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The chairman of the Republican Party on Sunday explained that he had a plan to turn around his party's recent losing streak by having less debates, earlier conventions, "hackathons" and more "marketing" -- cosmetic changes that give candidates fewer chances to damage themselves without any serious policy changes.

In an interview with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus on Face the Nation, CBS host Bob Schieffer noted that the GOP had recently completed a study after conducting focus groups and polling thousands of people about Republican losses in 2012.

"What did the focus groups -- what did they tell you about what people think about the Republican Party?" the CBS host wondered.

"They told us what you would think that they would think," Priebus sighed. "Number one, we're a little too math focused and not focused on people's hearts, so that we don't relate to average Americans more than we should -- stuffy old guys too much."

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If anyone was wondering who put up those billboards that were attempting to suppress the vote in minority communities which were taken down last week, well, now we have our answer. Surprise, surprise... it's a wealthy Republican donor and hedge fund manager.

Author of voter fraud billboards steps forth:

Stephen Einhorn - a Wisconsin venture capital fund manager and major GOP donor - disclosed Monday that he and his wife, Nancy, paid for dozens of anonymous billboards in and around Milwaukee and two Ohio cities warning residents of the penalties for committing voter fraud.

Democrats and civil rights groups complained that the signs - which were taken down last week - were concentrated in minority neighborhoods and intended to suppress the election turnout.

"Stephen and Nancy Einhorn placed these billboards as a public service because voter fraud - whether by Republicans or Democrats - undermines our democratic process," said the Einhorns' statement, which was released by the Chicago public relations firm Culloton Strategies.

"By reminding people of the possible consequences of illegal voting, we hope to help the upcoming election be decided by legally registered voters."

The Einhorns have made campaign donations to many Republican politicians, including Gov. Scott Walker, to whom they have given $49,750 since 2005, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

Einhorn and his son Daniel run Einhorn & Associates, a Wauwatosa mergers-and-acquisitions consulting firm, and Capital Midwest Fund, a venture capital fund. Einhorn's son David, a hedge-fund manager, sought unsuccessfully last year to buy a stake in the New York Mets.

On Monday, the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now and African-American website theGrio identified the Einhorn Family Foundation, based in Milwaukee, as the group that paid for the voter fraud billboard campaigns. [...]

Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, issued a statement Monday raising several questions for the Einhorns.

"Perhaps their Chicago public relations firm could answer why the Einhorns only felt it was necessary to target legal voters in minority communities, and why they didn't feel the need to do this 'public service' throughout communities across Wisconsin where a majority of the residents are white," Ross asked in his email. "Or put their name on it, rather than hiding behind the cowardly veil of anonymity."

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After Gov. Scott Walker appeared on CBS's Face the Nation, touting the voters looking for someone who's going to lead and "make touch decisions" as the reason he survived his recall election, the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka pointed out that what Walker did was not lead. He was following the same right wing agenda as his Republican counterparts, who are allowing the American Legislative Exchange Conference, known as ALEC, to write their agenda for them.

As Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley pointed out, part of the reason Walker survived his recall election is that the voters did not like the idea of recalling their elected officials for any reason, short of criminal offenses, "And right now Governor Walker has only had three people in his administration indicted." As O'Malley also noted, for all his talk of leadership, Walker's state has the worst job creation record in the country.

Transcript via below the fold.

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Republican Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels on Sunday suggested that all public worker unions should be dismantled and that the recent elections in Wisconsin were a "turning point" in curbing their rights.

During an interview on Fox News, host Chris Wallace asked Daniels if Gov. Scott Walker's (R) win in Wisconsin had given governments a "green light" for curtailing unions across the country.

"I hope it means some kind of turning point in trying to address the balance," the Indiana governor explained. "There's a reason that defenders of labor -- from Franklin Roosevelt to George Mead and many others -- always said that unionism had no place in the public sector, that it was a necessary freedom -- and it is -- in the private sector, that it was a bad idea in government."

"Are you saying you would like to see no public worker unions?" Wallace wondered.

"I think really government works better without them. I really do," Daniels insisted.

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Never mind the John Doe investigation and the possibility that Scott Walker could get indicted in the coming months for the scandal that Ken recently wrote about here, Piers Morgan decided to press the latest darling of the right-wing, now that he won his recall election on whether he'd be interested in accepting an offer by Mitt Romney to run as his vice president.

Apparently Morgan believes his all of his viewers are completely oblivious to the investigation of Walker and did his part to make sure that those who are remained that way with this nonsense. Even Walker had a look of pain on his face while trying to explain why he'd turn Mitt Romney down if he was foolish enough to offer him a spot on the ticket.

Walker maintained that Mitt Romney should pick another of his fellow Wisconsinites instead, Rep. Paul Ryan. I'd be more than happy to see Romney take Walker's advice. If they think putting the poster-boy for dismantling our social safety nets on the ticket would be helpful and highlighting his positions as part of the presidential campaign, by all means, be my guest.

