Appearing Thursday night on MSNBC's "The Ed Show," The Progressive's Editor Ruth Conniff told a panel that a recent poll on Gov. Scott Walker's reelection chances shows that pretty much "anybody" could beat him at this point.
Speaking about Walker's already-announced Democratic challenger Mary Burke, host Ed Schultz cautioned that he doesn't really know anything about Burke -- a common problem at this early stage in the race. Still, a recent Marquette University poll of 800 Wisconsin voters puts her barely within the margin of error, at 44 percent to Walker's 47 percent.
"I know Mary Burke, I spent a lot of time talking to her," Ruth said. "The thing is, a lot of Wisconsinites don't know Mary Burke. So what these poll numbers show I think is really not the strength of Mary Burke, who has yet to really get her campaign underway, but just that the state is not really pleased with Scott Walker.'"
"So, really it's not going to get a whole lot better from here if people get to know and like her," she added. "So, this is Scott Walker versus anybody, is what this poll is showing."
Interestingly, even though Burke is the only candidate to have announced her intent to run against Walker, the poll showed state Senator Kathleen Vinehout virtually tied with her at 44 percent and facing the same uphill climb as Burke, with 79 percent of respondents saying they did not know much about her.
Voters were also polled about Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, who came in behind Vinehout and Burke at 42 percent, with a higher unknown rating than the two leading Democrats.
Still, the election is a full year away, so an early poll like this should be taken with several grains of salt.
"[Walker] clearly wants to be president of the Untied States," Schultz contended, pointing out that the governor recently made an appearance in Virginia to campaign for Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican candidate for governor who, as of Wednesday was trailing Terry McAuliffe by double-digits in the polls. Walker also criticizes the Romney campaign in his new book, Schultz noted.
"The reality in Wisconsin is, we lag all of our neighboring states in job creation, our economy is suffering while the economies around us are recovering," Ruth said. "He's made this promise that he hasn't made good on, and he's been the mist divisive governor in state history by attacking school teachers and public employees who are really popular with the public, and really stirring up anger and resentment."
Ultimately, under Walker, "we have more people who are struggling, fewer people with jobs and less health care," she concluded.
This video is from "The Ed Show," aired October 31, 2013
Photo: Flickr user Paul Baker, creative commons licensed.