Unions invested heavily in this battle in order to make an example of Walker. The goal was to show that Republican governors who attempt to roll back organizing rights will pay the ultimate political price. That effort failed, and the failure will have major repercussions for labor groups as they gear up for future fights over bargaining rights in states.Okay so far, but then he descends into the kind of writing that is why I don't normally link:
June 6, 2012
"There’s no sugarcoating what this loss means for organized labor."
Writes WaPo's Greg Sargent, whom I normally don't link to because he's such a sugarcoater.
Get bent: "When [the progressive faith] prevails, Wisconsin bends the arc of history toward justice."
Sentimental pap from John Nichols at the Cap Times, the morning after the recall election.
"Mysterious Buddhist Retreat in the Desert Ends in a Grisly Death."
NYT reports on a couple who were expelled had been "had been expelled from a nearby Buddhist retreat in which dozens of adherents, living in rustic conditions, had pledged to meditate silently for three years, three months and three days." In a cave in the Arizona desert, Christie McNally was near death from thirst, and her husband, Ian Thorson, was already dead. Their "spiritual leader was a charismatic Princeton-educated monk whom some have accused of running the retreat as a cult." You think?!
California voters have "buyers' remorse" over over a $68.4 billion high-speed "train to nowhere."
"The project is still $54.9 billion short of what is needed, raising fears that the state will be unable to find the funds to finish later sections, and could be left with a futuristic rail line linking minor cities and farming communities."
Here's Tom Barrett in October 2010, just before his first loss to Scott Walker, touting high-speed rail — "a defining issue" — where "Wisconsin was the biggest winner" — bigger even than California — in getting an offer of federal money to pay for a leg of a rail system.
And here is one of the most effective political ads I've ever experienced, the ad from Scott Walker, in late summer of 2010, rejecting the high-speed rail:
A new poll shows almost three fifths would oppose the bullet train and halt public borrowing if given another chance to vote.Democratic governor... backed by unions... Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, we rejected the Democratic gubernatorial candidate who wanted the high-speed train. We rejected him in November 2010, and we re-rejected him yesterday.
Almost seven in 10 said that, if the train ever does run between Los Angeles and San Francisco, they would "never or hardly ever" use it.
Not a single person said they would use it more than once a week, and only 33 per cent said they would prefer the bullet train over a one hour plane journey or seven hour drive. The cost of a ticket, estimated at $123 each way, also put many off. Jerry Brown, California's Democrat governor, has championed the project as a way to create jobs and is backed by unions.
Here's Tom Barrett in October 2010, just before his first loss to Scott Walker, touting high-speed rail — "a defining issue" — where "Wisconsin was the biggest winner" — bigger even than California — in getting an offer of federal money to pay for a leg of a rail system.
And here is one of the most effective political ads I've ever experienced, the ad from Scott Walker, in late summer of 2010, rejecting the high-speed rail:
"F*ck Me, Ray Bradbury, the greatest sci-fi writer in history..."
Disappointed Barrett voter: "The end of the U.S.A. as we know it just happened."
"Every single one of you out there in the nation, if you're watching, democracy died tonight."
Also at the link: The Barrett supporter who slapped Barrett in the face (for conceding).
And check out Adam Schabow — here he is in happier times — emoting late last night:
Time for Republicans and conservatives to act mature... even if you don't think Democrats and liberals would be acting very dignified right now if the election had gone the other way.
Also at the link: The Barrett supporter who slapped Barrett in the face (for conceding).
And check out Adam Schabow — here he is in happier times — emoting late last night:
Time for Republicans and conservatives to act mature... even if you don't think Democrats and liberals would be acting very dignified right now if the election had gone the other way.
What happened in the Wisconsin senate recall elections?
There were 4 other elections yesterday (beyond governor and lt. governor), and in one of them, the Democrat seems to have won:
But Democrat John Lehman of Racine defeated Republican incumbent Van Wanggaard in a fourth state Senate contest. Mr. Wanggaard hasn't conceded yet, and the result is close enough—Mr. Lehman won by fewer than 800 votes out of more than 70,000 cast, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel—that a recount may be warranted. If Mr. Lehman's win holds, Democrats will have a 17-16 majority in the Senate.So is a recount worth doing? What do you think of this as a standard: If the numbers were the other way around, and the Republican had won by 800 out of 70,000 cast, would the Democrats be seeking a recount?
