Key Wisconsin vote will give Obama’s rival Romney hope

Republicans have sought to capitalise on a key vote in Wisconsin that served a bloody nose to the White House while cheering the hopes of presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The result of a bitterly fought recall election saw the state’s Republican governor escape being ejected from office a year after being challenged over spending cuts and controversial measures curtailing union rights.

Despite being fought over local issues, Scott Walker’s victory is being seen in the wider context of the presidential race, with Republican strategists hoping it will provide a springboard towards the far greater goal of a Romney win in November.

And there are likely to be concerned faces among Obama supporters following the state ballot – in 2008, the Democrats took Wisconsin by 14 points.

This time around it is likely to be a far tougher fight, if the result of Tuesday’s election is anything to go by.

In holding off the challenge of Milwaukee’s Democratic mayor Tom Barrett, Mr Walker became the first sitting US governor to prevail in a recall election.

The rare election was called after opponents mustered together more than 900,000 signatures calling for his removal a year ago.

A rising star in Republican ranks, the governor is seen as a hate figure by those on the left because of his programme of swingeing spending cuts and banning of union collective bargaining rights.

It set up a bitter recall election campaign, but one that the two men now battling for the presidency were hesitant to get involved in.

With the result uncertain, both Mr Romney and Barack Obama were reluctant to tie themselves too closely to the campaign, in case it went against their man. But as the results came in, the Republicans were quick to make use of the victory.

Mr Walker won by 53 per cent to 46 per cent – greater than his winning margin in the 2010 gubernatorial race.

In his victory address, the Republican governor sought to take some of the heat out of the state’s fractious politics. He said: “It’s time to put our differences aside and find ways to work together to move Wisconsin forward.”

In a conciliatory note, he added that it was also now time for members of the state legislature to get together over bratwurst, burgers and “a bit of good Wisconsin beer”.

While politicians chew over the local delicacies, national party strategists will do likewise with the election results.

It has thrown Wisconsin back into play as a presidential battleground after being held by Democratic candidates for the past six White House run-offs.

Even before the votes were fully counted, Mr Romney declared that the win would “echo beyond the borders of Wisconsin”.

“Governor Walker has shown that citizens and taxpayers can fight back and prevail against the runaway government costs imposed by labour bosses,” he said, adding that voters were saying No “to the tired, liberal ideas of yesterday and Yes to fiscal responsibility and a new direction”.

An aggressive Republican campaign is now expected in a bid to lock in the view of Wisconsin as a “swing state”.

It is now being listed as a key target for Romney strategists, along with Florida, Ohio and Virginia.

But a deeper reading of the exit polling does not spell all doom and gloom for Mr Obama.

Those voting in Tuesday’s local election backed the president over Mr Romney in the forthcoming general election by a 51 to 44 per cent margin.

Furthermore, a greater percentage of Wisconsin voters said they trusted the White House incumbent more than the challenger when it came to the key issues of the day, such as the economy.

In a statement, Mr Obama’s Wisconsin campaign director Tripp Wellde said: “These data points clearly demonstrate a very steep pathway for Mitt Romney to recover in the state.”

Nonetheless, on the back of downbeat economic data last Friday – which showed that the rate of unemployment had ticked up for the first time in almost a year to 8.2 per cent – the Republican Party will be further encouraged by the Wisconsin result.

A majority of independent voters in the state broke for Mr Walker, despite the candidate holding deeply conservative fiscal positions.

Moreover, the Republican Party appears to have been more successful in getting its rank-and-file out and campaigning – Tea Party members were key cheerleaders behind Mr Walker’s success.