Chris Abele's new TV spot, linking his opponent in the Milwaukee County executive race, State Rep. Jeff Stone, with Gov. Scott Walker, has Stone worried that Walker will be a millstone around the neck of his candidacy. And he should be worried.
Stone, who said when he announced he wanted to carry on the Walker agenda in the county, now says it's dirty pool and negative campaigning to remind voters that he is a Walker clone. (The boys are pictured together in happier times.)
He wants the ad off the air. I would, too, if I were Stone. He must have been reading the polls. Walker's numbers are in the toilet since he rammed his union-busting bill through the legislature.
Watch the right wing money start to flow in to try to rescue their boy -- or Walker's boy, to be more accurate. Expect spots soon from the conservative front groups funded by folks like the Koch brothers, attacking Abele and trying to prop up Stone. Or maybe they'll let him sink like a stone, as some songwriter said.
In normal times, Walker would have been the featured guest at a fund-raiser for Stone, putting the squeeze on all the folks who want to be in the governor's good graces.
But these are not normal times. Another indicator today: A piece of mail from Stone's campaign, featuring a photo of him with State Sen. Alberta Darling and another with US Sen. Ron Johnson.
Totally missing from the brochure: Jeff Stone's buddy Scott Walker.