By COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON



Getty ImagesRepublican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker listens to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, right, speak as they campaign together in May.

When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker found himself fighting for his political life, many of the Republican Party's rising stars had one thing to say: How can we help?
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana hopped on a plane to urge Wisconsin voters to support Mr. Walker in a recall election, coming up on Tuesday. New Jersey's Chris Christie, South Carolina's Nikki Haley and Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, also visited. A planned trip by Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia was thwarted by storms; he went on TV to praise Mr. Walker.
And the Democrats? Their eagerness to enter the contest has been noticeably more muted. Though former president Bill Clinton visited Friday to energize the party base, few other Democratic luminaries have shown up, and the White House has been restrained in its show of support.


Getty ImagesFormer President Bill Clinton, right, is greeted by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett as he arrives for a rally for Barrett on Friday in Milwaukee.

The stakes are high in Tuesday's expensive and bitter recall vote, triggered by a union-led backlash to Mr. Walker's law limiting collective bargaining by public-sector unions. But the paucity of top Democratic figures standing by Mr. Walker's opponent suggests what independent polls have indicated—that the tide may have turned the GOP's way.
Conservatives say a win by Mr. Walker would show that a political leader can take on organized labor, traditionally an opponent of the Republican Party in policy debates and elections, and survive. Democrats and their labor-union allies fear a Walker victory would hasten the decline of organized labor. They are backing Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the Democrat who appears on the recall ballot as a replacement for Mr. Walker.
While both sides boasted of big-name allies on Friday—Mr. Clinton appeared in Milwaukee on the last day of early voting, while Ms. Haley appeared in a nearby community—even some Democrats acknowledge that the GOP has been more cohesive.
Republicans have given far more money to their candidate. The governor has raised $30 million since the start of 2011, while Mr. Barrett has raised less than $4 million, after entering the race late. Spending by interest groups has been more evenly divided, according to estimates compiled by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, with about $16 million devoted to bolstering Mr. Walker and about $14 million on the Democratic side.
Only one sitting governor has appeared in Wisconsin with Mr. Barrett—Martin O'Malley of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, has also visited.
But those trips came after some Wisconsin Democrats went public with their complaints about lack of support from the national party. And they did little to answer questions about why the party's heavy hitters—most notably President Barack Obama—were keeping their distance.
Mr. Obama quietly released a statement of support for Mr. Barrett, but his campaign has done little to draw attention to it. That was underscored this week when White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked whether the president had endorsed Mr. Barrett for governor. "Not that I'm aware of," Mr. Carney said, later posting a correction on Twitter. On Friday, Mr. Obama was in neighboring Minnesota, but didn't hit Wisconsin.
An Obama-campaign official said the campaign has worked with Wisconsin Democrats to organize volunteers and turn out the vote for Mr. Barrett.
From the Obama campaign's perspective, there is little upside to wading in to a highly polarized election focused on Wisconsin issues and putting presidential prestige on the line for an unpredictable outcome, a Democratic pollster and consultant in Washington said.
Both Messrs. Obama and Walker showed approval ratings above 50% in a Marquette Law School poll taken last week, suggesting that some Walker voters also like the president. Mr. Obama wouldn't want to alienate them. The poll also showed Mr. Walker leading Mr. Barrett by 52% to 45%. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
While unions have grumbled about Mr. Obama's detachment from the recall, they will return to the fold in the fall, the Democratic strategist said.
"Would they prefer that Obama come? Yes," the strategist said, but added that they won't defect.
Barrett-campaign officials have struck a careful balance in their comments about the poor showing of Democratic leaders, saying they understand that Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have their own campaigns to run.
"We'd obviously love to have them, but we understand if it's not an option," said Phil Walzak, Mr. Barrett's communications director. "We've made clear that we would welcome any support."
Mr. Walzak also questioned the value of having governors from far-flung locations stump for Mr. Walker, saying that the candidate, not his surrogates, will win over voters.
But even some Barrett supporters agree that the Republican officials have brought a bit of star power to the campaign trail.
"This election is so close that anything additional would be helpful,'' said Robert Kraig, executive director of the left-leaning advocacy group Citizen Action of Wisconsin, though he also said the election was a referendum on Mr. Walker rather than a test of surrogate wattage.
While most governors aren't well known outside of their home states, Messrs. Christie, Jindal and Pawlenty and Ms. Haley have been a presence on the national stage. In Wisconsin, they have helped Mr. Walker by appearing at fundraisers, drawing media attention or energizing the campaign's volunteers. They have urged people to take advantage of early voting, as Mr. Clinton did Friday on behalf of Mr. Barrett.
At the Milwaukee rally, Mr. Clinton cast the election as a choice between a Republican divide-and-conquer approach and a Democratic collaborative style. A key to economic recovery is "creative cooperation, not constant conflict," he said.
The governor's allies say they are determined to deliver a win.
"It was an easy decision for me, because I truly support what [Mr. Walker] has done," said Mr. Jindal, the Louisiana governor, who calls the Wisconsin governor a good friend. A Walker victory would send a message to leaders in other states that "voters are demanding courageous, bold actions," he said.
"This election is bigger than Wisconsin," Ms. Haley said. "This is about the country. This is about when governors say they're going to do something, and they actually have the courage to do it, we need to have their back."
Write to Colleen McCain Nelson at [email protected]