Supreme Court REPORTING 99%
Joanne Kloppenburg 739,014 50%
David Prosser (inc) 738,567 50%
As of right now. As votes keep coming in, those small differences will get more significant. Does anyone know which districts have not reported yet?
Dexter
According to someone in GOS, “all that seems to be left is absentees in Jefferson and Milwaukee county.” If that’s the case, she may be able to hold on to the lead.
patrick II
you need a space between your numbers and percentages.
kd bart
The New Black Panther Party of Milwaukee came through.:)
Comrade Mary
Somebody give those poor poll workers a coffee break. (Do they count paper ballots there, or use one of those scanners?)
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
I just saw that. Again, it is really important to note that in a race that should have been a gimme for the incumbent, the overreach of Fitzwalkerstan caused a hard fought battle that may unseat their crony.
Comrade Javamanphil
According to the AP, there are 5 still out. One in Juneau, Jefferson, Taylor and 2 in Milwaukee.
tokyokie
This is from Daily Kos:
Jude
Yes, and Jefferson and Taylor are deep red counties; the other three precincts are in blue counties, but no idea the makeup of the precincts themselves.
This is nerve-wracking.
jo6pac
The orange page is covering this pretty closely.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/06/963979/-Kloppenburg-retakes-the-lead-in-Wisconsin-Supreme-Court-race
Three-nineteen
5 precincts left, 2 in Prosser counties, 3 in Kloppenburg counties (2 from Milwaukee). Kloppenburg’s lead is now down to 350.
BGinCHI
@Comrade Javamanphil: Yeah, AP has the most updated totals. Go there if you want to see a breakdown by county too.
Xecky Gilchrist
I hope Lizard People don’t mess this one up.
Zifnab
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Honestly, I thought it was going to be more lopsided in Kloppenburg’s favor. You’ve got the unions out in force like they’ve never been before. It’s an off-year judicial election, so there shouldn’t be a ton of turn out from the local yockle.
Maybe I’m just missing something obvious, by why didn’t the Democrats dominate?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@BGinCHI: I looked here (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), which also has a separate county breakdown.
RSR
recommend putting @ThisBowers and @daveweigel on auto refresh
for updates like
The last five precincts are mainly Prosser territory. Kloppenburg’s 447 vote lead will likely shrink. #WIvote
and
5 precincts left: Milwaukee (2) and Juneau (1) lean Klopp, Jefferson (1) and Taylor (1) heavy Prosser. #wivote
Hermione Granger-Weasley
Umm…i dont want to jinx this, but it has the feel of the midterms in colorado…where the Red Wave turned into beach break. Conservative pollsters consistantly underestimate the cell phone nation.
In colorado, the urban centers (like milwaukee, hopefully) saved Colorado from the Focus-on-the-Family-michelle-malkin rural slopeheads. (i know, pretty snotty, but that is what we Front Rangers call the population of the heavily christianized conservative western slope.)
danimal
@Zifnab:
The GOP spent a ton of money on the race in the last week. Also, just because the Dems are super-charged and motivated to vote doesn’t mean that the GOP isn’t also super-charged and motivated to vote.
Fleem
@Zifnab:
Maybe I’m paranoid, but I no longer have a lot of faith in the integrity of elections.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@Zifnab:
Distributed Jesusland in action.
Conservatives can win local elections, but I think they will probably never win another whitehouse.
It is a race with the demographic timer at this point, and 2012 is sort of their last chance.
shortstop
@danimal: Yep. Very strong feelings on both sides over this one, accompanied by huge turnout on both sides.
Allan
The Democrats DID dominate.
In the primary, Prosser led handily at 55%, with Kloppenburg a distant second at 28%.
In a huge turnout election, she managed to split the state with the incumbent Prosser, even though a few months ago he would have rolled to a decisive win.
There’s your Walker effect.
David Fud
New update at 10:31AM CDT tightened it up to
PaulW
The thing bothering me is: after all the crap the Republicans put the state through the last two months, the incumbent GOP justice STILL GOT 700,000 plus votes?! What the hell?
eemom
DIE MOTHERFUCKER.
Between this election and the Ryan bullshit, I can’t seem to get those words out of my head.
TaMara (BHF)
@Hermione Granger-Weasley: We should so have coffee….
David Fud
Looks like if she does pull it out it will be by the skin of her teeth.
Only up by 240 at this point.
