Walker's campaign site shows savvy

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The Capital Times

Madison, WI

By John Nichols 

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker deserves high marks for "getting it" with regard to new media.

The Republican candidate for governor has a sharp, well-designed campaign website that is easy to use and invites Wisconsinites to engage.

At the front of the site is the "What's Your Take?" section, which declares: "Wisconsin taxpayers just found out that our state deficit now stands at $7 billion. How should elected officials close that deficit?"

A click on the "Submit Your Response" button gets contributors a forum and another click on the "View All Responses" line encourages consideration of a remarkable array of ideas.

Of course, there are the predictable partisan diatribes: "Wisconsin needs to get rid of Gov Doyle," begins one that refers in none-too-generous terms to the Democratic incumbent Walker hopes to take on. "The best way is to get rid of Doyle and the Democrats," begins another entry.

There are, as well, the tiresome restatements of talking points that even some of the savvier national Republicans have come to recognize as meaningless: "Capitalism over socialism, let's take back our state."

Rah, rah. Blah!

But the discussion is not entirely predictable, and that's what makes Walker's site worth a visit.

There's a submission that highlights the fact that President Obama and the Congress have provided stimulus money and suggests: "Let's use it."

There are serious discussions about public-employee benefits that, while they might rankle some state workers, are detail-oriented and thought-provoking.

Predictably enough, there are arguments for making Wisconsin a "tax haven."

But there are also nuanced appeals for rethinking approaches to school funding that would not seem particularly out of place on a Democratic site. "I recently retired from teaching in the Wisconsin public school system for 33 years. I think the 2/3 state funding commitment is a good one, but to fund it from property tax is not working anymore," observes an educator. "It would be much fairer to tie it to sales tax therefore getting everyone to contribute. For many families living in rentals and apartments the burden falls on the landlord and there is not a fair contribution from those who need the benefit. With sales tax everyone contributes. The challenge is to set it up so the state can't ever tap that part of the sales tax, it remains only for funding schools."

And there are sharp criticisms of Republican missteps.

"Sir," begins a response from a dissenter who lives in Jefferson, "having been betrayed by George Bush twice and watching the party establishment with media complicity do all it could to sideline Dr. Ron Paul (the only true conservative on record) I have a slight problem voting either Republican or Democrat in the upcoming gubernatorial race."

After outlining concerns about the Federal Reserve and the interventionist foreign policies of the past Republican administration, the writer concludes: "I will never compromise on my principles again by voting for the lesser of two evils."

That's hardly cheerleading for Walker, or for his party.

Rather, it's an honest expression of the concerns felt by many libertarian-leaning conservatives.

The test for Walker's webmaster would of course be a posting that took the candidate to task for his management of Milwaukee County or otherwise tore into his political record. And if we never see such a message on the candidate's site, you can bet there's some serious "editing" taking place.

But Walker and his campaign deserve credit for inviting and airing a range of opinions that is wider than the usual drivel on campaign websites. And this approach to campaigning ndsh open, inclusive and tech-savvy ndsh signals that this Republican contender is serious about running a different and smarter campaign than the party's recent nominees.

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