Reince Priebus: 'The Fight for Wisconsin'

Yesterday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, sent an email message to Wisconsinites:

The Fight for Wisconsin
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus
April 2, 2012

The Fight for Wisconsin

Tomorrow, Wisconsin Republicans will go to the polls to cast their first ballots to end Barack Obama's presidency. Obama might have felt safe in Wisconsin after an impressive 400,000 vote victory in 2008, but a closer look shows Wisconsin's 10 Electoral Votes in 2012 very much in play.

First of all, Obama's margin of victory in 2008 was the exception rather than the rule in recent presidential elections. President George W. Bush came within a hair of winning Wisconsin each time he tried--narrowly losing by just over 5,000 votes in 2000 and just over 11,000 votes in 2004. In 2008, many Wisconsin voters, like voters across the country, bought the "hope and change" message that Candidate Obama was selling. But President Obama's results haven't provided the kind of change that voters were looking for, and Wisconsinites took notice.

2010 was a disaster for Democrats across Wisconsin, and much of the anger directed at them was fueled by what Obama was doing (and not doing) from Washington. Frustrated Wisconsinites sent Republicans to Madison and to Washington with a mandate to end the policies of tax-and-spend Democrats. It was a tremendously successful campaign for the GOP that brought in new volunteers and new leaders and energized the grassroots.

2011 brought new tests for our new GOP organization and leadership. After Governor Scott Walker bravely made the tough decisions necessary to put Wisconsin back on track, Big Labor began waging an all-out assault on good governance and fiscal responsibility.

The result, after everything Big Labor could throw at us? Republican victories at every turn. Supreme Court Justice David Prosser won his reelection last April. And our Republican majority was upheld in the State Senate after recall elections last August.

How did we do this? We did it on the ground, with sound investments and the sweat of our volunteers and grassroots activists. We invested in our voter databases, and we refined our microtargeting. Our volunteers made countless phone calls and knocked on countless doors.

Now we're doing it again--helping Governor Walker prevail in Big Labor's latest attempt to recall someone. So far in 2012 our volunteers have made over a million calls to Wisconsin voters. They're collecting voter ID information and helping voters see this special interest interference for what it is. We're opening new victory centers across the state each month; we're making more investments into our data; and we've set the wheels in motion on a sophisticated and aggressive turnout program that will leave no stone unturned.

By June, when Governor Walker is victorious again, we'll have a confident and battle-tested ground organization with four straight victories under our belts. That organization will be ready to pounce on the president and other Democrats on the ballot with him in November. What will the Democrats have? They'll have the remnants of a dispirited, losing 2010 operation--and special interests who poured tens of millions of dollars outside cash into the state with nothing to show for it.

We're excited about where the GOP stands today, just as we're excited about where the state stands. Wisconsin is better off, thanks to a reform-minded governor and leaders in the State Assembly and Senate who understand why they were elected. The state budget is balanced. The business environment is more hospitable--creating jobs and helping families. Were it not for Obama's regulations and policies, Wisconsin would be even stronger.

And with the primary tomorrow, we will also be focused on the president and his failed record. With job approval ratings and ballot match-ups under 50 percent, Obama is not in the same place he was when he took office and enjoyed 60 percent approval or higher. His base is not in the same place they were in 2008, either. Just like everyone else, they haven't seen Obama deliver on his promises, and they've seen their party suffer defeat after defeat under Obama's leadership.

All of this is bad news for Democrats. And that's good news for Republicans--and more importantly, for Wisconsin.

In November 2010, we took back our state.

Today, we make our voices heard in the presidential primary, our first step in taking our country back.