Priebus: Wisconsin an “absolute disaster” for Obama

In a memo from RNC chair Reince Priebus, he declares that Wisconsin is a clear demonstration of the GOP ground game and that the results are a clear indication of what will occur in the 2012 election.

MEMO

FROM: Chairman Reince Priebus

TO: Interested Parties

RE: Wisconsin: Victory for the People, Disaster for Obama

Last night, Wisconsin voters went to the polls and gave their stamp of approval to Gov. Scott Walker’s commonsense reforms. It was a victory for the people of Wisconsin and for America.

It was also an absolute disaster for President Obama. In the first electoral test of 2012, Scott Walker and the GOP won a resounding victory over Obama’s campaign arm and the liberal special interests.

The momentum in Wisconsin is firmly on the Republican side. The enthusiasm of our volunteers and the success of our operation will carry us forward to November.

Meanwhile Democrats now must pick up the wreckage from an election that they orchestrated and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called a “dry run” for November. And Wisconsin Democrats will now look to President Obama and ask, “Why did you abandon us?” Let the infighting begin.

In 2007, then-candidate Obama promised Big Labor that he would always stand with them, and the now twice-defeated Mayor Tom Barrett was an early Obama supporter. But President Obama actively avoided Wisconsin in the recall. It’s not like he wasn’t in the area; he was in neighboring Minnesota and Illinois just last week. Yet all he offered Barrett was a tepid tweet Monday night–not exactly the sign of a fearless leader.

Obama’s Chicago team is now including Wisconsin on their list of toss-up states for November, when they have the unenviable task of rallying their base to win a state that has gone decidedly Republican over the last two years. What Democrat activist wants to stand with a president who would not stand with them?

From the White House to Chicago, Democrats are nervous this morning. Prior to the 2008 election, margins for presidential races in Wisconsin were narrow. In 2004, President Bush lost by only 11,384 votes–and by 5,708 in 2000 (less than one vote per ward). 2008 was both an aberration and a high-water mark for Democrats.

Over the last two years, Republicans have racked up victory after victory. In 2010, the GOP picked up a U.S. Senate seat, won the governorship, picked up two House seats, and won control of the State House and State Senate. In 2011, we won the Supreme Court election and held the State Senate in another recall election.

Now, less than four years after Obama won Wisconsin, Democrats lost in an election of their own making.

That’s because the GOP excelled at our ground game, now giving us a significant advantage for the presidential race. Working with the Wisconsin GOP, the RNC ran joint voter contact Victory operations and opened 26 statewide offices. Since January, our volunteers made over 4 million voter contacts, more than the GOP did in the entire 2008 campaign and substantially more than Democrats and their union allies in this election.

We spearheaded a joint effort with neighboring states to drive grassroots supporters to Wisconsin, and we mobilized volunteers from across the country to get involved through our innovative online Social Victory Center and phone-from-home program.

In the process, more than 3,400 Wisconsin volunteers have signed up to help the party. And the data collected by door-to-door volunteers for Governor Walker was all promptly added to the RNC’s data center, thanks to the use of iPads, iPhones, and iPods.

Finally, this race should draw a sharp contrast in the eyes of voters. On the Republican side stood Scott Walker–a man who kept his 2010 campaign promises and delivered. He balanced the budget, got Wisconsinites back to work, and put government back on the side of the people. It’s certainly a far cry from what President Obama is offering.

Democrats bowed to the demands of the special interests, wasted time and taxpayer money on a recall election, and ran a campaign of distortions and deceptions rooted in anything but the interests of Wisconsin families.

After yesterday’s victory, Republicans have the infrastructure and enthusiasm that will help us defeat President Obama in Wisconsin. In that respect, it was a great “dry run.”