David in NY
http://www.lakemillsleaderonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=22&ArticleID=4937
Anybody know Lake Mills, Jefferson County (County is Prosser territory). That’s where 700-760 votes are sitting.
Zifnab
@Fleem: I don’t want to sound paranoid, but I can’t help getting a similar vibe. The whole electronic voting thing in Texas bothers me to no end.
dr. bloor
@Allan:
This. The fact that this will go to a recount is a minor miracle; along with the Abele over Stone election, they are pretty vivid demonstrations of the Walker effect.
The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@danimal:
I think the larger problem here isn’t that, in this race in particular, the GOP was just as fired up about it as the Dems were. It’s that, on the large scale, it’s almost impossible to find an election that will get Democratic voters and/or liberals excited and active to vote that GOP or conservative voters won’t be just as active or excited, but in the reverse, you can find way too many where the GOP and conservatives are chomping at the bit that Dems will be totally invisible on.
It’s a difference between the GOP “VOTE OR THE LIBZ WILL KILL YOUR GRAMMA AND MUG YOU FOR YOUR LIFE SAVINGS!” method of GOTV and the Democrats’ “Vote for the good of the nation, not for the good of the rich” method. On the surface they might be the same, but the GOP instills such utter visceral necessity in their voters, whereas Dems have been struggling to inspire wolves to howl, or lions to hunt, or goats to baa. What has become an instinctive mandate of necessity on the right is just…I don’t know, there when it comes to the leadership of the Dems.
Sure, there are sparks of urgency, like here, like in ’08, or whatever, but it’s just…near impossible it seems for the Democratic party to inspire the racing need to vote and be heard compared to the GOP, on a consistent basis. It really shouldn’t be this way, and I know part is complacency on voters who don’t comprise the GOP base, but you have to admit that the Dem leadership has been more than falling down on the job as a whole comparatively.
Mary Jane
@PaulW: You can’t underestimate the hatred that powers zealous Christian soldiers.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@Zifnab: Prosser ran unopposed ten years ago.
I’d say the dems are ON FIRE.
Scott Walker is a miracle worker….he raised the democratic party from the dead.
;)
Martin
Yes, the districts where union thugs are busy smuggling illegal Canadians across the border in their cheese tunnels to fill out absentee ballots.
Tim F.
@David in NY:
JeffCo is in and Prosser still trails by ~240.Correction – JeffCo is still out but Taylor, another Prosser district, has reported.dr. bloor
@PaulW: @eemom: The Republican majority wasn’t put in place by some massive voter fraud or a one-off shift due to frustration at the midterms. That’s Wisconsin.
Judas Escargot
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Does anyone know the margin Prosser won by in his last election? (I know neither the year of that election, nor the name of his opponent, otherwise I’d just use the Google).
Petorado
The Brooks Brothers must be getting restless in Wisconsin. Revolt is all but assured.
@HGWPretty inaccurate generalization about the entire West Slope. The mountain resort areas all lean pretty Democratic. It’s the ag and drill-baby-drill country west of there that goes pretty hard core to the right. And the Front Range does have Colorado Springs and DougCo getting their Tea Party freak on.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@Judas Escargot: he ran unopposed, lol. ten years ago.
Paul W.
@PaulW:
“incumbent” That’s your problem right there. Incumbents in this nation have something like 80% win rate, making this pretty impressive really.
TaMara (BHF)
After the numerous recounts…which regardless of who is ahead will be labeled as the unions trying to steal the election….is a winner declared or is there another process in WI? (you know, something fun like pistols at 50 paces or high card draw)
shortstop
@The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik: Astute observation.
kindness
@The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik: Ya know, after everything that Wisconsin has gone through, those of us not in the middle of the US have to question just what it takes to motivate people to vote in their own best interests.
More likely is the possibility that there are less moderates and progressives in Wisconsin than I had thought there were. That saddens me.
Omnes Omnibus
@David in NY: Anyone know Milwaukee? There might be a vote or two for Kloppenburg to be found there. Look everyone, this thing will go to a recount; it would be great if Kloppenburg is ahead going in, but ulitmately what matters is the count an the very end.
The fact that someone who was unknown in February is running a dead heat with a sitting supreme court justice is fucking huge.
wenchacha
Were there more Republican candidates for primaries across the state? That might account for Rep. turnout that favored Prosser, even if he wasn’t the main attraction for those voters.
