The recall signatures have not yet been filed against Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) — but he is already running a heavy TV advertising campaign, fighting out the election that is yet to be officially triggered.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports:
At the outset of Wisconsin’s historic recall fight, GOP Gov. Scott Walker and his allies are outspending the other side on television by a margin of roughly 4-to-1, an advantage he’s expected to maintain in the weeks ahead.
The governor has already aired more than $1 million in broadcast ads since he hit the airwaves in mid-November, according to the ad-tracking firm Kantar Media CMAG.
When you include cable ads and time bought for spots that haven’t aired yet, Walker’s TV spending easily exceeds $2 million, according to two political sources tracking media buys.
Last week, the Dems announced that they had collected over 507,000 signatures in 30 days, getting very close to the legal threshold of just over 540,000 signatures in 60 days. They are also working towards a goal of 720,000 total, in order to have an absolute buffer against disqualification.
Meanwhile, the state Republican Party filed a lawsuit last week against the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections in the state. The suit claims that Walker’s 14th Amendment rights of Equal Protection are violated by putting a burden on his campaign to review and challenge petition signatures within a ten-day period, once the petitions are submitted in mid-January. Instead, they say, the GAB must make a greater effort to look for duplicate signatures, and for invalid names and addresses.
The state Democrats have filed a motion to intervene in the case, seeking the dismissal of the GOP’s complaint.
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