United Liberty

Democrats in Wisconsin are upset that the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Governors Association aren’t sending money up to their state to defeat Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), who has been targeted after proposing perfectly reasonable changes to the state’s collective bargaining laws, in the upcoming recall election. Greg Sargent notes:

Top Wisconsin Democrats are furious with the national party — and the Democratic National Committee in particular — for refusing their request for a major investment in the battle to recall Scott Walker, I’m told.

The failure to put up the money Wisconsin Dems need to execute their recall plan comes at a time when the national Republican Party is sinking big money into defending Walker, raising fears that the DNC’s reluctance could help tip the race his way.

“We are frustrated by the lack of support from the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Governors Association,” a top Wisconsin Democratic Party official tells me. “Scott Walker has the full support and backing of the Republican Party and all its tentacles. We are not getting similar support.”

“Considering that Scott Walker has already spent $30 million and we’re even in the polls, this is a winnable race,” the Wisconsin Dem continues. “We can get outspent two to one or five to one. We can’t get spent 20 to one.”

This may cause one to scratch their head, but the most recent poll out of Wisconsin shows that Walker has a nine point lead over Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett with just a few weeks to go until the election:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), whose controversial legislation restricting state workers’ ability to unionize prompted mass protests, is leading his likely Democratic challenger in a recall election by nine points according to a new poll.

Walker has garnered 52 percent of likely voters, according to the We Ask America poll. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the top Democratic challenger, came in with 43 percent, with some 5 percent of Wisconsin voters undecided.

The recall will be a rematch for the pair; in 2010, Walker won the general election 52 to 46 percent.

The only real positive in the poll for Barrett, according to The Hill, is that Walker’s lead among independents has shrunk to three points. With that you have to wonder why the DNC or DGA aren’t sending money unless they are seeing something in their internal polling that makes the effort pointless, meaning Walker has a larger lead than they want to admit, or they are waiting until the last moment when their dollars could be most effective.

Given Wisconsin’s purple electoral history, Walker is vulnerable, but it doesn’t look like voters in the state are buying what Democrats are saying about him. If he makes it through this recall election, it’s vindication for the reforms he has brought to bring Wisconsin back on the path of fiscal sanity.