Second Walker-Barrett debate is tonight on CNN

Talk about it

Wisconsin voters will get their last chance tonight (Thursday, May 31) to see Gov. Scott Walker and Democrat Tom Barrett debate face to face.

The two gubernatorial candidates in Tuesday’s recall election will take part in a forum in Milwaukee moderated by Mike Gousha, host of the “Up Front” show. The debate starts at 9 p.m. and will be televised on CNN. The debate will be replayed on C-SPAN at 8 p.m. Friday.

It’s being hosted by the Marquette Law School, which put out a poll Wednesday showing that the Republican Walker has a seven-point lead over Barrett at 52 to 45 percent.

Also Wednesday, the liberal Greater Wisconsin Committee released a poll saying that the race is tied at 49-49, with just one percent undecided.

Walker says the outcome will be so close that “a handful of undecideds at the end will make the difference.”

While campaigning in Manitowoc Wednesday, Walker warned his supporters that the contest is not over and that they’ll have to vote on Tuesday to put him over the top.

Barrett, campaigning in Milwaukee, said he also believes the race is close. He said Walker’s proving it by still running attack ads.

Incumbent Rebecca Kleefisch faces challenger Mahlon Mitchell in a separate race for lieutenant governor in the June 5 election. Kleefisch, a former TV reporter, came to office with Walker at the start of 2011. Mitchell is a Madison Fire Department lieutenant and union leader.

Bill Clinton will campaign for Barrett

Former President Bill Clinton will visit Milwaukee Friday to campaign for Barrett.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said the visit has been scheduled, but the details were not immediately announced.

Wednesday, Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz appeared with Barrett at a Milwaukee fundraiser. She also met with campaign volunteers in Racine.

Wasserman Schultz said her visit was evidence that national Democrats are trying to help Barrett recall Walker, despite some reports to the contrary. She said the national party plans to spend $1.5 million on Tuesday’s contest.

Wasserman Schultz said 21 Obama re-election offices are working full-time on the recall effort.

Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus called the trip by Wasserman Schultz a “token visit.” He said the GOP has made over 2.5 million contacts with voters over the past five months, and they’ve had an aggressive program to get voters to cast absentee ballots.

Call for campaign reform

Advocacy groups on Thursday asked the two candidates for governor to promise that they’ll make Wisconsin’s campaign funding process more open.

They also asked the Legislature to address a number of campaign reforms in a special session soon after next Tuesday’s recall elections.

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign said the Scott Walker and Tom Barrett camps, and numerous outside groups, have spent an estimated $62 million dollars on the Walker recall contest. That shatters the previous spending record of $37 million in the 2010 governor’s race.

Republican Scott Walker used an unlimited fundraising provision for recall targets to bring in a record $31 million dollars since the start of last year, most of it from out-of-state conservative individuals and groups.

The Democracy Campaign and the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group are among those asking lawmakers to change the provision for unlimited fundraising for recalls. They also want more open disclosure laws on political spending by outside groups.

The Democracy Campaign estimated that $21 million dollars have been spent by special interest groups on the Walker race. To make it easier to track that money, the watchdog groups want to force media outlets to post records online for all their election advertising.

They want to make corporations get permission from their stockholders before spending money on candidates and issue ads.

Mike McCabe of the Democracy Campaign said he was not optimistic that changes would be made now, but he believes that a “breaking point” on campaign money is about to hit.

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