Walker, Ryan absent in run up to recalls

MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin's two most polarizing Republican figures are largely absent from the action in the run-up to the recalls.

While former Sen. Russ Feingold, Rep. Tammy Baldwin and Sen. Herb Kohl have been on the stump for their six Democratic state Senate candidates in the weekend before Tuesday's elections, Gov. Scott Walker and Rep. Paul Ryan have been noticeably keeping their distance from the campaigns.

Ryan appeared on "Fox News Sunday" to talk about the downgrade of the country's credit, and Walker has been in Tampa for the Republican National Committee's summer meeting.

Ryan's spokesman Kevin Seifert said the Budget chairman "doesn't have any plans to do any speeches or events with state senators or Assembly members."

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said it is "unlikely" the governor will participate in any recall related events.

"As the people of Wisconsin stand vigil on the eve of historic recall elections, Scott Walker has gone missing. He is not out campaigning with the Republican senators who slavishly followed him and supported his agenda. He does not even appear in their campaign literature or basic material," Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate said in a statement Sunday.

"It seems that having finally gotten what he wanted, an election about him, Scott Walker has suspending his self-regard in a moment of expediency and has come to the realization that he's, well, toxic," Tate continued.

One place Walker is visible is on television. He's featured prominently in a handful of ads by Democratic-aligned groups, including one by the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund running against state Sen. Luther Olsen.

Olsen is fighting to keep his seat in Senate District 14, a mostly rural area that spans an hour north of Madison and eastward towards Green Bay.

"If you want to rein in the Walker agenda, vote against Luther Olsen on Aug. 9," the narrator says in the tag line.

Olsen is getting a hand from GOP Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who spoke to supporters and volunteers in Baraboo on Saturday.