THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama’s re-election campaign suffered another setback after Republicans claimed victory in a key local election that is being seen by some Republicans as a harbinger of defeat for the Democrats in November.The "recall" vote in the mid-western state of Wisconsin was triggered last year after the union labour movement collected a million signatures in a bid to oust a fiscal-firebrand Republican governor who had outlawed collective union bargaining and slashed public-spending.
But last night, after weeks of bitter campaigning that emphasised the deep ideological divide in US politics, the Republican candidate Governor Scott Walker scored a solid win with a seven-point lead over his opponent.
Although Mr Obama remains ahead in the national polls in Wisconsin, the Republican victory was hailed on the right for delivering critical momentum for the general election and an endorsement of tough Republican stance on the need to cut government spending and entitlements.
Douglas Schoen, a political strategist and commentator on the conservative Fox News channel predicted that Governor Walker’s victory could prove to be “a pivotal, watershed moment” in the 2012 presidential election and “spell disaster” for President Obama. » | Peter Foster, Washington and Amy Willis in Los Angeles | Wednesday, June 06, 2012
