Tammy Baldwin downplays Wis. result, says voters didn’t like ‘idea of a recall'

By Cameron Joseph - 06/06/12 04:14 PM ET

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) downplayed the political impact of Democrats' failure to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R).

"This was voters saying 'We don't like the idea of a recall,'" the Senate candidate told The Hill on Wednesday afternoon. "I think that's what we learned ... I think that was one of the most remarkable things we saw from it."

When asked if it was a smart political move to have tried to recall Walker, she said that the push came from voters and couldn't have been stopped by her or other Democratic politicians.

"This was a grassroots-driven movement and there was nothing one could do to bottle it up," she said. "When over 30,000 people just decided they were going to start circulating petitions, what do you do? It was going to happen."

She refused to criticize those fighting for the recall, as Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) did earlier on Wednesday.

Baldwin admitted that "there's no question there's disappointment" about the recall's results. When asked what she could say to get activists who'd poured their hearts into the recall effort only to come up short to work as hard for her campaign, she paused.

"You can never give up," she said, straightening her posture. "Their participation is needed now more than ever."

Baldwin and other Democrats were in a tough spot on the recall: Activists and labor unions wanted the fight, while many with tough fall elections saw an uphill battle that could hurt them in November. The Madison congresswoman fought hard to recall Walker, but downplayed the effect his win would have on her own chances, arguing the contours of her race would be very different.

"I think it's very separate in the sense that one was a focus on what was happening at the state level and people didn't like the policies, but when you look at the national level my fight is about changing Washington," she said about the fall election.

"Nobody in Wisconsin thinks that it's acceptable to have the partisan games and the gridlock that we have here whether they're Democratic, Republican or independents, there's a unity of belief about that," Baldwin said.