Walker expects to be outspent by unions

Yahoo News:

Scott Walker, the Republican governor of Wisconsin who is battling an effort to recall him from office, told Yahoo News that his controversial law that ended many collective bargaining rights for public-sector employees and sparked protests from labor unions and their allies one year ago is accomplishing his goal.

"You've literally had tens of millions of dollars of savings all throughout the state just by allowing, through our reforms, by allowing school districts to bid out their health insurance," he said.

"The law is working," he added in an interview with Yahoo News in which he said he was able to close a $3.6 billion budget gap without tax increases, massive layoffs, or cuts to Medicaid because of the legislation.

Yet Walker's opponents hope the law will prove to be the cause of his political demise. Labor unions and their Democratic allies gathered roughly 1 million signatures, nearly double what was required, to get a recall election on the ballot. Walker is expected to confront his mobilized opposition at the polls in May or June.

"They had more field staff and campaign offices than even some presidential campaigns have had in our state," Walker said of the petition campaign.

His campaign and allied groups have already spent more than $7 million on his effort to keep his job, but Walker expects to spend less than his opponents.

"I think I'll be woefully outspent," Walker said in explaining why he believes the recall election will be tougher to win than his 2010 race. "So, in terms of being confident, I'm cautiously optimistic. The reason for caution is if we're able to break through the money gap and get our message out to compete with all this money from out of state interests, then I think we can win."

Walker mentioned the outside special interest groups and their money no fewer than six times in the course of a 20-minute interview. Portraying his opposition as being from outside Wisconsin and without the state's interests at heart has been at the center of Walker's message since he was caught unprepared for the enormous onslaught of organized protests that descended on the state capitol in Madison last year.

In addition to trying to engender sympathy among voters for being targeted by forces outside his state, Walker is eager to sell himself as a politician with the courage of his convictions.

"Voters complain all the time that politicians don't do what what they say are going to do -- that they make campaign promises and then they break them. Voters say all the time that elected officials don't have the courage or the guts to tackle the really tough issues," Walker said.

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Walker is David facing a labor union big spending Goliath.  They are desperate to reconstitute their corrupt bargain with Democrats and get access to state worker dues again so they can spend it on electing Democrats who will vote them more unpaid for benefits.