There was a reason Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch ran as the invisible candidate....a win for challenger Mahlon Mitchell

Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch had no response when confronted with Gov. Scott Walker's "divide and conquer" comment. Nothing. All she had were off topic comments and an unconvincing denial. We're supposed to assume nothing really happened in the state that resulted in the Capitol protests or the massive recall response for her and Walker . Upfront with Mike Gousha:

Kleefisch: "I don't think a divide and conquer strategy is anywhere close to what we have done in Wisconsin, what has happened in Wisconsin ... I don't think that's the strategy that was pursued..." 

Challenger and firefighter Mahlon Mitchell would not move off the divide and conquer topic. He even brought up Walker's "drop the bomb" reference. And I was almost dizzy watching Kleefisch rock her body back and forth while batting her eyes like a young Beaver Cleaver. Her response to Walker's outrageous past statements...

Kleefisch: "I don't think rhetoric at this point is helpful at all..." 

"Becky" got here jobs numbers wrong, and Gousha corrected her, which did not stop her from repeating the incorrect number again. Wow. I've superimposed the actual numbers:



Here Mahlon Mitchell defends high speed rail, and reminded Kleefisch that bashing employment numbers in Milwaukee is not helping create jobs there. He could have easily brought up the latest Walker ad portraying Milwaukee as a drag on the state, and brought up the fact that it subtly slipped in a negative racial element as well.

Mitchell: "We've got to remember Milwaukee is in the state of Wisconsin."

Kleefisch: "...we've got to stop rooting against Wisconsin, against Milwaukee...and stop criticizing our great state."

Where has Kleefisch been for the last 15 years, when Republicans bashed Wisconsin the state 24/7, as a bad place for business.



The truth is a whole lot less hyperbolic...

Politifact: Kleefisch campaign manager Rachel Pecor provided a letter that was dated March 10, 2011 and signed by Mitchell and six other public employee union leaders. The letter was sent to Tom Ellis, president of what was then the Milwaukee-based M&I Bank. It demanded that M&I Bank publicly oppose Walker’s reform law … If M&I didn’t comply the letter signers would "publicly and formally boycott the goods and services provided by your company." … signers of the M&I letter made the same demand a day later in a letter to the Kwik Trip convenience store chain. So, it’s clear that Mitchell signed two boycott letters. Pecor acknowledged there wasn’t proof that Mitchell had signed any other letters urging boycotts beyond M&I and Kwik Trip. But she argued that the larger boycotts were "encouraged" by the Mitchell letters. 

Of course they were.