A milestone in the race for re-election: Gov. Walker picks up the phone, makes one-millionth call

MADISON (WITI) -- Governor Scott Walker's campaign for re-election hit a milestone on Tuesday, July 8th, as the Republican Party touts its organization. Meanwhile, Democrats say the advantages they built up in President Obama's re-election remain strong.

Gov. Walker picked up the phone on Tuesday and made the one-millionth call in the race for re-election.

"Yes, this is really Governor Scott Walker," Gov. Walker said on the call. "He keeps saying his wife is never going to believe him."

Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate dismissed the milestone as more "show" than "substance."

"Congratulations. I don't think it's a metric that holds a lot of water. The ones that count are the ones we measure on Election Day," Tate said.

Tate says the Democratic Party as the advantage on technology -- using connections on social media, analysis of voter trends and other data-driven measures to reach voters.

Democrats have hired one of the top digital strategists from President Obama's campaign.

"He's been running our operation, doing randomized field experiments, doing testing, making sure that we have the best tools available to talk to the right voters," Tate said.

In the coming weeks, voters will be inundated by traditional TV ads and direct mail.

The election is still four months away, but experts say eight to 10 percent of voters are still deciding between Mary Burke and Gov. Walker.

"Among independent voters, we're up 49-41, and we think there's an opportunity there if we continue to get our message out," Gov. Walker said.

"We've got a phenomenal ground game in Wisconsin. To be fair, both sides do. We've had an awful lot of campaign activity in the last four years," Tate said.

This election could come down to the ground game.

The Republican Party has 24 offices across the state -- and has since the beginning of the year.

Democrats say they have 22 field offices up and running that will be working on behalf of Democratic candidate for governor, Mary Burke.

Both sides say they're doing similar phone and door-to-door work, though the GOP has knocked on 500,000 doors in this campaign already.

"This election will be decided by the grassroots," Gov. Walker said.

Voting records show that in 2012, a million more people voted than in 2010 in Wisconsin.

Whichever party can get a fraction of the presidential year voters to show up for a governor's race could hold the advantage.