Saturday, October 25, 2014

Is Chris Christie Leaving Scott Walker Down And Out?


On Thursday, The Weekly Standard raised the question whether New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and thus the Republican Governors Association, is pulling back from Scott Walker in the final days of his campaign, citing a decrease in spending by the RGA in Wisconsin:
Is New Jersey governor and Republican Governors Association chairman Chris Christie undercutting Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's reelection effort? That's a question a number of influential Wisconsin Republicans have been asking behind the scenes over the past week after an October 16 Associated Press report indicated that Walker and his allies were being outspent by Democratic challenger Mary Burke and her allies.

"The Center for Public Integrity reported Thursday that Walker and his backers spent nearly $6.1 million on ads through Monday, while Burke and her supporters ran nearly $6.6 million," the AP reported on Thursday. On Sunday, Walker told the Washington Post's Robert Costa: "We are always looking for more help. Our main help has to be the RGA." But according to the Center for Public Integrity, the Republican Governors Association has spent $5.9 million on TV ads in Michigan, where Governor Rick Snyder is up for reelection, and just $801,000 on TV ads in Wisconsin.
The article goes on to say how a "GOP source with knowledge of RGA spending" denied this was so and claimed that they are spending lots of money and plan on doing a massive ad buy in the few remaining days.

However, The Weekly Standard followed up on this and found that their source was all wet and that the RGA is indeed backing off from Walker:
After our story ran, Robert Costa of the Washington Post reported that RGA officials told him “their original plan had been to spend about $900,000 on the Wisconsin airwaves in the campaign’s closing days. But after internal deliberations and tightening polls, that amount has been increased to $2 million.”

That’s pretty close to the opposite of what we were told.

Our “GOP source with knowledge of RGA spending” told us: “We have another $4-5 million in TV ad time reserved for these last two weeks.” So if the RGA is committing to just $2 million now – that’s not an increase over their original amount, as RGA officials told the Post, it would appear to be a significant reduction.

What's more, Wisconsin GOP sources dispute the RGA's claim to have spent $6 million to date, putting the figure at closer to $3 million.
The author questions why the RGA would be putting more money into the race in Michigan, where Governor Rick Snyder has a small but consistent lead over his opponent, as opposed to the race in Wisconsin, where it's a dead heat.

The answer to that is simple. Snyder doesn't have any known plans to run for president in 2016, whereas Governor Bridgegate and Governor Walkergate both do. If Walker would happen to lose his bid for reelection, that would mean one less competitor for Christie.

One just has to remember that there is no honor among thieves and/or Republicans, but I repeat myself.

H/T Crooks and Liars

3 comments:

  1. Yes Mr. Walker you do need a drug test to apply for unemployment. Yes you do need to wait 7 days to apply, the previous governor thought that was a good idea too. No we agree that really is not fair.

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  2. Walker has succeeded in doing all the damage that the neocons needed. It will take 50 years to repair WI already. Maybe they are done using him to do the dirty work. His chances of survival with his background as a presidential contender are zero and would be an expensive wasted effort. No need for this puppet anymore.

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    1. In fact, in right-wing world, wouldn't it better to have Burke win and inherit all the messes Walker has laid out? Then GOPs can stamp their feet and blame Burke for the wreck that Walker caused.

      Same thing they tried with Doyle

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