War of words between Barrett, Walker in gubernatorial recall effort

MILWAUKEE -- The recall campaign is heating up between the top Democratic candidate and Governor Scott Walker. The Washington Post declared Wisconsin the most polarized state in the country politically, and said the reason is Scott Walker. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett went to the state Capitol Wednesday, April 4th, to declaim the divide.

"For the last 15 months, the state has been in a political civil war. I am here to tell you that I will end that civil war," Barrett said Wednesday.

Walker says that kind of rhetoric is making things worse. "I think it's interesting for a candidate who is asking his fellow Democrats to run a clean campaign, to literally, in the same breath, in the same press conference, to lash out repeatedly against me, seems to be a huge contradiction," Walker said.

Barrett kleads the other Democratic candidates in the most recent polls, but to take on Walker again, Barrett must first defeat fellow Democrats Kathleen Falk, Kathleen Vinehout and Doug LaFollette.

For now, Barrett is the front-runner, and the focus of Walker's attention. As the nation watches the divided state, Barrett and Walker are arguing about who's responsible. "What the mayor has done is repeatedly attack us. He and Kathleen Falk were part of energizing people to be aggressively involved in the protests, which I think more than anything, drove the tension and chaos in the state," Walker said.

"(Walker) talked about creating 250,000 jobs, but because he took his eye off that goal and instead decided to spend the first months of his governorship fighting an ideological war, the state, under his leadership, lost more jobs than any other state in the entire country," Barrett said.

The Democratic candidates planned a forum Thursday night, April 5th at Serb Hall in downtown Milwaukee. Walker said he plans to be at church with his family.