GOP candidate for Wis. governor runs boxing-themed ad aimed at Democrat who was attack victim

Wis. cand. runs fighting ad aimed at attack victim

MADISON, Wis. — A Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor has begun running ads in which he dons boxing gloves and vows to “go the distance” against the likely Democratic nominee, who was viciously beaten outside a fairground last year and left with serious injuries.

Scott Walker’s campaign said Tuesday that it didn’t intend to make reference to the August 2009 attack outside the Wisconsin State Fair that left Tom Barrett, Milwaukee’s mayor, with injuries to his head, mouth, face and hand. Barrett tried to help a screaming woman struggling to protect her 1-year-old granddaughter from being taken by her drunk, belligerent father.

The attacker, who was sentenced in July to 12 years in prison, beat Barrett with a metal object. The mayor has had three surgeries on his hand, which doctors say may never fully recover.

In the ad, which began running statewide on Sunday and which the campaign doesn’t intend to pull, Walker faces the camera, refers to negative campaign ads Barrett has run in the past month and accuses Barrett of “throwing punches at me.” At the end, Walker dons red boxing gloves and says he took on the political machine as Milwaukee County executive and he’s “ready to go the distance as your next governor.”

Walker’s campaign sent the ad around in a fundraising e-mail Monday under the subject line “Fighter.” The text of the e-mail says Walker is using his latest ad to “fight back” against Barrett’s accusations.

“I think he looks ridiculous and I think it really is tasteless,” said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate. “Walker does seem to be mocking the fact that the mayor, frankly, almost gave his life to intervene in a domestic violence situation.”

Walker spokeswoman Jill Bader defended the approach, saying the ad was in response to three negative spots Barrett has run in recent weeks against Walker. When asked if Walker’s ad was in bad taste given Barrett’s real-life attack, Bader said, “That was not at all what we’re talking about.”

She declined to say how much the ad buy was.

Barrett, asked about the ad in Milwaukee, said people can judge for themselves whether it is in bad taste or not.

The fighting metaphor is a common one in politics, but the Walker campaign should have thought twice before using it against Barrett, said University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin.

“The Walker campaign doesn’t have any strategic or tactical reason to want to remind voters of Barrett getting into a fight,” Franklin said. “I think maybe their ad agency wasn’t quite as sensitive to that possibility as they could have been.”

Walker faces former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann in the Republican primary on Sept. 14. Neumann declined to comment on the Walker ad. Barrett faces token opposition for the Democratic nomination.