Barrett Says He’s Not Displeased With Obama’s Late Support

“We’re very pleased with the support we’ve received.” Obama’s tweet and email to supporters came in the last 24 hours before the recall.

Tom Barrett greets supporters in Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — Milwaukee mayor and gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett said today that he doesn’t think President Obama’s recent show of support — a tweet, a fundraising email, and a web video — was too little, too late, as some observers have alleged.

“We’re very pleased with the support we’ve received,” Barrett said in response to BuzzFeed’s question at a press availability after a meet-and-greet at an Obama campaign office in North Milwaukee.

Barrett said his campaign “started as a grassroots movement, and it will end as a grassroots movement. And I think that that’s fitting.”

“Of course, if anybody wants to come here and help me campaign, I’d love to have it. But I never felt for one second that that’s what I wanted to do, and quite honestly that’s one of the differences between me and Scott Walker in this campaign,” Barrett said. “I never wanted to make this a national race.”

“I thought this should be about Wisconsin values.”

Barrett struck a slightly fatalistic note when asked what his election would mean for the labor movement, and predicted tomorrow’s “post-mortems” in the news.

“I’m sure that there are going to be postscripts and post-mortems about the labor movement, and about the White House, about Scott Walker, about me,” Barrett said.