Walker shoots down VP talk:

Following his survival of a Wisconsin recall effort, Republican Gov. Scott Walker on Thursday pushed back against the idea of being tapped as a potential running mate for Mitt Romney.

Political observers point out that not only is Walker a rising star in the GOP, but having his name on the ticket could further push the blue state of Wisconsin into the Republican column this November.

Walker, however, had a different name in mind.

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Naturally after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker managed to survive his recall election this Tuesday evening, Fox just had to bring in former half-term governor and failed vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin to weigh in for her perspective.

Palin told Fox's Greta Van Susteren that Walkers' win showed that "responsible austerity measures" and and reigning in the size of government, have proven effective. I'm not sure what's so "effective" about firing teachers and making classroom sizes larger and busting unions as an excuse to give your corporate buddies tax breaks, but that's their talking points and they're sticking to them. Palin also called the union leadership in Wisconsin "thugs" and said maybe they're the ones who need to be "recalled and replaced." I guess Palin believes they were acting without the support of their membership, because otherwise I'm not sure just who she thinks is going to be doing that "recalling and replacing."

Palin also went after President Obama for failing to campaign in the state and used the win by the Republicans as proof that "his goose is cooked" for the general election, ignoring the fact that the exit polling there showed the state would still support President Obama's reelection in the state by a margin of 52-43 percent over former Gov. Mitt Romney.

We're going to have a lot of hand wringing over whether President Obama showing up there would have made any difference in this recall election. I don't think it would have made a bit of difference unless we had some parity with the amount of money poured into the state. Sadly what this recall proves is that when you've got millionaires and billionaires willing to pour what's pocket change for some of them into buying an election and there's nothing to counter it on the other side, along with voter disenfranchisement, and dirty tricks, that all of us have a huge uphill battle facing us in the age of post Citizens United.

This was a big loss for labor unions in America since this recall election will be looked at as a model to further bust unions and push for more right to work for less laws and Palin won't be the only one out there ready to rub salt in that wound. It's shameful that she can talk like this and at the same time talk about her and her husband's former union membership as though she has an ounce of respect for the labor movement. Anyone who plays the divide and conquer game with unions and their elected leaders doesn't understand that the members are the unions and when you go after the people they elected to represent them, you're going after the members as well. Neither exists in a vacuum.

h/t Media Matters

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I'm not sure what impact this had on the recall election this Tuesday night in Wisconsin, but I agree with state Sen. Lena Taylor that those responsible ought to be held to account for this voter suppression tactic. Maybe if we had a few more people going to jail for pulling these type of stunts, they'd be less likely to do it in the first place. It's shameful that Republicans have proven themselves once again willing to do whatever is necessary to suppress voter turnout in order to make sure they win elections.

Wisconsin State Senator: investigations and prosecutions needed for voter suppression:

Investigations and criminal prosecutions are needed for election fraud in Tuesday night's gubernatorial election, Wisconsin State Senator Lena Taylor said. Taylor wrote to the state's Government Accountability Board, arguing that "It is imperative that your agency uphold the law and criminally prosecute any person that is engaged in voter suppression and disenfranchisement tactics." Robocalls have been made to citizens in Wisconsin misleadingly telling them that they needn't vote if they already signed the petition to recall Governor Scott Walker. "It is my understanding that a reporter did call and find out that that call did come from the Republican Party,"

Taylor said, speaking on The Ed Show. "I'm looking forward to the GAB doing an investigation, and I think the Attorney General also should have done and should be doing an investigation of anyone who is attempting to intimidate or to give misinformation to voters in order to suppress votes."Taylor said that the robocalls were an obvious attempt to reverse the momentum that the pro-recall side has made. "They know that the momentum is with [Milwaukee Democratic Mayor]Tom Barrett and they’re determined to cheat and do whatever they can,” she said. “I will characterize this robo-call, frankly, as a disgusting tactic. A fear tactic."

IMHO anyone engaging in this sort of activity ought to be facing some severe criminal penalties and looking at some real jail time for doing it. I'm no expert on Wisconsin law and do not know what the punishment is if they can prove who was making these calls. I was glad to see the state Senator call for the matter to be looked into. I'm sick to death of this type of tactic being allowed to go on and I hope sincerely that Ed Schultz follows up on it so what happened receives some further scrutiny than just the coverage on his show this Tuesday evening.

Rapper Jasiri X has released a new video and remix of his song "You're Fired," dedicated to the recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. The new video features Walker's Democratic opponent Tom Barrett, activist Van Jones, Congresswoman Gwen Jones and a host of activists from the Rebuild WI event from May 19 in Milwaukee. The video was directed by Paradise Gray, with additional footage from Maxwell Love, and Joe Brusky.

