Gov. Scott Walker’s speech in Iowa today is one in a flurry of out-of-state appearances that have stoked talk of a possible presidential run. Jessica Arp of WISC-TV produced a report last night on the situation, using some context provided by the Center.

Scott Walker isn’t anybody’s idea of a champion of campaign finance reform. But, in a recent interview, he touted donor transparency and called for ending the ability of recall targets to accept unlimited sums.

State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, incoming Majority Leader, has been suggesting that the Government Accountability Board should be governed by partisan appointees, rather than the six retired judges who now do the job. “I just don’t think they’re an independent voice at all,” the Republican from Juneau told the Associated Press.
If Republicans are united on that, [...]

Most. Expensive. Elections. Ever. So did all the money spent on TV ads, mailers, robocalls, live calls and so forth make an impression? Change anyone’s mind? Make people more likely to vote — or less? Here’s a gallery of what voters at polls around Madison told Center staffers today about the role of money in politics.

Most. Expensive. Elections. Ever. So did all the money spent on TV ads, mailers, robocalls, live calls and so forth make an impression? Change anyone’s mind? Make people more likely to vote — or less? Here’s a gallery of what voters at polls around Madison told Center staffers today about the role of money in politics.

At a campaign stop near Philadelphia early in his 2010 bid for governor, Republican Tom Corbett announced, “We’ve got to raise money,” calling this his campaign’s “No. 1” priority. That same July day, a $1.5 million contribution arrived — from Wisconsin. Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, calls this well-traveled donation a prime example of “an elaborate money-laundering scheme” used by the RGA with success in a number of races for governor in 2010 — one that is legal.

A Colby College political science professor once called political party platforms “the most important document(s) that a political party produces” but also “worthless pieces of paper,” because so few voters know what they contain. That’s unfortunate, because they are the product of much deliberative thinking, and do in fact shape how politicians behave.

Albert Einstein famously defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. In retrospect, the effort by state Democrats to unseat Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in a recall election by running Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the same candidate who lost to him in November 2010, might fit this bill.