Moving Past the Expectations Game

Scott Walker beat Mark Neumann by about what was originally expected. In my blog post yesterday I said that Walker mismanaged his campaign but one place where he certainly didn't do that was in the managing of primary expectations. I think that Xoff has it right when he suggests that we may have been sandbagged regarding how close the primary actually was in the final weeks. Obviously I include myself in being among those fooled into thinking the primary was ever close (even without a single poll indicating as much). The one question that I have is whether this expensive expectations game was worth the amount of heavy spending by Walker in the final weeks? We will find out soon enough.

The one thing that I do know is that Scott Walker will not get a free pass just because he handily beat a primary opponent that he was supposed to handily beat. I remember commenting a month ago that it seemed that Mark Neumann went soft at some point. That will not happen during the general election. Furthermore, Walker will face a hard working and extensive ground game that was essentially nonexistent in his primary. Before November voters all over the state will be fully exposed to Scott Walker's dismal record of failure. They will get a look past Walker's empty rhetoric and at his actual record. They will continue to witness Walker's habit of saying and doing anything to advance his own political career, no matter how shameful or short-sighted. I don't pretend to know the end results, but I do know that the general election wont look anything like what happened during the primary.

It is time to move past Walker's expectations game and the primary. It is time to get back to work on the things that will matter most in November.