Campaign Download: Tight Wisconsin governor's race

September 18, 2014 at 3:56AM
FILE - In this combination of file photos is Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, left, and his Democratic gubernatorial opponent Mary Burke.
FILE - In this combination of file photos is Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, left, and his Democratic gubernatorial opponent Mary Burke. (Associated Press - Ap/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The race for Wisconsin governor couldn't be any closer with just seven weeks to go.

A Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday showed Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic challenger Mary Burke tied among registered voters.

Walker and Burke both had 46 percent support. The poll's margin of error was 3.5 percentage points among registered voters.

Among likely voters, they were also about even, with Walker at 49 percent compared with 46 percent for Burke. That is within the 4.1 percentage-point margin of error for likely voters.

Polls dating back to May have shown the race to be about even. The poll of 800 registered voters was conducted between Sept. 11 and Sunday.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is heading to Wisconsin on Sept. 29 to campaign for Walker. Both are potential 2016 Republican candidates for president.

Piling up the bucks in Florida

The race for Florida governor is shaping up to be one of the closest and costliest in the nation this year. The Democratic Governors Association just gave challenger Charlie Crist another $1.5 million, bringing the total it has invested in the race to about $5.6 million. The breakdown: $3.5 million for Crist for Florida, $1.15 million for the Florida Democratic Party and nearly $1 million to a political committee called Florida for All. For the DGA, this is huge money, but it can't match the Republican Governors Association's giving to Gov. Rick Scott this cycle: $11.2 million.

Pro-Clinton group heads to Minnesota

A pro-Hillary Rodham Clinton super PAC is dispatching staffers to key states before the fall elections, helping Senate candidates with fundraising and laying the foundation for a potential Clinton presidential bid in 2016. Ready for Hillary said Wednesday it would send more than two dozen staffers to 14 states key to Democrats' prospects in the November midterm elections, including Minnesota. Others: Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina, home to competitive Senate campaigns; the early presidential voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina; and Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine and Michigan. "Our primary objective is channeling enthusiasm and helping Democrats. These are going to be supporters who are much more likely to engage early in the coming presidential election," said Seth Bringman, a spokesman for Ready for Hillary.

Immigrant vote is nation's first

Oregon was on the road to giving driving privileges to people living in the country illegally — until Oregonians for Immigration Reform rounded up just enough signatures to stop the law in its tracks and put the measure before voters in November. It will be the first time that voters in any state will weigh in on the driver's license issue. The law would have allowed immigrants and others to apply for driver's cards that cannot be used to vote, board a plane, get benefits or buy firearms. Measure 88 asks Oregonians whether they want to reaffirm the law passed by the Legislature.

Punch line

"Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Iowa this week, three days after Hillary Clinton's high-profile return to the state. He'll spend two days there — one campaigning and another stuck in a corn maze." — Jimmy Fallon on Monday

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie greets supporters at The Dixie Grill while on a campaign stop for U.S. Senate candidate Thom Tillis in Wilmington, N.C. on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014. (AP Photo/Wilmington Star-News, Mike Spencer)
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie greeted supporters in Wilmington, N.C., on Tuesday. He’ll campaign in Wisconsin this month. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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