Walker weighs in on too-close-to-call Supreme Court race

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Madison (AP) —As the votes for yesterday’s hotly contested state Supreme Court race continued to be tallied Wednesday, Gov. Scott Walker spoke out against claims the close battle was a referendum on him.

Walker today said the election, which is still too close to call, was a choice about two different candidates with different backgrounds. Based on unofficial results previously unknown challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg led incumbent David Prosser by a razor thin 206 votes.

Kloppenburg supporters tried to tie Prosser to Walker throughout the campaign against Prosser, who is a former Republican speaker of the Assembly.

Walker says for those who believe the election was a referendum, the votes against Prosser were largely focused in the Madison and Milwaukee areas. He says he’s not worried that the election results are a bad sign for Republican state senators up for recalls.

A recount is nearly certain in the close race. Kloppenburg’s lead was 0.02 percent of the total votes cast.

The county reports are due by April 15 and the deadline to seek a recount would be April 20, although the request could be made sooner.

Interest in what could have been an otherwise sleepy race has skyrocketed in recent weeks as a battle over union rights waged at the Capitol.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a New York University program that tracks spending on judicial races, outside groups, including the Tea Party Express and national labor organizations, had poured a record $3.5 million into the race through Monday.