The Democratic gubernatorial candidate said during a campaign tour of Madison businesses on Tuesday that the Republican Walker picked an arbitrary number for the sake of a campaign statement.

At the same time, Barrett said it's reasonable to expect the state can add 180,000 jobs over the next three years.

"I'd like to see us be able to re-establish the job loss we've had, the 180,000 job loss," said Barrett. "I'd like to see us re-establish that within three years and I think that's an attainable goal if we can just push, push, push."

Walker, who is Milwaukee County executive, posted a YouTube video defending his plan released last month to create 250,000 jobs in the state.

"When I first heard Mayor Barrett's announcement I thought, 'Wow, he's officially become the candidate of low expectations,'" said Walker. "The reality is we need to aim high. We need to have a clear plan, which we do, and we need to be ambitious about how many jobs we're going to create here in the state of Wisconsin."

Walker's Republican opponent, Mark Neumann, said he won't jump into the numbers game.

"I would prefer to stay out of the political promises for the purposes of making people happy and getting elected and prefer to stay focused instead on creating a real business plan to bring jobs to Wisconsin," said Neumann.

While the candidates have agreed that jobs are a focus, they differ on how to create jobs.

"If we make bold, swift moves to lower the cost of doing business, to get government out of the way of businesses so it's easier to do business in Wisconsin, I believe that regardless of how the national economy fares we're going to do better in Wisconsin," Walker said.

"If we wish to attract jobs in the state of Wisconsin we need to turn Wisconsin into a model that demonstrates how to be globally competitive in the job market in which we now compete," said Neumann. "That will mean that we first control spending so that we can cut taxes significantly."

To create jobs, Barrett said Wisconsin must accept $810 million in federal stimulus money to build a high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee.

"What we're going to do is we're going to focus on doing everything we can to let people know the state of Wisconsin is open for business," said Barrett. "I want businesses to locate here, to expand here. I want businesses to grow here and that means we have to make sure that state government is a good partner."

But political scientist Charles Franklin said it will be more important how the candidates back claims up to voters.

"We want a sense that they can deliver on their promises, that they're genuinely committed to those things, and I think what makes that sense of genuineness come through is that they do have answers when the questions are put to them rather than just vague promises," said Franklin.

Franklin said a look at the state's job creation history shows why the work is cut out for whoever takes the statehouse.

While the national economy was booming in the 1990s, the state created jobs at a rate of 54,580 a year, creating more than 500,000 jobs in a decade.

But from 2004 to 2008, following the recession of the early 2000s, the state added jobs at only half that rate at 27,000 a year, creating just more than a 100,000, according to Franklin.