Sometimes maybe dull is better.

For the second time this month, an attempt to be cute by the Scott Walker campaign has resulted in a political misstep for the presumed Republican front-runner.

Walker, Milwaukee County executive and Republican candidate for governor, has started running an ad in which he dons boxing gloves and vows to go the distance against the likely Democratic nominee, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. See the ad here.

Fighting is a pretty common political metaphor. But it seems the Walker campaign failed to take into account how the ad would play, in light of Barrett's recent history.

The Milwaukee mayor was the victim of a brutal attack outside the Wisconsin State Fair in 2009, suffering serious injuries to his head and hand. He had been trying to protect a woman and her 1-year-old granddaughter from the girl's drunk father.

The Walker campaign said the ad was not made with that in mind, but opponents were quick to criticize.

"I think he looks ridiculous and I think it really is tasteless," said

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate. "Walker does seem to be mocking the fact that the mayor, frankly, almost gave his life to intervene in a domestic violence situation."

Earlier the month, the Walker campaign got into hot water over a Tweet sent out that seemed to poke fun at Democratic support for high-speed rail in Wisconsin when President Barack Obama visited the state.

The video - seen here  - was seen by some as racist.

The campaign apologized for the post and issued a statement in which Walker spokeswoman Jill Bader said she meant to retweet a link to a blog post, not the video.