The song lyrics:

Yeah, it's time for a Recall
United we stand divided we fall
We tired of being treated like we small
You forgot you work for us and we the boss

So let's tell Scott Walker you're fired
Go clean out ya desk cause you're fired
Cash that last check cause you're fired
You don't wanna show us respect now you're fired

The powers with the people don't let these coward device you
Like since it's time to vote now they need you
We are not who these politicians speak to
When it's $10,000 a plate just to meet you
Ask Mr Walker about all his offers
Barely half a term look how much it cost ya
Month after month of consecutive job losses
While he with the Koch brothers in aspen straight flossin
He's with the NRA they got they guns cocked
He passed stand your ground just took him one shot
And that lead to the death of Bo Morrison
Such a bright future now they're more morning him
This election they don't even want you voting in
Tried to make you have an ID before going in
But now accountable is what we're holding them
Open up the polls we got the whole hood rolling in

Yeah, it's time for a Recall
Untied we stand divided we fall
We tired of being treated like we small
You forgot you work for us and we the boss

So let's tell Scott Walker you're fired
Go clean out ya desk cause you're fired
Cash that last check cause you're fired
You don't wanna show us respect now you're fired

Is this who you really want as ya governor
The second he gets elected wanna stunt on ya
Got you're vote now he got no love for ya
Every day he got a new way of hand cuffing ya
Like education nah we don't need that
We don't wanna to pay anybody to teach that
Ease back see they really believe that
Smart people vote so they don't want you to be that
Or make a good living that pays
Scott Walker rather see you making minimum wage
With no unions, no benefits and no future
So his corporate friends can stay rich it's so super
Unless you're working class or poor
they always slam the door on what we asking for
It's all we can stand and we can't stand no more
Of these hardcore liars Scott Walker you're fired

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Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday called an Obama campaign event in Boston a "political stunt," but said the same wasn't true of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's surprise press conference in front of Solyndra, a bankrupt solar energy company.

During an interview on CBS, host Bob Schieffer began by asking Priebus if he expected Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to win Tuesday's recall election.

"I think it's going pretty well," the RNC chairman insisted. "You know, the difference between Scott Walker and the president is pretty stark. ... Scott Walker is one of these special people that have made promises and kept promises. You contrast that to [Obama adviser] David Axelrod's boss, he's a president who's in love with the sound of his own voice but hasn't been able to follow through on too many promises."

Schieffer went on press Priebus about the differences between an Obama campaign rally in Boston -- which Republicans admit they tried to undermine -- and the GOP hopeful's visit to Solyndra, where the Romney campaign said there might be a White House conspiracy to block the event.

"You say, a president that's in love with his own voice," Schieffer noted. "That leads me to what you all were doing last week, that is organizing a rally to try to drown out David Axelrod when he goes up to Boston at the same that out on the west coast Gov. Romney was loading up reporters and taking them on a secret mission to the Solyndra plant because he said he couldn't reveal where they were going, but he was fearful that Democrats would try to break that up."

"Isn't that kind of silly and petty when you look at it?" the CBS host wondered.

"I think Solyndra is a serious thing," Priebus argued. "I think highlighting Solyndra, highlighting this president's foray into venture capitalism, using taxpayer money to send to Solyndra, of which the Solyndra executives were donors to Barack Obama. I mean, this is political cronyism in its worse form."

"Now as far as David Axelrod and going to Boston, I mean, that's the height of a political stunt," he continued. "I mean, what's the purpose of the Chicago clan going to Boston to hold some sort of political stunt? And for these tough guys from Chicago to cry about it, I just find it laughable."

"They've failed so badly that they want us to believe that we're not living on Earth and that the president isn't the president and all of these things that are going wrong have nothing to do with Barack Obama."

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Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) on Sunday ripped his opponent, Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, for campaigning to be "the rockstar of the far right."

In an interview on CNN, Barrett told host Candy Crowley that he expected to defeat Walker in Tuesday's recall election.

"People [are] saying to me that they've never seen the level of excitement they've seen right now," the mayor explained. "It's people from Wisconsin. It's people who live here. And that's what this should be all about. It should be all about the people in the state of Wisconsin because you've got a sitting governor, the only governor in this country who has a legal defense fund -- all this outside money. This is Wisconsin values versus outside influence."

"Scott Walker wants to make this a national race because he wants to be on the national stage as the rockstar of the far right, as the poster boy of the tea party," he added. "That's not what I'm interested in. And I'm -- frankly, I'm not going to be the rockstar of the far left. I'm focusing on this state because that's what's important to me."

According to the non-partisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, about two-thirds of the $30 million that Walker has raised since January has come from out-of-state donors. Barrett has raised a more modest $3.9 million since entering the race in March, but 74 percent of his individual donations have come from inside the state.

The latest polls show Barrett gaining ground, but still trailing Walker. A Marquette Law School poll recently found that Walker had a 52 percent to 45 percent lead, while Public Policy Polling's latest survey put Walker ahead 50 percent to 45 percent