First Lady Describes Burke As Smart, Compassionate At Milwaukee Rally

First lady Michelle Obama called on Wisconsin voters to support Mary Burke in the governor’s race on Monday at a rally that brought a crowd of more than 1,000 people to Milwaukee’s convention center.

Obama told the crowd that she was excited to be campaigning for Burke.

“This is the first time I’ve met Mary, although she is all the buzz,” said Obama. “But let me tell you — from our interaction, I love her.”

Obama went on to say that Burke is smart and cares about people, and that she supports issues like raising the minimum wage, ensuring equal pay for women and leaving health care decisions to women and their doctors.

“That’s the kind of leadership people here in Wisconsin deserve. And that’s why we need to support Mary Burke for governor,” she said.

The crowd was one of Burke’s largest audiences of her entire campaign. When Burke took the stage, she took the opportunity to introduce herself to many people who may have only seen her on television — perhaps addressing recent poll findings that indicate about 30 percent of potential voters don’t know Burke very well.

Burke made sure to outline her business experience at Trek Bicycle Corporation, her efforts to help firms as state commerce secretary under former Gov. Jim Doyle, and the economic differences between her and incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

“I know that tax cuts for those at the top and special interests — they don’t create jobs. Neither do cuts to education that strangle our schools and make it harder to grow the middle class. We’ve tried it Governor Walker’s way, and it’s not working,” Burke told the crowd.

Burke and the first lady also urged people at the rally to sign up for more volunteer shifts to help get out the vote in November.

Audience member Annette Budford said the first lady had helped lock in her support for Mary Burke.

“I heard about her on TV, but all I knew was one thing: I was going to vote for whoever was running against Scott Walker,” she said.

Seeing and hearing from Obama and Burke was enough to seal the deal for Milwaukee resident Mary Words: “She’s the one to vote for. I am sold on it.”

Brian Nemoir, president of the public relations firm Full Impact Communications, criticized Mary Burke for not sharing a stage with President Barack Obama when he spoke at Milwaukee’s LaborFest.

“I think it’s more notable to point to why Mary Burke didn’t bother to see the president when he was in town a few short weeks ago,” he said. “Instead they fly in his wife, the first lady, to help out their gubernatorial candidate.”

Nemoir asserted that Burke was keeping her distance from the president due to Obama’s low approval ratings.

Marcy Stech, national press secretary for the political action committee EMILY’s List, said that while the president didn’t join Burke in Milwaukee, he does plan to campaign for her before the election. Stech emphasized that the nation’s Democrats has its eyes on Wisconsin’s race.

“We all recognize both in the state of Wisconsin, and outside, that families deserve better than what Scott Walker has put forward,” she said.

On the western edge of Wisconsin, a far different message was being aired at a Walker campaign rally featuring a different political star: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. He told Walker supporters in Hudson that Burke is too liberal for the Badger state.

“The wonderful thing about Mary Burke is she’s a liberal, and you know it. And you know that the policies that Mary Burke will pursue are Jim Doyle’s policies. And we all know what that did to the state, losing 133,000 jobs,” said Christie.

Wisconsin did lose about 133,000 jobs during Doyle’s second term in office. A report by the fact-checking project Politifact asserts that the job loss had little to do with Doyle’s policies.

Christie also blasted Burke’s jobs plan for having borrowed paragraphs from other documents.

The Wisconsin governor’s race has been very close in the polls. New numbers from a Marquette University survey are due out Wednesday.