Politics & Government

Obama Campaign Getting Involved in Wisconsin Recall Election

President's campaign sends e-mail to Obama supporters urging them to vote for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in June 5 recall election of Gov. Scott Walker.

President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is actively getting behind the effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker from office, The Huffington Post reports.

The campaign is focusing its efforts on educating and registering voters in advance of the historic .

Tripp Wellde, the Wisconsin state director for the Obama campaign, sent an email to supporters Thursday night, urging them to support Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Walker's Democratic opponent.

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The Obama campaign also hosted "Own Your Vote" events around the state this weekend, described as "organizing phone banks and knocking on doors to make sure Wisconsinites are registered and ready to own their vote on Election Day," according to The Huffington Post.

The involvement of the Obama campaign is just another example of the national focus on the showdown between the Republican governor and Barrett.

Find out what's happening in Waukeshawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For example, a political action committee called Right Direction Wisconsin, which is an arm of the Republican Governors Association, has reported spending $4.8 million on ads targeting Barrett and Democrat Kathleen Falk, according to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

National tea party groups also have been involved in the recall effort.

, two tea party groups — Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty and We The People of the Republic — combined forces and launched VerifyTheRecall.com to recruit volunteers to vet the nearly 1 million signatures submitted on recall petitions.

Another group — The Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama — sends out fundraising emails almost daily linking the Walker recall to its effort to defeat Obama in November. The group also has started airing ads in Wisconsin that support Walker and bash Obama at the same time.

One such ad says:

"Barack Obama could learn a few lessons in leadership from Wisconsin's governor, Scott Walker. Under Obama, America has lost more than 800,000 jobs, we owe billions to China, gas prices are out of control and home prices have plunged...

"But under Gov. Scott Walker, things in Wisconsin have begun to turn around...America needs more of Scott Walker's style of leadership and less of Barack Obama's failures."


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