Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said that if he wins his re-election, he has no plans to run for governor in 2018. That may his “official position,” but there are others who are close to Abele’s campaign who seem to see it very differently. Their view is that Abele’s plan from Day #1 when he ran for county executive in 2011 was to claim to be a Democrat but “steal” the Republican policies and their playbook to ultimately run against them in 2018.
At this point in time, Abele has been working closely with Republicans in Madison and also writing checks to select Republican legislators. In the past, Abele strongly supported uber-right-wing Rebecca Bradley, now running for a full term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. His policies have basically been Republican policies. He also uses the same tricks that Scott Walker used when he claims he never increased property taxes when, in fact, he increased them quite a bit.
One interesting point, one of the people involved in Abele’s first county executive race in 2011 said when Abele’s race got tight and his campaign ads made him appear to be a good mainstream Democrat to appeal to heavily Democratic Milwaukee County, he was apparently concerned and upset because he felt it would ultimately hurt him with Republicans.
Some Republican operatives apparently seem to understand this game plan and don’t want to see Republican voters get duped. They’re concerned that Abele will buy the Democratic primary for governor in 2018. He has the money that will enable him to make heavy media buys in even the smallest media markets in Wisconsin and even in out-of-state media that influence Wisconsin voters, such as media in Minneapolis, Dubuque and Rockford along the Wisconsin border.
As Abele’s “strategy” continues, once he wins the nomination, he apparently will run on his record, which in many ways is the Republican playbook. He can also argue that he is essentially bipartisan since he has written hefty checks to key Republicans. So if this strategy is successful and he can pick off some of the Republican vote, and not lose too many Democratic voters, who will refuse to vote for him based on his record as “Walker Lite,” he can basically use some of the Republican voters to beat the real Republican candidate, Scott Walker, in 2018.
The big question is will Abele be able to “use” the Republicans against the Republicans to advance his career against them?
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