Candidate Not Scott Walker

If the polls are to be believed, about two-thirds of the people who are going to vote for Mary Burke next week are doing so not because they agree with her platform or principals--but rather because she is not Scott Walker.  Given that Burke is polling about about 47% of likely voters, that means 32% of people in Wisconsin wouldn't even need a name at all in the Democratic column to check that box.  They don't care about cut-and-paste jobs plans, Trek Bicycle outsourcing, property tax increase votes on the Madison School Board or being called a "disaster" by her predecessor at the Department of Commerce.  Those 32% would see Stalin as a better alternative for Wisconsin than Scott Walker--but Mary Burke is on the ballot instead--so she will get their vote.

While she will gladly take that "hate support", you would think that Burke would at least want those people to care about what she is saying on the campaign trail--or to have at least a favorable opinion of her.  It's just human nature to want people to like you--as opposed to "dislike you less than that other guy" or to have no opinion of you whatsoever. 

I wonder if Mary Burke has ever been tempted to slip in something completely off the wall into one of her carefully-crafted campaign speeches like "I will require that all cows in Wisconsin wear special methane-absorbing diapers to minimize Wisconsin's production of greenhouse gases" just to see if anyone is actually paying attention.  Or maybe she could do a speech in Klingon sometime and see if there is any less applause every time she says "Scott Walker".  I'm actually shocked that her bumper stickers and yard signs didn't just say "Mary Burke--she's not Scott Walker".

And should Governor Walker win next week--and still be around to run for re-election in 2018--Democrats will be looking for the next Not Scott Walker to run against him again.  Maybe that's why Russ Feingold didn't want to get in this time around--he kind of likes things to be all about him.