As a failed presidential candidate, Gov. Scott Walker never got a chance to compete in his home state of Wisconsin.

Now Sen. Bernie Sanders' opportunity may be hampered here too, thanks to Walker's new voter ID law that targets Bernie's bread and butter: college kids.

While Sanders holds a modest lead over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Badger State, everything could be thrown into disarray Tuesday with mass confusion about Walker's convoluted ID requirements.

Imagine you're a kid from the Midwest who just moved to Wisconsin for your freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. You don't have a Wisconsin drivers license, but you registered to vote online and have your student ID clipped to the red lanyard around your neck. You head to the polls super stoked to be part of the revolution with Bernie!

Then the polling place attendant hits you with a buzz kill.

Sorry bro, come back in 2020.

Under Walker's arcane rules, student IDs at most of Wisconsin's 60-plus colleges and universities are no good, because they don't have the requisite signature or expiration date. Under the law, students have to go to a special office to get a new ID for voting. Even then, they must bring additional "proof of enrollment" to the polls, or they'll be sent packing.

Sound confusing? Walker and his Republican allies promised to launch a voter education campaign to inform residents of the new requirements. But if most students missed those ads during college hoops, it's probably because the Republicans axed the funding and they never aired.

"It has never occurred to me and I think to most candidates that the way you try to win an election is to make it harder for people who might vote against you to participate in the election," Sanders said at a recent stop in Onalaska, Wisconsin. Win or lose Tuesday, this type of statement shows that Sanders is out-of-touch with the cynical, GOP electioneering happening in purple and red states across the country.

Meanwhile, the more battle-tested Clinton and her team have stepped up to counter voter disenfranchisement in minority-rich places like Milwaukee.

Mayor Tom Barrett, a Hillary ally up for re-election himself, has dispatched 1,000 special registration deputies to help minorities and new immigrants in the city to navigate the obscure rules. Clinton has been joining African-American leaders like Rep. Gwen Moore touring black churches in Milwaukee to talk about voting and gun control, a topic where Clinton holds an edge over Sanders. And former President Bill Clinton will be in Milwaukee Monday to rally his wife's troops.

Meanwhile, big money is being spent in the final days of the Milwaukee county executive's race that will help turn out even more Democrats to the polls in Hillary-friendly Milwaukee. And a hotly contested state Supreme Court race has energized pro-choice women, after the liberal organization One Wisconsin Now uncovered writings by Walker-appointed Justice Rebecca Bradley in which she compared contraception to murder. Clinton won over the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Founders' Day crowd in Milwaukee Saturday by blasting away at Bradley, while Sanders missed the opportunity.

Though Sanders holds an edge of about five points over Clinton in recent polls, all bets may be off due to the swirling confusion around the new ID requirements affecting all the races, according to Molly McGrath, national campaign coordinator for VoteRiders. "There's a lot of misinformation out there that we're trying to address; 300,000 people don't have the IDs they need to vote, and a significant portion of them don't know about the new requirement," says McGrath, whose organization has been driving voters who need assistance to DMVs across Wisconsin.

Sanders and his people must take a lesson from Walker's Wisconsin and open their eyes to the shrewd tricks Republicans have been playing across the country. One of the biggest concerns mainstream Democrats have with Sanders is that he might crumble under the assault of the Republican war machine if he ever had to face it head on, as the Clintons have for decades.