Over at the left-of-center Capital Times, John Nichols writes about the many difficulties Wisconsin Democrats will have this year. In What Barrett Must Do to Win Governor’s race, Nichols is candid about the difficult terrain for Democrats:
The gray governorship of Jim Doyle is edging to a close after eight years of uninspired managerialism. Even when Doyle was handed solid Democratic majorities in the state Assembly and Senate, he did little with them. As a result, he will finish his tenure without having made anything but the most minimal case for why it matters to put Democrats in charge.
And the embarrassing leadership of Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, will make it that much harder for the Democrats to claim that they are superior to the Republicans. Sheridan, voters may recall, kept company with a payday-lending industry lobbyist and then abandoned his commitment to crack down in a meaningful way on check-cashing operations that give a bad name to loan sharks.
So it is that, just by showing up, the Republicans are well positioned. Like Democrats who prevailed in 2006 and 2008 by simply noting that they were not associated with George W. Bush, Republicans are looking at the prospect of a year in which they might win simply by not being the Democrats.
Nichols suggests that Barrett should emphasize his, Barrett’s, plan for a more competitive redistricting of legislative districts. I wouldn’t wonder that, despite rhetorical support from some Democrats, most incumbents of either major party would oppose competitive redistricting should Barrett win.
Nichols is right, I’d guess, that Barrett needs to “differentiate him[self] not just from the Republicans but from Democrats who have compromised and failed.” Democrats have squandered their incumbency as Republicans previously did. It’s also true to observe that redistricting changes would not be enough, but that Barrett would need a whole package of structural reforms (and would need to emphasize those reforms day and night until November).
That’s a huge task; the election’s less than four months away….