Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Wisconsin Election Turns Into Referendum on Governor - NYTimes.com


Wisconsin Election Turns Into Referendum on Governor - NYTimes.com


"Fights over the agenda of Wisconsin’s newly powerful Republicans, including cuts to collective bargaining rights, have turned this quiet judicial match into a bitter, expensive, highly personal and politicized battle, inflamed with advertising dollars expected to reach into the millions from outside liberal and conservative groups, including the Tea Party Express.

The race has turned into a referendum on Wisconsin’s new Republican governor, Scott Walker, on his bill limiting collective bargaining rights for public workers, and, more broadly, on the Republican politicians who now control the Capitol. “This has really become a proxy battle for the governor’s positions and much less a fight about the court itself,” said Charles H. Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison."