Dems picked up 2. They needed 3.
(Next week: 2 of their fleebaggers are up. Looks like we will get 1. )
$30 million of union dues down the rat hole.
An all out effort by the unions, by the Left, by the media, to undo an election, by all means fair and foul.
Fail. Massive fail.
The people have spoken. Again.
Get used to it.
Next: More rollback.
Here, there and everywhere.
Today Madison, tomorrow DC.
Today Wisconsin, tomorrow America.
I can see 2012 from my house.
Hope and Change? Meet the snake.
UPDATE: Michael Barone crunches the numbers. Despite everything, the Ds are weaker in Wisco than they were in 2008. This bodes well for the recall elections next week and any recall effort against Gov. Walker.
UPDATE II: Lots of good detail here. One of the GOP defeats was candidate-centric: The guy cheated on his wife and made an ass of himself. A loss is a loss, but that particular race was apparently not a referendum on much of anything substantive. The overall vote was 53/47 GOP/Dem. That is solid.
You really beat me to this one! Lets get a photo of the Wisco flag in the post! Today is a great day. The Democrat/Left/Union bloc has lost pretty much everything they can possibly lose in the last year and there is no end in sight for them. There may be a recall Walker effort but I honestly can’t see that going forward after yesterdays results.
For great justice!
Sanity reigns in Wisconson.
Dan, got yer Wisco flag up top, baby.
Disagree on Walker recall. My bet: They double down again, bring in millions of $ and thousands of volunteers and try to win it all back.
These people have a lot of money and only need to win once.
thanks for the flag – God please no on the Walker recall, it would be like nothing we have ever seen here or maybe anywhere for elections – I would just not watch TV for six months if it goes down.
Hope I am wrong. But I bet I am not. I am imagining thousands of SEIU and other union people bussed in from around the country, threats and intimidation on any business that does not put up a recall Walker sign, renewed “occupation” of the capital, a totally complicit media, a huge fundraising campaign, the whole thing. The recall Walker effort may be the biggest one of all. It is a war of attrition and I have no reason to think these people are beaten yet.
I don’t know. A lot of everyday Joe Six Packs (union and non union) are very tired of this whole endless election thing. I read today that the chair of the Dems here in Wisco said they may shoot for Nov. 2012 for the recall to coincide with the Prez election. That would at least give everyone a break – I imagine the turnout for that election would be crazy, and the ad blitz here would be like nothing I will ever see again in my lifetime.
Doing it on the same day as the presidential election might make sense, but if Obama — or whoever the D nominee is — looks weak, it may not turn out for the best for them.
But there is simply no way they will just give up on it. Why would they? They have national-scale and regional-scale assets they can commit to a small state, over and over again. And there is a huge amount at stake.
If the ordinary voters are tired of it, the bad guys win. Their people are voting for their own bread and butter and their own power. If the regular voters get weary and stay home, they win. Wearing people down is a feature not a bug.
Unless the GOP runs a non-viable candidate and Obama is a shoo in, which could happen if, say, Bachmann got nominated, the race will be close and 2012 will have incredible voter turnout. If there is a third party challenger, we could have a very big turnout, too.
There is one problem still unsolved. There is a state Senator named Schultz who voted against the Walker reforms and who is now the deciding vote. If that person flips parties, as the Vermont Senator Jeffords did to Bush in 2001, it could change the situation. They have to win one of the two recalls next week to be safe.
Endless elections is what you get if the government provides all services.
I would recommend the following to my friends in Wisconsin.
End public education as a government job. Go to a competitive system with private schools or homeschools, with vouchers. Homeschooling parents would be able to cash the voucher at the bank.
“End public education as a government job. Go to a competitive system with private schools or homeschools, with vouchers. Homeschooling parents would be able to cash the voucher at the bank.”
In my imaginary utopia, we’d do this, too.
But the public is not remotely ready to accept this yet.
Much, much remains to be done to get there.
MK – I have also heard that they are actually trying to get Schultz to flip. If that happens or even the rumor of it is true, that makes the two recall elections next week even more important.
“… trying to get Schultz to flip …” This thing is a real nail-biter.
If true and Schultz is smart he will wait until next weeks recall elections to gain a better bargaining position for himself if both Dems win. But time will tell, as always and it would be good for the R’s to pick off at least one of the D’s next week for insurance.
If Schultz is smart he will wait until after next week’s elections.
Why flip if you can’t swing the Senate? If you can, you go to Ds and cut a really good deal for yourself, since they need you.
I assume he is not a man of principle, since this speculation is ongoing. Perhaps he is, and this is all moot.
“Why flip if you can’t swing the Senate? If you can, you go to Ds and cut a really good deal for yourself, since they need you.” – exactly. I really don’t know much about the guy, but he has voted against the R’s in this years session so the rumors aren’t exactly without merit.
Hmm–at what point will some lawsuit be filed to invalidate the elections? When elections can’t get them what they want they usually resort to lawfare.
Seeing the “The overall vote was 53/47 GOP/Dem” bit is nice and all, but can anyone put it in context? What were the splits for the same set of districts in the Prosser Race; in 2010; in 2008; etc.?
Don’t know, Admiral Tact. If you find a good source of comparative numbers, put a comment here with a link and I will update.
Tcobb – already tried the legal runaround a couple of times, first to try to invalidate the new laws, and also to try to invalidate the Prosser election results. Both failed. I am sure there will be more things to come.
What were the splits…
In the 32nd district, GOP incumbent Kapanke lost 45%-55%. Obama won there in 2008 with 60.8%, Walker won by 1%. Prosser lost there. It has always been a strong Demo-leaning district. Kapanke was expected to lose.
In the 18th district, GOP incumbent Hopper lost by 2% (about 1,200 votes) . Obama won 51.3% of the vote in ’08. Walker won 57.2%. Prosser won there, too, but I don’t have the %. Hopper had “girlfriend” problems.
Nice 2012 flag. The 1 could be represented as an AR15. That would be cool too.
Jorja, copy the image and hack away yourself.
Lots of products with that image available here.
What were the splits”¦ (cont.)
I found this map that overlays WI Supreme Court race results with the recall districts. The map is older and shows all attempted recall areas; there are only two Demo recall votes next week. Note just how blue Kapanke’s 32nd went for Kloppy.
Iowahawk has a tweet to the effect:
If public union employees worked as hard at their jobs as they do at their tantrums….they’d be worthy of public sector jobs.
…Hope and Change? Meet the snake…thats good!!
‘pubs win 4 of 6 in an extraordinarily well funded by the left election, including a gimme from the conservatives who ran an idiot who didn’t have the sense to resign.
This would argue that the country is now more than 2/3rds conservative – or at least anti-left, anti-communitarian (?).
It will be a good day when the decent folk of the Midwest are back in the Republican corner. the Midwest strategy is all the Demon Rats have left. If we take that from them, they’re finished.
POWinCA – that is a pretty good point.
It might be worth noting that at least one jackass-in-an-elephant-suit is considering joining the Dems to give them the votes they need. Dale Schultz is in talks with their leadership to see what he can get for his vote. Of course, if the GOP wins at least one of the two elections next week, I expect he miraculously will decide that he has to honor his commitment to his constituents instead…
POWinCA — MI and OH should be up for grabs. WI, MN and IN should all be solid R. IL looks hopeless for the time being. Longer term, it is a much more normal Midwestern state than people realize. The core D strength in Cook and Chicago could be attacked by young and aggressive conservatives — a Rainbow Coalition for School Choice would be nice. I believe this is a realistic possibility. School choice could be a wedge issue to break off Black and Hispanic votes, and make a material improvement in their lives. Making the Ds fight in Illinois would strip away a lot of assets that get deployed elsewhere around the region.
I am starting to think the Ds will win this. The two Ds up next week, hold on, Schultz flips and the Ds get a majority and this becomes a nationwide cause célèbre, “Tea Party repudiated” etc.
There is a lot at stake and I do not see know if the GOP is taking next week seriously enough.
Lex I fear the worst also. If both D’s hang on, Schultz will be able to cut a sweetheart deal for himself. Or he could go independent and just vote for whatever/whomever he wants. Fortunately, a LOT of legislation was passed last session and that can’t be rolled back. I also expect Walker and the Republican Assembly, if there is a Democrat Senate, to be the adults in the room and try to work with them to get reforms passed. The R’s have been completely classy the whole time during the protests, refraining from shouting, yelling, and gloating – not sure if this the correct strategy, but it may indicate that they are playing with a full deck and that they would be able to craft legislation that would get through a D Senate.
United States is a Republic NOT a Democracy – just saying!
http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=111
You don’t get it, Curlyq. That is what the anti-Walker people were chanting in Madision. Hence an ironic turning of the tables.