That would give the Democrats bragging rights but little else given that the Wisconsin Senate is out of session for the rest of the year. Moreover, elections are in November, and 16 of the 33 Senate seats are being contested. The new district maps that have been drawn give Republicans an advantage in the fall. So even if Democrats now control the state Senate due to yesterday's results, few political observers expect them to hold it for long.
Ray Bradbury has died.
He was 91.
Instapundit says: "People are mostly talking about The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, but I liked Dandelion Wine."
I think I was assigned "Fahrenheit 451" to read in high school, and I was impressed by it, but for some reason what I most remember of his is "The Veldt." Plot summary:
Instapundit says: "People are mostly talking about The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, but I liked Dandelion Wine."
I think I was assigned "Fahrenheit 451" to read in high school, and I was impressed by it, but for some reason what I most remember of his is "The Veldt." Plot summary:
A family lives in a house with the latest technology. It is called the “Happylife Home” and its installation cost $30,000. The house is filled with machines that do everything for them from cooking meals, to clothing them, to rocking them to sleep. The two children, Peter and Wendy, become fascinated with the "nursery," a virtual reality room that is able to connect with the children telepathically to reproduce any place they imagine.That was written in 1950, long before video games, etc.
Top 5 Wisconsin Protests That In Retrospect Sound Like Pro-Walker Protests Against the Protests.
5. "Shame!"
4. "Recall Walker." (Yes, we recall him very well... and like him.)
3. "What's Disgusting?
2. "Don't Stop Believing."
1. "This is what democracy looks like."
4. "Recall Walker." (Yes, we recall him very well... and like him.)
3. "What's Disgusting?
2. "Don't Stop Believing."
1. "This is what democracy looks like."
"I adore all the news agencies declaring #wirecall being too close to call. DUH! Did we expect anything else?!? #madvote" — a typical entry...
... on the Isthmus "live-blog" that came at 8:31p.m. last night. Isthmus is our local "alternative" newspaper, and the readership over there pervasively left-liberal — Madison style (which is to say they are people steeped in the cloying belief that they are the good people, the people who care about people... and loathe anything tinged with conservatism).
Isthmus had one of those "CoverItLive" gadgets embedded, and it picked up a steady stream, including lots of stuff redirected from Twitter, with more than one post per minute. The polls had closed at 8, at which point the news media had declared — based on exit polling — that it was too close to call. But at 9 pm, all the news media called it for Walker. Between 8:31 and 9:00, the actual vote was coming in, and we were seeing — in stark contrast to the exit poll — that Walker was getting 15 or 16 percentage points ahead of Barrett. So let's dip into the Isthmus feed and see how the confrontation with reality played out. I'm excerpting from the copious flow:
Isthmus had one of those "CoverItLive" gadgets embedded, and it picked up a steady stream, including lots of stuff redirected from Twitter, with more than one post per minute. The polls had closed at 8, at which point the news media had declared — based on exit polling — that it was too close to call. But at 9 pm, all the news media called it for Walker. Between 8:31 and 9:00, the actual vote was coming in, and we were seeing — in stark contrast to the exit poll — that Walker was getting 15 or 16 percentage points ahead of Barrett. So let's dip into the Isthmus feed and see how the confrontation with reality played out. I'm excerpting from the copious flow:
"The Whupping in Wisconsin: Seven Key Conclusions."
'It's time to reflect. My own instincts are to enjoy the security of knowing things have not been upset. We're not going back. Peace has arrived. It's a beautiful morning. Or, as Meade just said: "It's morning in Wisconsin." But if the recall election had gone the other way, there would have been lusty gloating and aggressive interpretation of what it all means. What a stern repudiation of conservative politics it would have been!
So I want to look at some things like Erick Erickson's 7 conclusions. (The parentheticals are my reactions.)
1. "[D]efense of public sector unions is now a non-starter..." (This was known after the primary, when Barrett defeated Falk. Then Barrett had nowhere, really, to go. But he tried, with vague themes like bringing back "Wisconsin values" and making it possible for neighbors to speak to neighbors. The whole idea of the recall stopped making sense. )
2. The "coalition of disaffected independent voters, tea party activists, and Republicans held together." (Disaffected? I'd say the independent voters — e.g., me — coolly assessed the situation in Wisconsin and decided it's best to keep going in this direction.)
3. "[T]he Republican Party’s use of technology in its GOTV efforts really paid off.... The Democrats handed the GOP a marvelous gift of a recall that went on and on and on. By the time everyone got to the gubernatorial recall, the GOP had its GOTV tweaked perfectly." (Interesting. I kept hearing about how amazing the Democrats were on getting out the vote. The GOP never contacted us. We got 2 in-person visits from Democrats in the days before the election — in addition to Dem robo-calls — but on election day, we got nothing. I think one of the individuals who encountered Meade at the door — I never answer the door — figured out we were people who shouldn't be gotten out.)
4. We can discern that "Barack Obama is extremely nervous." (He was nervous and he showed it. That tweet-only contact with Wisconsin was an embarrassing display of nervousness. It made me think of that old 2008 theme: He voted present.)
5. "[E]xit polling does not work well for recall elections." (I'd say exit polling is so deeply defective that it should be ignored. I saw CNN using exit polling to make a show out of the night, to push ratings. They have these spiffy displays, to show numbers, which John King purports to explain to Wolf Blitzer, but the numbers are — I will presume from now on — bogus. It's like finding out "American Idol" doesn't count the phoned-in voters. No. It's worse. At least "American Idol" contestants are actually singing. But John King explaining the meaning of things that are not real? Why are we watching that? Is that independently entertaining? I can imagine a reality show where contestants are given ridiculous and false factoids and then they are judged by how much we enjoy their efforts to explain them. Actually, I used to play a little game like that with my sons when they were little. It was called "What if you had to argue...?")
6. "Barack Obama is still the favorite" in Wisconsin. (Is he relying on the exit polls?! I think the Obama people are completely freaked out now. And the better Walker does over the next 5 months, making things work — or making us feel that things are working — without the static or protests and recall and with economic numbers improving, the more the people of Wisconsin may get the impression that Romney can do things like that at the national level and save us from the depredations of liberal policy.)
7. "MSNBC is consistently the most entertaining news network in America when things go badly for the left.... I was actually concerned that Ed Schultz might have a medical episode on live television last night. It was … surreal." (I didn't watch much MSNBC. I get my fill of lefty acting-out in real life here in Madison. But maybe it is a fun TV show. Lord knows the CNN attempts at explaining nonexistent things are useless.)
Erickson has an 8th item, but he won't fully commit to it as a conclusion: "Anger does not win elections." (Anger... what exactly are we talking about? Dumb rage is unappealing, but some kind of fervor is needed. I think Barrett was a bad candidate because he was basically bland on the issues, he claimed he would restore good feeling, but he would rear up with angry talking points intermittently. This doesn't convince people that it's worth ousting somebody who's in the middle of doing a job that seems to be working and who seems reasonably steady and competent.)
So I want to look at some things like Erick Erickson's 7 conclusions. (The parentheticals are my reactions.)
1. "[D]efense of public sector unions is now a non-starter..." (This was known after the primary, when Barrett defeated Falk. Then Barrett had nowhere, really, to go. But he tried, with vague themes like bringing back "Wisconsin values" and making it possible for neighbors to speak to neighbors. The whole idea of the recall stopped making sense. )
2. The "coalition of disaffected independent voters, tea party activists, and Republicans held together." (Disaffected? I'd say the independent voters — e.g., me — coolly assessed the situation in Wisconsin and decided it's best to keep going in this direction.)
3. "[T]he Republican Party’s use of technology in its GOTV efforts really paid off.... The Democrats handed the GOP a marvelous gift of a recall that went on and on and on. By the time everyone got to the gubernatorial recall, the GOP had its GOTV tweaked perfectly." (Interesting. I kept hearing about how amazing the Democrats were on getting out the vote. The GOP never contacted us. We got 2 in-person visits from Democrats in the days before the election — in addition to Dem robo-calls — but on election day, we got nothing. I think one of the individuals who encountered Meade at the door — I never answer the door — figured out we were people who shouldn't be gotten out.)
4. We can discern that "Barack Obama is extremely nervous." (He was nervous and he showed it. That tweet-only contact with Wisconsin was an embarrassing display of nervousness. It made me think of that old 2008 theme: He voted present.)
5. "[E]xit polling does not work well for recall elections." (I'd say exit polling is so deeply defective that it should be ignored. I saw CNN using exit polling to make a show out of the night, to push ratings. They have these spiffy displays, to show numbers, which John King purports to explain to Wolf Blitzer, but the numbers are — I will presume from now on — bogus. It's like finding out "American Idol" doesn't count the phoned-in voters. No. It's worse. At least "American Idol" contestants are actually singing. But John King explaining the meaning of things that are not real? Why are we watching that? Is that independently entertaining? I can imagine a reality show where contestants are given ridiculous and false factoids and then they are judged by how much we enjoy their efforts to explain them. Actually, I used to play a little game like that with my sons when they were little. It was called "What if you had to argue...?")
6. "Barack Obama is still the favorite" in Wisconsin. (Is he relying on the exit polls?! I think the Obama people are completely freaked out now. And the better Walker does over the next 5 months, making things work — or making us feel that things are working — without the static or protests and recall and with economic numbers improving, the more the people of Wisconsin may get the impression that Romney can do things like that at the national level and save us from the depredations of liberal policy.)
7. "MSNBC is consistently the most entertaining news network in America when things go badly for the left.... I was actually concerned that Ed Schultz might have a medical episode on live television last night. It was … surreal." (I didn't watch much MSNBC. I get my fill of lefty acting-out in real life here in Madison. But maybe it is a fun TV show. Lord knows the CNN attempts at explaining nonexistent things are useless.)
Erickson has an 8th item, but he won't fully commit to it as a conclusion: "Anger does not win elections." (Anger... what exactly are we talking about? Dumb rage is unappealing, but some kind of fervor is needed. I think Barrett was a bad candidate because he was basically bland on the issues, he claimed he would restore good feeling, but he would rear up with angry talking points intermittently. This doesn't convince people that it's worth ousting somebody who's in the middle of doing a job that seems to be working and who seems reasonably steady and competent.)
June 5, 2012
Live-blogging the Wisconsin recall election.
6:40 Central Time: Hang out here.
6:42: We just drove by our polling place, and I could tell by the lack of cars in the parking lot and along the street that there were very few people inside. This morning, when we voted (at 8:15 or so), there were cars, and inside there were people but no line. We were also up at the Capitol Square, where there was an "Occupy Madison"-style group at the State Street end, but not much else. A guy was banging a drum, and someone had put an "Anonymous" mask on the "Forward!" statue. I'll have some photos and video soon.
7:00: This was the scene at the Capitol at about 6:20 this evening:
"Eat The Rich"... "Liberté! Egalité! Fraternité!"...
7:48:
7:52: Neil Cavuto, on Fox News from Madison, Wisconsin, shows a shot of the Transit of Venus, and I say "What does this have to do with Scott Walker?" and then Cavuto actually connects it to Scott Walker, using the segue "Imagine the history being made here. Right? You have the third governor in U.S. history being recalled, Venus passing through the sun, and people in the middle of what could be a revolution in Wisconsin, dining casually outside. The great confluence of events that you only get here on Fox Business Live."
8:00: The polls are closed. There's no litigation to keep any polls open late. And Fox Business News reports that it's too close to call at this point.
8:03: CNN's exit poll has 56% of men for Walker and 56% of women for Barrett. But there are more women for Walker (44%) than there are men for Barrett (43%). Independents favored Walker 50% to 49%. By the way, if these are exit polls, they obviously don't include all the early absentee voters, but perhaps they do a calcuation to account for that. The early voting efforts seemed to be done by Barrett supporters.
8:13: No actual vote counts yet, but they will appear here.
8:31: I get the feeling the TV shows are being theatrical with their "too close to call" announcements. Looking at the HuffPo "Election Dashboard," linked in the previous update, which is an actual vote count, we've got 58.3% for Walker and 41.1% for Barrett, with 7.4% reporting. Nearly the same spread between Kleefisch and Mitchell.
8:35: Intrade has Walker at 93.7%. I guess nobody believes the TV exit polls.
8:39: 60.6% Walker. 38.8% for Barrett. 11.4% reporting.
8:42: If you click on the counties at the HuffPo link, you can compare the current percentages to the percentages in 2010, when Walker beat Barrett in the regular election. So, for example, you expect the Democrat to win by a lot in Dane County (which includes Madison), and Barrett won with 68% in 2010. But right now, with 15.5% of the vote reported, Barrett is only winning with 55.8%. That's a HUGE step down from 2010.
8:51: Intrade's spiked to 98.7%.
8:54: Here's my edited video from the Capitol Square done around 6 p.m. this evening:
9:00: "NBC is full of shit!!! Dane County and Milwaukee haven't reported their results yet, and NBC called it for Walker?!?!" The outrage at Democratic Underground.
9:02: Fox News calls it for Walker.
9:03: CNN calls it for Walker. Man, the exit polling was pathetic. I just don't believe it was ever real. It was like the cable news channels colluded for the first hour and held off until 9 to tell us what we all knew. The question is how huge the victory is. We're looking at some numbers -- actual vote counts -- that are in the 60%/40% range.
9:06: Paul Begala is emoting like mad on CNN about how the Wisconsin recall has absolutely nothing to do with what will happen to Obama this fall.
9:11: Kleefisch wins too, CNN projects.
9:21: Meade gloats at Isthmus: "I hope somedaaaay you'll join us. And the state of Wisconsin can live as one."
9:39: Here's the Wall Street Journal: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker survived a recall election Tuesday, dealing a blow to organized labor, unsettling President Barack Obama's re-election strategy and signaling to Republican lawmakers across the nation that challenging government unions could pay political and fiscal dividends."
9:39: Larry Sabato on Fox Business says if the exit pollsters can't improve their techniques, the news shows shouldn't even use them.
9:42: Rebecca Kleefisch is giving her victory speech. She wants to thank everybody who never lost faith. A short speech, and those 2 little daughters seem to want to get off stage as quickly as possible.
9:49: Mitt Romney congratulates Walker: "Governor Walker has demonstrated over the past year what sound fiscal policies can do to turn an economy around, and I believe that in November voters across the country will demonstrate that they want the same in Washington, D.C. Tonight’s results will echo beyond the borders of Wisconsin. Governor Walker has shown that citizens and taxpayers can fight back – and prevail – against the runaway government costs imposed by labor bosses. Tonight voters said ‘no’ to the tired, liberal ideas of yesterday, and ‘yes’ to fiscal responsibility and a new direction. I look forward to working with Governor Walker to help build a better, brighter future for all Americans."
9:56: "Well, Russ Feingold said it’s not over till we win, which is kinda like the German position in Stalingrad. . . . But comparing one’s opponents to Hitler is right out. Right, Russ? Oh, never mind. . . ."
10:02: Bloomberg editorial: "Recall elections have their place: generally, in cases of serious breaches of the public faith or morality, or of extreme incompetence. The effort to recall Walker, however, stemmed from a political disagreement over his support for a law that, among other things, limited the collective-bargaining rights of public-sector employees.We have mixed feelings about the legislation...."
10:06: Walker is missing the prime time audience for his victory speech because BARRETT IS CHOOSING not to concede. Barrett, who said HE would end the "civil war" in Wisconsin. What hypocrisy!
10:09: Look at the blue-red balance on the map for last year's state supreme court battle. Now look at tonight's map.
10:12: Finally, Barrett is conceding. "Please, please, please, remain engaged, remain involved, because we will continue to fight for justice and fairness in this city and this state."
10:15: He continues with his bland banalities. Let us continue to do what is right. Tom Barrett. Epic fail. And then he — who said he'd end the "civil war" in Wisconsin — ends it with "Let's go get 'em." So... continuing the war. Ridiculous!
10:24: Walker's victory speech. "First of all, I want to thank God for his abundant grace...." And the people in factories and farms have "sustained" him. He loves his wife, Tonette. "Tonette's just been a rock." (Women love that, being called "a rock.") This must be so immensely rewarding to him. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. He's praising The Framers. "What has made our country unbelievable... what has made the United States arguably one of the greatest countries in the history of the world"... is that there have been men and women who have stood up. There have been "good and decent people" who had "courage." I know he's trying to say that about himself, even though he won't say "I." But: I was courageous and I made the tough decisions....
10:36: "Talking together... solutions... prosperity for all our people..." Walker is talking about ways to "bring all our people together": with brats and beer! "Now is the time for us to come together."
10:39: A very satisfying evening. I was touched to see Scott Walker, speaking in such a selfless, public-spirited way, after all the abuse he's taken for well over a year. He must feel so relieved and so vindicated, but there wasn't a shred of gloating or even basking. What a moment!
6:42: We just drove by our polling place, and I could tell by the lack of cars in the parking lot and along the street that there were very few people inside. This morning, when we voted (at 8:15 or so), there were cars, and inside there were people but no line. We were also up at the Capitol Square, where there was an "Occupy Madison"-style group at the State Street end, but not much else. A guy was banging a drum, and someone had put an "Anonymous" mask on the "Forward!" statue. I'll have some photos and video soon.
7:00: This was the scene at the Capitol at about 6:20 this evening:
"Eat The Rich"... "Liberté! Egalité! Fraternité!"...
7:48:
Despite raising $30 million, Scott Walker's election night event is cash bar. That might actually justify a recall. #wirecall
— Christian Schneider (@Schneider_CM) June 6, 2012
7:52: Neil Cavuto, on Fox News from Madison, Wisconsin, shows a shot of the Transit of Venus, and I say "What does this have to do with Scott Walker?" and then Cavuto actually connects it to Scott Walker, using the segue "Imagine the history being made here. Right? You have the third governor in U.S. history being recalled, Venus passing through the sun, and people in the middle of what could be a revolution in Wisconsin, dining casually outside. The great confluence of events that you only get here on Fox Business Live."
8:00: The polls are closed. There's no litigation to keep any polls open late. And Fox Business News reports that it's too close to call at this point.
8:03: CNN's exit poll has 56% of men for Walker and 56% of women for Barrett. But there are more women for Walker (44%) than there are men for Barrett (43%). Independents favored Walker 50% to 49%. By the way, if these are exit polls, they obviously don't include all the early absentee voters, but perhaps they do a calcuation to account for that. The early voting efforts seemed to be done by Barrett supporters.
8:13: No actual vote counts yet, but they will appear here.
8:31: I get the feeling the TV shows are being theatrical with their "too close to call" announcements. Looking at the HuffPo "Election Dashboard," linked in the previous update, which is an actual vote count, we've got 58.3% for Walker and 41.1% for Barrett, with 7.4% reporting. Nearly the same spread between Kleefisch and Mitchell.
8:35: Intrade has Walker at 93.7%. I guess nobody believes the TV exit polls.
8:39: 60.6% Walker. 38.8% for Barrett. 11.4% reporting.
8:42: If you click on the counties at the HuffPo link, you can compare the current percentages to the percentages in 2010, when Walker beat Barrett in the regular election. So, for example, you expect the Democrat to win by a lot in Dane County (which includes Madison), and Barrett won with 68% in 2010. But right now, with 15.5% of the vote reported, Barrett is only winning with 55.8%. That's a HUGE step down from 2010.
8:51: Intrade's spiked to 98.7%.
8:54: Here's my edited video from the Capitol Square done around 6 p.m. this evening:
9:00: "NBC is full of shit!!! Dane County and Milwaukee haven't reported their results yet, and NBC called it for Walker?!?!" The outrage at Democratic Underground.
9:02: Fox News calls it for Walker.
9:03: CNN calls it for Walker. Man, the exit polling was pathetic. I just don't believe it was ever real. It was like the cable news channels colluded for the first hour and held off until 9 to tell us what we all knew. The question is how huge the victory is. We're looking at some numbers -- actual vote counts -- that are in the 60%/40% range.
9:06: Paul Begala is emoting like mad on CNN about how the Wisconsin recall has absolutely nothing to do with what will happen to Obama this fall.
9:11: Kleefisch wins too, CNN projects.
9:21: Meade gloats at Isthmus: "I hope somedaaaay you'll join us. And the state of Wisconsin can live as one."
9:39: Here's the Wall Street Journal: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker survived a recall election Tuesday, dealing a blow to organized labor, unsettling President Barack Obama's re-election strategy and signaling to Republican lawmakers across the nation that challenging government unions could pay political and fiscal dividends."
9:39: Larry Sabato on Fox Business says if the exit pollsters can't improve their techniques, the news shows shouldn't even use them.
9:42: Rebecca Kleefisch is giving her victory speech. She wants to thank everybody who never lost faith. A short speech, and those 2 little daughters seem to want to get off stage as quickly as possible.
