Uppity Wisconsin

Anyone who's been subjected to my two-minute drill on the fine art of political campaigns and message has heard this: Campaigns are all about drawing distinctions.

Voters ultimately have to choose between candidates. A candidate's job is to make it clear what the differences are, to give people a reason to vote for him/her instead of someone else.

It's that simple. But it seems to be very hard for many candidates to execute.

All too often, the candidate's "message" -- which is nothing more than telling people why they should vote for you -- is something another candidate could also say.

Mark Neumann's for jobs. Tom Barrett's for jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. Scott Walker's for even more jobs. So if you think jobs is the issue, who you gonna vote for? You need to hear some distinctions.

So I welcome the "newly aggressive" Tom Barrett who showed up this week on the stump, as described by the Journal Sentinel:

In his most pointed comments to date in his race for governor, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett contrasted the city's help in turning around the Menomonee Valley with Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's handling of the vacant county-owned Park East Corridor.

Barrett, a Democrat, said that the city helped build the infrastructure and worked with companies in the valley. The result: An employment base of about 2,000, he said.

But under Walker, a Republican candidate for governor, Barrett said there has been little comparable activity on the 16 acres north of downtown.

"You see nothing," Barrett told an audience at Marquette University.

More than in previous public appearances, Barrett sought to differentiate himself from Walker and former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, another Republican running for governor.

Hear, hear! Let's hope it's the first in a long series of comparisons. The more voters get to compare the candidates, the better Barrett will look.

And that's today's gratuitous advice from a grizzled old hack.

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