Though the recall election against Republican Gov. Scott Walker has not officially begun, two of the three Democratic gubernatorial candidates (Kathleen Falk and Kathleen Vinehout) have started campaigning in earnest.
Former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, the favorite of Wisconsin’s labor union leadership, has already locked up endorsements from WEAC, EMILY’s List, and AFSCME (among others), and Falk has already assembled a campaign team full of seasoned political hands. Falk is also campaigning full-time across Wisconsin, and her campaign has started reaching out to progressive blogs for some favorable coverage. No doubt Falk will be able to raise bucketloads of money for her gubernatorial campaign thanks to her labor union endorsements, which would seem to make her the odds-on favorite for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
In contrast, Democratic State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout’s gubernatorial campaign has been relatively quiet in comparison to Falk’s. While Vinehout has been making campaign appearances – including a stop at this month’s meeting of the Democratic Part of Milwaukee County – her campaign has definitely taken on the role as the scrappy underdog campaign. While I get regular emails from Falk’s campaign updating me on this or that development with the campaign, I have yet to get a single email from Sen. Vinehout’s campaign. If the scrappy underdog campaign wants to be able to effectively counter the buckets of money raised (and spent) by the frontrunner, it needs to do a superior job of engaging voters using internet, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc., and thus far Kathleeen Vinehout’s campaign has unfortunately failed in that regard.
Having met Sen. Vinehout, I can say she’s certainly a candidate that’s worth consideration, but first she’ll need to figure out how to use nontraditional means to raise her profile.
They will be epic failures.
I have no doubt that you’re well-acquainted with the concept of “epic failure”, Big A.
Angry Andy, as in some angry little pimple on some ass somewhere.
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Thank you, ‘Angry Andy,’ for a well-reasoned and well-supported rebuttal. Go back and crawl into your Charlie Sykes troll hole now.
Does anyone believe Vinehout has a chance? Falk definitely has the team and political experience to run for a state wide election. It’s not like she hasn’t done it before. Falk’s problem is that she has a record of failure throughout her political career. Even the political battle she loses, like the Madison Beltline, bites her. Did Democrats have to pick the most left wing dingbat to head their lineup?
Vinehout is amazing. Wisconsin has lit the flame of democracy. We need to find someone like her in the governor’s office. She inspires people. The world is watching and we must choose wisely – not just pick the surest win. Vinehout has a strong history of activism. She has a solid base of grassroots support that is growing. Not only was she one of the fab 14, but she was constantly busy working with the recalls and helping rally workers.
She is probably more moderate than Falk, but I think that is a good thing, because we need someone who can appeal to the broad coalition who worked to recall Walker. Vinehout as governor would definitely not be the status quo.