9:49: Mitt Romney congratulates Walker: "Governor Walker has demonstrated over the past year what sound fiscal policies can do to turn an economy around, and I believe that in November voters across the country will demonstrate that they want the same in Washington, D.C. Tonight’s results will echo beyond the borders of Wisconsin. Governor Walker has shown that citizens and taxpayers can fight back – and prevail – against the runaway government costs imposed by labor bosses. Tonight voters said ‘no’ to the tired, liberal ideas of yesterday, and ‘yes’ to fiscal responsibility and a new direction. I look forward to working with Governor Walker to help build a better, brighter future for all Americans."
9:56: "Well, Russ Feingold said it’s not over till we win, which is kinda like the German position in Stalingrad. . . . But comparing one’s opponents to Hitler is right out. Right, Russ? Oh, never mind. . . ."
10:02: Bloomberg editorial: "Recall elections have their place: generally, in cases of serious breaches of the public faith or morality, or of extreme incompetence. The effort to recall Walker, however, stemmed from a political disagreement over his support for a law that, among other things, limited the collective-bargaining rights of public-sector employees.We have mixed feelings about the legislation...."
10:06: Walker is missing the prime time audience for his victory speech because BARRETT IS CHOOSING not to concede. Barrett, who said HE would end the "civil war" in Wisconsin. What hypocrisy!
10:09: Look at the blue-red balance on the map for last year's state supreme court battle. Now look at tonight's map.
10:12: Finally, Barrett is conceding. "Please, please, please, remain engaged, remain involved, because we will continue to fight for justice and fairness in this city and this state."
10:15: He continues with his bland banalities. Let us continue to do what is right. Tom Barrett. Epic fail. And then he — who said he'd end the "civil war" in Wisconsin — ends it with "Let's go get 'em." So... continuing the war. Ridiculous!
10:24: Walker's victory speech. "First of all, I want to thank God for his abundant grace...." And the people in factories and farms have "sustained" him. He loves his wife, Tonette. "Tonette's just been a rock." (Women love that, being called "a rock.") This must be so immensely rewarding to him. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. He's praising The Framers. "What has made our country unbelievable... what has made the United States arguably one of the greatest countries in the history of the world"... is that there have been men and women who have stood up. There have been "good and decent people" who had "courage." I know he's trying to say that about himself, even though he won't say "I." But: I was courageous and I made the tough decisions....
10:36: "Talking together... solutions... prosperity for all our people..." Walker is talking about ways to "bring all our people together": with brats and beer! "Now is the time for us to come together."
10:39: A very satisfying evening. I was touched to see Scott Walker, speaking in such a selfless, public-spirited way, after all the abuse he's taken for well over a year. He must feel so relieved and so vindicated, but there wasn't a shred of gloating or even basking. What a moment!
"Early exit polling in the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election suggests that union household comprise roughly a third of all voters..."
"... a share of the vote that is higher than either of the last two presidential or gubernatorial elections held in the state."
ADDED: A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article that went up 15 minutes ago says:
Voters in the recall also tilt positively toward public sector unions in general, but not by a huge margin. Voters split about evenly in their support for changes to state law that limited the collective bargaining ability of government unions, an issue at the heart of recall effort.That's in the Washington Post. I'm not seeing any info on where or how the exit polling was done, but if true — as we say in Wisconsin — that sounds scary for Walker supporters.
Drawing broad conclusions about the shape of the electorate remains difficult due to the fact that these early exit poll reflect only morning and afternoon voters and can (and likely will) shift before polls close at 9 p.m. eastern time.
ADDED: A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article that went up 15 minutes ago says:
No statewide figures were available, but local election officials offered fairly similar accounts of a heavy turnout in communities large and small, in both Democratic and Republican areas.There was a very strong turnout in Milwaukee and Madison, the Democratic stronghold.
In many places, election officials said turnout was as strong as, or stronger than, it was for the 2010 gubernatorial election. A few even compared it to the 2008 presidential election.
But Walker's base also appeared to be turning out strongly, particularly in several Waukesha County communities that favored him by more than a 2-to-1 margin in his 2010 victory over Barrett. Shawn Lundie, Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas' chief of staff, believes voter turnout in his county will exceed the state Government Accountability Board's estimate of 60% to 65%.UPDATE: Drudge is headlining: "EXIT POLLS SHOW WALKER HOLDING SEAT."
WI EXIT POLLS: REMATCH SIMILAR TO ELECTION 2 YEARS AGO, SOURCES TELL DRUDGE... '5 POINT MARGIN'... DEVELOPING...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
