Leading Democrats have begun to criticize the whole idea of trying to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Retiring Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank told the Hill:
I think the people on the Democratic side made a big mistake and the funding thing was a big deal. My side picked a fight they shouldn’t have picked. The recall was upsetting to people, the rerun of the election with [Democratic Milwaukee Mayor] Tom Barrett — it’s not a fight I would have picked. People need to be more strategic about the fights they pick.
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a past chairman of the Democratic National Committee, also second-guessed the recall: “It was a dumb political fight — I would have waited until Walker’s reelection.” But Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin dismissed the idea that Democratic leaders could have stopped a grassroots initiative: “When over 30,000 people just decided they were going to start circulating petitions, what do you do? It was going to happen.”
