WISCONSIN WARNING – AT 9:07 A.M. ET:  No governor has done more for his state in recent years than Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin.  He saved Wisconsin from the financial fate being experienced by his distraught neighbor to the south, Illinois. 

He also led a battle to tame the public-service unions.  In retaliation, they led a campaign to recall him.  He won his recall election by a greater margin than he'd achieved in his gubernatorial election. 

But now, running for re-election, Walker is in a tight race, and may be defeated.  It would be an enormous loss for Wisconsin and the country, and proof, once again, that no good deed goes unpunished.  From TIME:

There are few Republicans who Democrats hate more than Scott Walker. Two years ago, Democratic groups spent $20 million trying to recall the Wisconsin governor, unsuccessfully. He has since raised a staggering $19 million and seems untouchable. So how is Walker is in the race of his life against Democrat Mary Burke?

After winning a close election in 2011, Walker drew the ire of unions and Democratic groups after he passed Act 10, which took collective bargaining away from government workers. His 2012 recall made him the champion of fiscal conservatives and free market right wingers. So much so that a year ago, when Walker made a trip to Iowa, he ignited a storm of 2016 presidential speculation. For awhile, Walker looked poised to sail through reelection and on to bigger and brighter things.

Then federal prosecutors announced in June that Walker, his chief of staff and others around him participated in a “criminal scheme” to illegally coordinate with outside groups during his campaign and recall. That case fizzled and a special prosecutor announced that Walker was not the target of an investigation and that there was not yet sufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime. Walker dodged a bullet, but it was only the beginning of what has become a tough summer for him.

Walker’s approval rating has slid down below 50%, and his disapproval rating has crawled up to 48%. His stated second term agenda has underwhelmed pundits, who accused him of coasting. And Wisconsin’s job situation, while improved, is still struggling. Walker’s job creation record hasn’t lived up to his hype and his new created Economic Development Corporation has been mired with problems. Enter Mary Burke. “She’s running a very disciplined campaign essentially saying: I’m not Scott Walker,” says Mordecai Lee, a University of Wisconsin Milwaukee political science professor. “She has really positioned herself as a no name moderate Democrat—fiscally conserve but socially liberal.”

COMMENT:  Essentially, Burke is running as a nothing, and has kept her distance from Barack Obama.

Look, when you actually do anything, you make enemies.  Walker has a host of them, especially those who want a chunk of the public treasury.  His defeat would send the worst possible message to governors trying to prevent their states from going under. 

We root for Scott, and my hunch is that he'll pull it out.

August 11, 2014