Since Scott Walker’s win in the Governor recall election of Wisconsin, many Republicans have been declaring Mitt Romney’s victory in Wisconsin already. However, Walker warns that Romney will need to have a better platform if he is to win the hearts of Wisconsinites.

Walker’s recall election was held in the beginning of June and resulted in the only time in the nation’s history that a governor has survived a recall election. Many Republicans and Democrats have questioned the necessity of the recall. Additionally, many individuals from both sides of the aisle have claimed that Walker’s victory signifies the death of the political influence of unions.

Romney made a controversial statement shortly after the recall election stating:

“[Obama] wants another stimulus; he wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.”

The Democrats were quick to criticize Romney’s statement. R.T. Rybak, Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee claimed this statement proved just how disconnected Romney is from the American middle class. “To suggest that police, firefighters, and teachers aren’t helping the American people and aren’t vital to our communities shows that he has no clue what’s going on in the real world.”

However, the Democrats were not the only ones criticizing Romney. Walker claimed that Romney misinterpreted the message of the recall election results on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with Bob Schieffer on June 10, 2012. Walker stated, “I think it’s slightly different…I think in our case what they wanted was people who are willing to take on the tough issues, not only here in Wisconsin but across the country.” Walker also agreed with Rybak, a Democrat, that the reforms in Wisconsin protected firefighters, police officers, and teachers; they were not the enemies

Walker warned Romney that he needs to be a reformer as well as a Republican and that Wisconsin will not necessarily vote for Mitt Romney unless he has a strong platform. Currently, Walker believes that Romney has been focusing too much at criticizing Obama and Romney’s own strategy and plans have suffered for it. Walker said, “I just hope he takes a page out of President Reagan’s playbook in 1980, where it was not only a referendum on the failed policies of President Carter at the time, it was also something where President Reagan laid out a clear plan.”

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Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin has survived the June 5 recall election in his state, the third recall election for a governor in the history of the United States. Also up for the recall vote are Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch – the first ever lieutenant governor to face a recall vote – and four Republican state senators including the majority leader, Scott Fitzgerald. The recall election was enacted when more than 900,000 signatures were organized on a petition – almost double the amount actually necessary.

Walker’s recall election was prompted after he cut collective bargaining rights for most public workers. Democrats tried to stop the bill from passing the legislative stage by leaving the state so that legislative quorum could not be formed, but they were unsuccessful.

Scott Walker’s opponent and candidate for the Democratic Party was Tom Barrett, Mayor of Milwaukee, who was only nominated after a speedy primary last month. The other candidates for the primary were Kathleen Falk, a former Dane County executive; Doug La Follette, the current Secretary of State for Wisconsin; Kathleen Vinehout, a state senator; and Gladys Huber, a Republican candidate running on the Democratic ticket. After the primary all of Barrett’s former opponents were quick to unite behind him.

Many believe that the Democrats outside of the state of Wisconsin should have done more. The Wisconsin Democratic Party requested more funds from national party but did not receive close to the financial support Walker did. Barrack Obama also never campaigned with Barrett and only acknowledged the election the day before in a tweet, claiming Barrett would “make an outstanding governor.”

All of Wisconsin had been polarized by the upcoming vote. The political landscape was harsh and neighbor was pitted against neighbor. The day of the vote lines were reported before the polls even opened at 7 AM. The election resulted in one of the highest turnouts ever reported in Wisconsin with 60-65% of Wisconsinites voting.

Walker won the election with 53% of the vote and Barrett lost with 46%. Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president, stated “[these] results will echo beyond the borders of Wisconsin. Governor Walker has shown that citizens and taxpayers can fight back – and prevail – against the runaway government costs imposed by labor bosses.” The White House has expressed they are not concerned with how this election will affect the presidential election in November because Walker outspent Barrett seven or eight to one.

Walker raised $30.5 million whereas Tom Barrett only raised $3.9 million. However, sixty-six percent of Walker’s money came from out-of-state contributions whereas only twenty-six percent of Barrett’s money came from out of state. The Supreme Court Citizens United ruling has allowed even state elections such as this one to grow larger than ever before.

However, during the election there were several instances in which voters were misled or denied the opportunity to vote. The Election Protection group in Washington, D.C received 594 calls from voters regarding issues they have encountered while trying to vote.

Several voters were asked for some form of photo ID even though the Wisconsin government has ended that law recently. There were also several who were denied the right to vote because of a new twenty-eight day residency requirement even though they met the qualifications of the law.

Perhaps the greatest miscarriage of justice was an anonymous robocall that began the day before the election. The call claimed that if the resident had signed the recall petition they did not need to vote during the election. Although Democrats did their best to alert people that this was not the case, it is likely that some voters did not vote because they believed they already had on the petition.

Democratic Wisconsin State Senator Lena Taylor was outraged by the robocall and urged for an investigation and prosecution of the caller. Taylor reported that she had heard from local WISN reporter Colleen Henry that the robocall originated from the Republican party. Taylor claimed that Henry called back the number from the robocall and got the Republican offices.

After the recall election had been decided, rumors arose that Walker had an illegitimate child with his college girlfriend while attending Marquette University in 1988. The rumors were almost immediately debunked by all news sources.

Now that Walker has been re-elected, he is planning to continue with his budget cuts while he tries reducing the state’s $3.6 million deficit. The Wisconsin Department of Administration claims that these budget cuts will result in the state having a surplus by June 30, 2013. Unemployment in the state is also at 7%, the lowest since 2008.

Although many Democrats are unhappy at the election results, many seats in the state senate will be voted on in the November election. However, some are worried about the results of that election as well since the district boundaries have recently been redrawn by the Republican-dominated Legislature.

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Democrats in Wisconsin fell short of taking majority control of the state Senate. Democrats succeeded in taking two seats away from Republicans but fell one short of their goal during recall elections this week. Republicans are claiming victory even though two of their members are now unemployed.

Republicans throughout the state believe the recall elections are a win Gov. Scott Walker and an affirmation of his conservative agenda and his attack on unions. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin said Wednesday that despite falling short Tuesday night, they still plan to recall Walker next year.

“Barely scraping by on their own turf is an incredible sign of weakness for Gov. Walker and Republicans,” party chairman Mike Tate told the Wisconsin State-Journal. “The historic gains made tonight to restore balance and accountability to our state, and restore Wisconsin values, will continue when the entire state weighs-in on the November 2012 elections — and with the recall of Scott Walker himself.”

Walker told The Associated Press on Wednesday that even though his party managed to retain control of the Legislature, he believes the recall election results show that voters want both parties to work together on jobs and the economy.”People still want us to focus on those two priorities,” Walker said. “They want us to work together.”

Walker reported that he will meet with leaders from both parties to begin working together. Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Peter Barca expressed some doubts over whether that would really happen. “It’s bipartisan action, not bipartisan rhetoric that people are looking for,” Barca said.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who will preside over a 17-16 GOP majority should two Democratic senators manage to win their own recall elections next week, echoed Walker’s talking points. “Republicans are going to continue doing what we promised the people of Wisconsin – improve the economy and get Wisconsin moving back in the right direction,” Fitzgerald said in a prepared statement after the victory.

Democrats and union leaders tried to make the best of the historic GOP wins. There had been only 13 other successful recalls of state-level office holders nationwide since 1913. “The fact of the matter remains that, fighting on Republican turf, we have begun the work of stopping the Scott Walker agenda,” said Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate.

Phil Neuenfeldt, the president of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, said voters sent a message that there is a growing movement to reclaim the middle class.”Let’s be clear, anyway you slice it, this is an unprecedented victory,” he said.

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