RNC: Walker win is 'lights out' for Obama

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MADISON, Wis., May 31 (UPI) -- A win for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in next week's recall election would mean "lights out" for President Obama, the National Republican Committee head said.

"Certainly [if] Wisconsin goes red, I think it's lights out for Barack Obama," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said Wednesday, speaking about the recall effort against the conservative Republican governor.

The recall effort against Walker began soon after he pushed through the Republican-led Wisconsin Legislature a law last year that effectively stripped collective bargaining rights from most state workers.

A Marquette University Law School poll indicated Walker leads Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett by 7 points, 52 percent to 45 percent. The survey also showed Obama ahead of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney 51 percent to 43 percent.

The RNC said "over two million voter contacts" have been made and "nearly every Wisconsin voter" has been identified ahead of Tuesday's vote, ABC News reported Wednesday.

RNC aides say 20 field offices will be used through Tuesday to try to retain Walker as governor, then will shift focus on Romney.

"One thing is really clear here, if Walker wins here next Tuesday, which we are very confident he will, Obama is going to have a much tougher road ahead in Wisconsin this fall," Priebus, who is from Wisconsin, said.

Democratic National Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz visited Wisconsin to campaign with Barrett Wednesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said.

She said the party was "putting all of our effort into this fight."

"Scott Walker has worked hard to make sure that people think that he's the rock star of the right-wing Tea Party extremism that the Republican Party has allowed to take them over," Wasserman Schultz said. "And that is not what voters in Wisconsin want to see happen."