Salon analyzes "Who’s better to beat Scott Walker?"

Lots of background on Kathleen Falk, including the story of how she challenged the incumbent Democratic attorney general, Peg Lautenschlager, and then went on to lose to the Republican in 2006, when the Democrat (Jim Doyle) won the governorship:

The official margin of victory for Van Hollen was 9,071 votes, a difference of 0.4 percent. In Dane County, Falk received 11,850 votes fewer than Doyle; had she simply run even with him on her home turf, she would have won the race. 

“Those were folks pissed off that she challenged Lautenschlager,” said [Joe Winike, a former state Democratic chairman who is neutral in the Barrett-Falk race]. “So you could make an argument that the leftist base that refused to vote for Kathleen cost her the election.”

In the recall primary, being from Dane County (that is, Madison and the surrounding area) is characterized as a negative, because people around the state see Madison as a big lefty enclave. So many anti-Walkerites gravitate to Tom Barrett (the Milwaukee mayor), who seems more detached from the protests that led to the recall... which seems to undermine the whole idea of the recall. In fact, the Barrett ads I've seen talk about how he's the one that can make things normal again. But what's abnormal is a recall.

ADDED: Looking forward to seeing Scott Walker and Tom Barrett debate over who should be governor? Wait no more. It's right here: