In just the period immediately before and after the Wisconsin primary, Walker spent $8.4 million.
By contrast, his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, has raised $3.9 million, with most of it coming since he was nominated May 8.
Barrett's raising money at what historically would have been considered a fast clip in Wisconsin, and he has accumulated a total that might once have been considered consequential. But these are different times, and Walker is running a different kind of race than Wisconsin -- or the vast majority of other states -- has ever seen.
It is not just the money totals that distinguish the two candidates.
It is where the money comes from:
* Walker's latest report shows that more than 70 percent of his money was raised from outside Wisconsin. In particular, it comes from big donors from Texas, Florida, California and Illinois.
* Barrett's latest report shows that more than 70 percent of his money was raised from inside Wisconsin. In particular, it comes from small donors in Manitowoc, Mineral Point, Madison, Milwaukee and other Wisconsin communities.
That contrast is not to be underestimated.
As One Wisconsin Now's Mike Browne says: "Given Wisconsin's worst in the nation record on jobs and the cuts to schools and health care to pay for corporate tax breaks under Gov. Walker, it's really no surprise his 'divide and conquer' politics and trickle-down economics are more popular with people who don't have to live with the results."
Yet, when all is said and done, it is not the billionaire donors in Texas who get to decide who will be governor of Wisconsin. It is the voters of a state that should not allow itself to be bought.
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