In response to Republican attempts run fake Dems in Democratic primaries, yesterday the Wisconsin Democratic Party announced it was considering backing fake candidates in Republican primaries:

Wisconsin Dems are open to, and are actively considering, a plan to retaliate against GOP shenanigans by running their own candidates in GOP primaries before the recall elections, the spokesman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party confirms. Republicans have embraced a scheme in which they are likely to run candidates against Dems in Democratic primaries in order to delay the recall general elections, in hopes of making it easier for the targeted GOP state senators to survive. Now Dems, for all the reasons I laid out below, are seriously considering doing the same in Republican primaries, though no decision has been made.

Today, the Wisconsin Dems announced that they will not be pursuing this course. Instead, in addition to all of the real Democratic candidates, they are going to also run Democratic placeholder candidates in their own primaries. The idea is to create uniformity in the recall process by guaranteeing that all of the primaries take place one day, and all of the general elections take place on a different day. The worry had been that some days would feature both primary and general elections, thus creating real confusion among voters and potentially allowing Republicans to maintain control of the state Senate. An additional worry had been that Republicans might bait and switch on this tactic, and pull out some or all of their fake candidates at the last minute, creating further confusion.

By guaranteeing there will be primaries in all of the recalls, Democrats will prevent Republicans from further messing with the recall calendar. From the Wisconsin Dems statement, which I received over email:

The following is a statement from DPW Chairman Mike Tate on the GOP recall election dirty tricks. "The unprecedented Republican manipulation of these recall elections has compelled a number of people to urge a level playing field by running fake candidates in GOP primaries. "We cannot and will not stoop to the Republicans' level by encouraging candidates to lie about their party affiliation, or recommending that people try to deceive voters. We never have done that, and won’t start now. This is something that every single one of our six challengers has said they adamantly oppose. Fred Clark, Jess King, Shelly Moore, Nancy Nusbaum, Jen Shilling and Sandy Pasch -- along with Senator Miller -- all contacted the party over the last 24 hours to make it crystal clear this was absolutely the wrong tactic. "At the same time, these phony GOP primary candidacies have in essence allowed the Republicans to seize the ability to call these elections at a date of their choosing. They can pick and choose which sham primaries to force. That's wrong. Selecting an election day is a responsibility that should fall to an independent, nonpartisan agency looking out for the people of Wisconsin -- not to a political party gaming the system for partisan gain. This transparent GOP conspiracy has cheated the people of protections against such dirty tricks. "That is why we must guarantee these primary and general election dates move forward. The only way to do that in the face of these deplorable Republican tactics is by ensuring Democratic primaries with placeholders.

This means the recall calendar is as follows:

June 14: Filing deadline for recalls against Republicans

June 21: Filing deadline for recalls against Democrats

July 12: Primaries in all of the Republican recalls

July 19: Primaries in all of the Democratic recalls

Aug. 9: General election in all of the Republican recalls

Aug. 16: General election in all of the Democratic recalls

All in all, this is a smart move by the Wisconsin Dems that may very well have averted a disaster. If, on July 12, some of the elections taking place had been general elections while others had been primary elections, the confusion could have resulted in all Republican incumbents hanging on to their seats. Now, the process will be much more straightforward.