The Scott Walker Recall & the "Ron Johnson Strategy"

He claims not to have used it:

Gov. Scott Walker said he didn't take advantage of the early period for unlimited fundraising triggered more than a week ago and was waiting until tomorrow to start his official push against the recalls.

A early recall filing from "Close Friends to Recall Walker" allowed Walker to begin raising unlimited dollars prior to the official Nov. 15 start planned by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

"I've made it clear our focus is on the 15th," Walker said in a press conference. "We haven't done anything in response to the early recall paperwork."

Walker did cancel a fundraiser in Kansas this weekend, so that statement might be technically true, but the fact is that no one will be able to know until the campaign finance reports are filed.

But that still doesn't explain why his team opened the fundraising window in the first place.

The next few months are going to be nothing short of a fucking nightmare, a nightly six o'clock news headache. The recall hasn't even begun and we're already talking about sham candidates, fake petitioners destroying papers and now DDS attacks (which are in many ways the digital equivalent to phone-jamming). God only knows what other tricks are in store.

I have no idea whether the Walker recall is a good idea or not. A few weeks ago, I thought the numbers against Walker just aren't bad enough to warrant the time and energy needed to wage a scorched Earth campaign against him. Then again, that just might be the political reality we're all living with these days.

Today, I think it's, at best, a 50/50 proposition. Let me reiterate that again: at best. Walker's special jobs session was a disaster. His clown car of Workforce Development Secretaries is embarrassing. There's been no negligible measurable decline in unemployment despite unspeakably divisive policies. Basically, Walker's mouth wrote (unemployment) checks during the campaign that his ass can't cash while governor.

Nevertheless, no matter how flawed the Dem strategy may (or may not) be, the Wisconsin GOP's may be worse. Right now, I would think that the GOP's best game plan would be to get the recall over with as soon as possible, but doing this would suggest that they think otherwise:

Fitzgerald says Republicans will wait until after Democrats turn in their recall petitions in January to decide whether to launch any recall efforts of their own.

Any court challenge could possibly delay election day. Whether that's a good thing for Republicans is debatable. Personally, I would think they would just want to get it over with as soon as possible and before any further developments in the ongoing John Doe investigation, which may very will be the X-factor in this entire equation. Also, the last thing Walker needs is 3-6 months of bad economic numbers.

Honestly, who knows what's going to happen. Recalling legislators has not gotten any easier (regardless of what editorial boards may think). The final results will likely be razor thin. But this isn't just a "no confidence" vote for Walker. The Dems need to find a candidate. Walker is much better with an opponent than he is doing pretty much anything else. I would personally find it hilarious if the Dems could find a blank slate who had a very small paper trail and just decided to keep a low profile during the entire campaign. Someone who hid out and avoided any pretense of answering tough questions or developing a coherent program for his term in office.

An empty suit who took advantage of voter rage alone.

That would be pretty amusing.