Madison Mayor Paul Soglin enters Democratic primary to take on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin jostled his way Wednesday into the crowded Democratic primary for governor, prompting immediate debate with Republican Scott Walker about the liberal legacy of Wisconsin's capital and its longtime leader.

A Vietnam War protester who sometimes governed as mayor barefoot, Soglin traveled to meet Fidel Castro in Cuba and has dominated the capital city's politics for a generation. Stopping in Waukesha, Milwaukee and Madison Wednesday, Soglin said he would work to invest in roads, schools, high-speed internet and the fight against homelessness.

Soglin is the ninth Democrat with either some political experience or significant wealth to enter the primary.

"We are talking about anything that we can do in common to make Wisconsin better, make the state safer, raise the quality of education in every community," Soglin said in an interview.

Soglin immediately attacked both the federal GOP tax bill passed last month and Walker's roughly $3 billion deal to bring a Foxconn Technology Group factory to Racine County, saying he doubted he could stop the Foxconn deal but would seek to renegotiate it.

Also Wednesday, former state Rep. Mandela Barnes entered the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.

“The campaign is about expanding opportunity. The people of Wisconsin have been left behind too long," Barnes told reporters, pointing to growing income inequality. "The state (under Walker) has done everything we can do to increase that wealth gap."

With his gruff style and bushy mustache, the 72-year-old Soglin will be attempting to attract the kinds of supporters who gravitated to another lefty septuagenarian, former presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

But unlike Sanders, who went head-to-head with establishment candidate Hillary Clinton, Soglin faces a crowded field in which he is not the only liberal — or even the only liberal from Madison.

It can also be challenging to run for governor as a mayor — as Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett learned in his two unsuccessful runs against Walker in 2010 and in the 2012 recall. The Capital Times has reported that only six mayors in Wisconsin history have gone on to become governor, with only one, Albert Schmedeman, coming from Madison.

For his part, Soglin lost a 1996 run for Congress against Republican Scott Klug.

So it remains to be seen whether Soglin can find the drive, money and message needed to connect with voters around the state. But Walker isn't ignoring him.

The governor sent out a fundraising appeal about Soglin Wednesday and tweeted that under Soglin "businesses have left and murders have gone up" in Madison.

Those were references to the 10 homicides in 2017 — a record for the city — and to the loss of some large employers like Oscar Mayer and Spectrum Brands.

At the same time, Madison typically has the lowest unemployment rate among the state's largest cities and the city and its suburbs have played an out-sized role over the past decade in the creation of jobs in the state.

The city is both home to dynamic technology businesses and a favorite target of frequent criticism for its liberal politics and government bureaucracy.

Walker has also criticized Soglin for visiting Cuba in 1975 and giving "brutal Communist dictator Fidel Castro" the key to the city.

Soglin said the murder rate in Madison was lower than Wisconsin as a whole. He said he had used his visits to Cuba to press Castro for free elections and reform and questioned whether Walker had done as much in his trade missions to China.

Soglin was first elected mayor of Madison in 1973 and has done three stints in that office totaling about 20 years.

He has no shortage of primary opponents. The other Democrats running for governor include: state Superintendent Tony Evers; Milwaukee businessman Andy Gronik; Rep. Dana Wachs of Eau Claire; former state Rep. Kelda Roys of Madison; statewide firefighter union leader Mahlon Mitchell; former state party Chairman Matt Flynn; Sen. Kathleen Vinehout of Alma; and political activist Mike McCabe.

Soglin's base of support in Madison could prove powerful in a fragmented Democratic primary, since what would normally be a modest bloc of voters might be enough to rise above the splintered statewide field.