Sunday, June 14, 2009

Is Scott Walker More Beatable?

This weekend from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention in Green Bay, Wispolitics reported the results of their straw poll. One of the questions asked was which Republican candidate for governor would be most beatable: Scott Walker or Mark Neumann? A majority said that Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker would be more beatable than former Congressman Mark Neumann. Walker received 124 votes to Mark Neumann's 90. Obviously this is only a straw poll of a specific group of people but it is interesting nonetheless.

Here are a few questions that I have related to this poll question: Is Walker in fact the more beatable candidate (why or why not?)? Should Republicans take note of how their opponents view their two most likely candidates and should this designation give Republicans pause about the possibility of nominating Walker?

Frankly I'm not sure exactly how I would have voted on that particular question. The only two polls that I have seen so far (MacIver and Daily Kos) have both Walker and Neumann in basically the same position (behind by double digits). I think that the case for which Republican is the weakest could be made either way. Walker's failure as county executive is rich with material that makes a huge case against him all by itself. On the other hand Mark Neumann has not been in politics for over a decade and he is known for being wildly extreme (not that Walker isn't) while most of the population is trending the other way. So who is the weakest? If I had to choose, I would have to agree with the convention goers and pick Scott Walker. I could easily be swayed if someone could make a convincing argument that Neumann is actually the weaker of the two but in the end I think that there is too much current ammo to use against Walker.

Since we are talking about Scott Walker and Mark Neumann, here is a web ad newly released at the convention this weekend (although I saw it first via Capper):




9 comments:

capper said...

Look at it this way. Walker has been the MKE Co. Exec. for the past seven years, and has been campaigning for the governor's office for five.

Neumann, on the other hand, has done nothing in ten years since losing to Feingold. And he is still neck and neck with Walker.

In other words, a do nothing is just as good, if not better, than Walker.

Anonymous said...

Capper,

You are so ridiculous. I love how Milwaukee's liberals pretend that Walker is a weak candidate while they spend all of their time and energy criticizing him as if he were a threat.

Walker is the biggest threat to Doyle for two reasons. First, Doyle is responsible for our great budget deficit. One can only blame the national recession so much before people begin to realize that Wisconsin's situation is far worse than other states in our union.

Second, Walker is popular in Milwaukee, which isn't easy for any conservative. And since democrats win because of Dane County and Milwaukee County, having a politician that is popular in one of these liberal strongholds is rather significant.

But keep the faith in those straw polls, because we conservatives know they are factually misguided.

Anonymous said...

I hate to rain on your parade, but you might want to check this link before you get all happy.

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_WI_615.pdf

Cory Liebmann said...

walker gets more unpopular every year in milwaukee county and i actually agree with jim klauser on one thing...that a nonpartisan race in milwaukee is not the same thing as a partisan one.

i saw that poll already...but that doesn't change the question that i am asking here...who is more beatable walker or neumann and why? we can talk about all of the conflicting polls some other time.

Anonymous said...

Um, the entire basis of your post was a poll.

The url I gave shows who is more beatable. Sorry it wasn't what you wanted to hear.

Cory Liebmann said...

the basis of my blog posting is a very simple question...who is more beatable walker or neumann...that is it....you obviously don't want to answer that question but i won't let you change the discussion to the results of some poll that you happen to like.

btw, are you really foolish enough to suggest that a single poll 17 months before an election now means that walker and neumann can't be beaten? and if they can be beaten then which one is most beatable and why? that is the entire point that you are choosing to avoid here.

Anonymous said...

Cory,

Why are you such a hypocrite? You publish a post on the basis of some straw poll that favors your agenda, then when I point out another poll that disagrees, you don't want to talk about it? Lovely.

Either way, it's way to early in the game to talk about polls. Most people don't even know who Walker is - even in Milwaukee County. I just wanted to show that anyone can play the poll game.

Anonymous said...

Got to agree with that last guy. Just another raging liberal hypocrite who has nothing better to do than rant and rave on blogs. Good try Cory.
Thank God for blogs so that bad writers still have a chance.

Anonymous said...

Cory = Pwned.

Walker is the perfect candidate to unseat Doyle. As awareness of the lack of wisdom of leftist policies unfolds on a national level, the parallels of Doyle's leftism will be illuminated here.

What was brewing as the perfect storm for Dems in 2008 is now doing likewise for Walker in 2010.