘big name’ Dems picking up those easy union credits.


24 posted on 05/31/2012 4:49:39 PM PDT by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat Party!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Probably some chicks trying to get one last chance with willy. The dems in Wisconsin are pathetic.


25 posted on 05/31/2012 4:51:51 PM PDT by eyedigress ((zOld storm chaser from the west)/?)
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To: Empireoftheatom48

HEHEHEHE...delicious victory ain’t it?!


26 posted on 05/31/2012 4:54:35 PM PDT by RoseofTexas
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To: Empireoftheatom48

HEHEHEHE...delicious victory ain’t it?!


27 posted on 05/31/2012 4:55:39 PM PDT by RoseofTexas
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To: TwelveOfTwenty
The Dems will attempt to run on that if they can't run on Obama's record. Indeed, this shows they already are running on the memory of "Clinton's economy". We need to have answers ready.

Ask and ye shall receive. Here is the answer to their running on the "Clinton economy."

During the election cycle of 1992, George H.W. Bush lost his job after Bill Clinton hammered him relentlessly for having caused the “worst economy of the last 50 years.”

In fact, as CNN’s Brooke Jackson has reported: “Three days before Christmas 1992, the National Bureau of Economic Research finally issued its official proclamation that the recession had ended 21 months earlier. What became the longest boom in U.S. history actually began nearly two years before Clinton took office.” See (See http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/10/31/jackson.recession.primer.otsc/).

By the same token, Clinton is generally perceived as having a stellar economic record during his own presidency, in spite of the fact that the economy was already starting to decline during the last year of his term after the stock market crashed in March 2000. According to a report by MSNBC: “The longest economic expansion in U.S. history faltered so much in the summer of 2000 that business output actually contracted for one quarter, the government said Wednesday in releasing a comprehensive revision of the gross domestic product. Based on new data, the Commerce Department said that the GDP — the country’s total output of goods and services — shrank by 0.5 percent at an annual rate in the July-September quarter of 2000.” See: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3676690/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/t/gdp-figures-revised-downward/.

28 posted on 05/31/2012 4:58:16 PM PDT by Maceman
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To: RoseofTexas

Slick is the kiss of death for candidates.

Maybe he’ll stump for Chief Running Sore Warren ..


29 posted on 05/31/2012 5:01:02 PM PDT by Col Frank Slade
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To: SeekAndFind

“Has decided to go to Wisconsin”. Uh huh. How much did they pay him? With Bill, it’s always “What’s in in for me?”


30 posted on 05/31/2012 5:01:45 PM PDT by FlyVet
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To: FlyVet

I talked with a well-placed Barrett campaign insider today who was in on the Clinton ask. Bill’s first reaction was “If I recall, you endorsed someone other than my wife.”

Clinton is getting something out of this or is paying off a past political debt.

Clinton is no Barrett guy and the consensus among Dems is that Barrett is done - in the election and the party.


31 posted on 05/31/2012 5:09:20 PM PDT by sbMKE
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To: SeekAndFind

The “Stain” is still trailer trash. He has never influenced close elections with his endorsement. From Hawaii to Massachusetts he has proven to turn out the conservative base. The news that he is going to Wisconsin is welcomed by the Walker team. The big worry for them was that their supporters would be complacent next Tuesday. Now, the base will crawl over broken glass to save Gov. Walker.


32 posted on 05/31/2012 5:14:49 PM PDT by Kahuna
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To: SeekAndFind

Is he bringing the porn stars?


33 posted on 05/31/2012 5:17:29 PM PDT by Third Person ( Actions reflect priorities.)
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To: al baby; TwelveOfTwenty; Clay Moore; crazydad

All notable contributions.

Bill really is a sad case.

But, even if he vainly thinks himself sexy, he is a least saxy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTkUeb6zQFA

Here’s you legacy.....Bill!


34 posted on 05/31/2012 5:24:22 PM PDT by Puckster
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To: Maceman
Ask and ye shall receive. Here is the answer to their running on the "Clinton economy."

Now you're talking. I'll add more, to Obama's favorite word, "inherited".

In 1981, Reagan inherited a miserable economy, double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, and the Cold War from Carter.

In 1993, Clinton inherited the tech boom and a growing economy, and the end of the Cold War from Reagan/Bush.

In 2001, Bush 2 inherited the start of a recession and Bin Laden from Clinton.

And in 2007, the Democrat majority Congress inherited 4.4% unemployment and DOW 14,000 from the GOP majority Congress.

Let's see if we can get all of this into a "Truth File". We know the DU'rs lurk here. Let's give them something to look at.

35 posted on 05/31/2012 5:31:21 PM PDT by TwelveOfTwenty (With choices like Palin, Cain, and Bachmann, what could go wrong? Now we know.)
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To: SeekAndFind
"Bill Clinton headed to Wisconsin to campaign against Scott Walker"

That's a guaranteed Walker win.

36 posted on 05/31/2012 5:37:20 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: bcsco

>>> He might bring people to the polls who have decided to sit this one out, but I doubt it will be a large enough amount.

Bingo for the first half.

It does not matter how many EXTRA people he brings out to vote. It gives the CHEATERS an “excuse” for their ‘come from behind miracle win’.


37 posted on 05/31/2012 5:37:53 PM PDT by Sir Napsalot (Pravda + Useful Idiots = CCCP; JournOList + Useful Idiots = DopeyChangey!)
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To: SeekAndFind

I counted 12 pro-Walker signs on my ride to work this week, versus one Recall sign in people’s yards. Twelve pro-Walker signs where in previous years, it was difficult to find more than five yard signs supporting republican candidates throughout the town. Please keep our state in your prayers.


38 posted on 05/31/2012 5:41:46 PM PDT by rabidralph
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To: SeekAndFind

This is the kiss of death for Barrett.


39 posted on 05/31/2012 5:47:20 PM PDT by Signalman ( November, 2012-The End of an Error)
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To: mass55th

Since this thread has some older Clinton appearances let us bring up another recall. The toons stumped for Gray Davis who subsequently went down in flames to Ahnold.


40 posted on 05/31/2012 5:51:10 PM PDT by xp38
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