MEMO from the RNC
April 1, 2012
Memo
To: Interested Parties
From: RNC Chairman Reince Priebus
RE: The Fight for Wisconsin
Tomorrow, Wisconsin Republicans will go to the polls to cast their
first ballots to end Barack Obama's presidency. Obama might have felt
safe in Wisconsin after an impressive 400,000 vote victory in 2008, but
a closer look shows Wisconsin's 10 Electoral Votes in 2012 very much in
play.
First of all, Obama's margin of victory in 2008 was the exception
rather than the rule in recent presidential elections. President George
W. Bush came within a hair of winning Wisconsin each time he
tried--narrowly losing by just over 5,000 votes in 2000 and just over
11,000 votes in 2004. In 2008, many Wisconsin voters, like voters
across the country, bought the "hope and change" message that Candidate
Obama was selling. But President Obama's results haven't provided the
kind of change that voters were looking for, and Wisconsinites took
notice.
2010 was a disaster for Democrats across Wisconsin, and much of the
anger directed at them was fueled by what Obama was doing (and not
doing) from Washington. Frustrated Wisconsinites sent Republicans to
Madison and to Washington with a mandate to end the policies of
tax-and-spend Democrats. It was a tremendously successful campaign for
the GOP that brought in new volunteers and new leaders and energized
the grassroots.
2011 brought new tests for our new GOP organization and leadership.
After Governor Scott Walker bravely made the tough decisions necessary
to put Wisconsin back on track, Big Labor began waging an all-out
assault on good governance and fiscal responsibility.
The result, after everything Big Labor could throw at us? Republican
victories at every turn. Supreme Court Justice David Prosser won his
reelection last April. And our Republican majority was upheld in the
State Senate after recall elections last August.
How did we do this? We did it on the ground, with sound investments and
the sweat of our volunteers and grassroots activists. We invested in
our voter databases, and we refined our microtargeting. Our volunteers
made countless phone calls and knocked on countless doors.
Now we're doing it again--helping Governor Walker prevail in Big
Labor's latest attempt to recall someone. So far in 2012 our volunteers
have made over a million calls to Wisconsin voters. They're collecting
voter ID information and helping voters see this special interest
interference for what it is. We're opening new victory centers across
the state each month; we're making more investments into our data; and
we've set the wheels in motion on a sophisticated and aggressive
turnout program that will leave no stone unturned.
By June, when Governor Walker is victorious again, we'll have a
confident and battle-tested ground organization with four straight
victories under our belts. That organization will be ready to pounce on
the president and other Democrats on the ballot with him in November.
What will the Democrats have? They'll have the remnants of a
dispirited, losing 2010 operation--and special interests who poured
tens of millions of dollars outside cash into the state with nothing to
show for it.
We're excited about where the GOP stands today, just as we're excited
about where the state stands. Wisconsin is better off, thanks to a
reform-minded governor and leaders in the State Assembly and Senate who
understand why they were elected. The state budget is balanced. The
business environment is more hospitable--creating jobs and helping
families. Were it not for Obama's regulations and policies, Wisconsin
would be even stronger.
And with the primary tomorrow, we will also be focused on the president
and his failed record. With job approval ratings and ballot match-ups
under 50 percent, Obama is not in the same place he was when he took
office and enjoyed 60 percent approval or higher. His base is not in
the same place they were in 2008, either. Just like everyone else, they
haven't seen Obama deliver on his promises, and they've seen their
party suffer defeat after defeat under Obama's leadership.
All of this is bad news for Democrats. And that's good news for
Republicans--and more importantly, for Wisconsin.
###
STATEMENT from Democratic Party of
Wisconsin
April 02, 2012
GOP Memo on Scott
Walker and Wisconsin: A Tea Party Fantasy
Following is the statement of Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike
Tate in response to GOP Chair Reince Priebus's memo suggesting that the
historic recall of Tea Party extremist Scott Walker would help
Republicans.
"My friend Reince is a good lawyer and an even better salesman for his
Party, but his memo about Scott Walker is little more than a Tea Party
fantasy.
Scott Walker's all out assault on middle class families, his
worst-in-the-nation failure on job creation and the criminal corruption
growing closer to his office by the day has badly damaged his and his
fellow Republicans brand in a way no one could have imagined in
November of 2010.
Credible public polling shows that Wisconsin has rejected Walker's
assault on our historic freedoms and his agenda of handing out tax
giveaways to corporations that ship Wisconsin jobs out-of-state.
Similarly, Mitt Romney's proposals for massive tax cuts for the
wealthy, an end to Medicare as we know it, and deep cuts to Medicaid
are falling flat.
In the past year, we've seen candidates who have embraced Walker's
assault on the middle class lose elections in several red-to-blue
conversions, including in Senate recalls and in local elections.
Walker's hand-picked U.S. Senate candidate, Jeff Fitzgerald, has been a
total failure, even among Republicans. And Walker has seen Republicans
lose control of power in the Wisconsin Senate.
The rest of the nation will soon learn what we've known in Wisconsin
for a while — that embracing extremist policies that favor the super
rich at the expense of the middle class aren't just devastating to
working families — but will lead to abrupt ends to the careers of Scott
Walker and Mitt Romney.
June 5th and November 6th will see different candidates in different
elections going before different electorates — but the common thread
will be the Republican overreach at the expense of the middle class and
Wisconsin voters won't fall for it."