I’ll say this, not being from Wis., and reading here and on DKos, my impression was that Kloppenburg would have this all wrapped up. Nobody’s fault but mine, but I probably let the obvious Dem./teacher/union activism convince me that failure was teh impossible.
That, and the feeling that I can’t bear any more losses like the 2004 POTUS.
Linnaeus
@Omnes Omnibus:
My roommate and I were talking about this last night, and this was my argument. He took the line that there’s no such thing as a moral victory, progressives need real wins and not symbolic ones, and that a Kloppenburg defeat would no matter what take away momentum from the reaction against Walker and would be seen as a vindication for his agenda.
He does have a point; actual power does matter and to get it you need to win elections. That said, I think that you have find ways to keep momentum going, because you’re not going to win every election.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@Petorado: Dude I haz relatives. I told you I’m a hereditary republican, right?
And I worked on O’s campaign and on Bennet’s.
There is ideological boundary slippage, sure.
We dont count Springs and Focus on the Family as Front Rangers.
Although we do count Aspen and Vail. ;)
South of Castle Rock is either rural or military and red.
shortstop
@kindness: There are fewer moderates and progressives in WI than you probably thought there were. That’s Wisconsin; it’s never been as blue as many think.
But the two things go hand in hand, right? If every single progressive in Madison, Milwaukee and the university towns voted, would that have been enough to take down red Wisconsin the way a fully mobilized Chicago can spank red Illinois? Omnes and other ‘Sconsinites, fill us in.
themann1086
@Paul W.: It’s worse than that; almost 90% at the federal level.
Or as my HS government teacher put it, “a higher retention rate than the Soviet governing body”.
The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@Linnaeus:
I’d honestly take his side on it. Moral victories are good when you’re just trying to get your foot in the door. But there’s going to be real consequences of this loss if Prosser keeps his chair, and the satisfaction of a “moral victory” isn’t going to change that if he stays, the WI Supremes remain a rubber stamp for Walker.
Mousebumples
To give an idea of just how unlikely Kloppenburg making a race of this really was:
Sentient Puddle
@Linnaeus: I would probably agree with your roommate ultimately, but just as a counterpoint, I’d say Paul Hackett vs. Jean Schmidt in 2005. Which may or may not be a great comparison to now, but it still came to mind.
feebog
According to the latest on DKOS the two Milwaukee precints are really out in the subburbs and are not really that blue. Could go either way there.
Rick
Wisconsin is as blue, or MORE blue than you thought it was.
Reagan won here, once. Since then it’s been Democrats.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@wenchacha: I don’t read dKos election coverage any more, because I get lost in the echo chamber and blindsided by reality when the votes come in. Dunno if Balloon Juice is any less an echo chamber, but I don’t get surprised as much.
Three-nineteen
@Omnes Omnibus: Apparently AP is wrong about there still being Milwaukee precincts left, Mil Co election commissioner says all the votes there are counted.
ETA: That came from a WISC news reporter who talked to someone at/on the commission. @news3jessica on Twitter
Linnaeus
@The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik: @Sentient Puddle:
Yeah, I totally understand that at some point, you need to win. What I’m hoping, though, is that some kind of momentum can be sustained no matter what happens. It’s one thing to honestly assess a loss as a loss, but it’s another to cave into defeatism (which I’m not accusing anyone here of doing, btw). It’s the latter that I’m worried about.
bodacious
One sour note of this election was an anti-Prosser add. While fronted by another organization, it drew in a 30 year old claim about protecting a sexual predator (I don’t know, I don’t live there, but my MIL tried to explain). While proven false, Kloppenburg refused to condemn it, and that really played poorly in the election. So, just sayin’ it ain’t 100% Dem vs Repb.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@shortstop: like a mobilized Denver/Boulder metro area spanked the slopeheads.
;)
Tom Q
@Sentient Puddle: Actually, I thought of that very race last night — how distant Hackett’s chances seemed from the start, how close the race was all night, but then how demoralizing the result was in the end. And, omen-wise, you could look at it two ways: the GOP lost the House & Senate shortly after…but Mean Jean sits there to this day.
The fact is, if Klop loses, both takes represented here will be correct: making even such a tight race of it, with a sitting judge who scored 55% in the first round of voting, is a huge political turn, and is a sign of serious consequence to the Walker actions. Just as Reagan coming within a point or two of Ford in the ’76 NH primary presaged Ford’s tough road to re-election.
But…in the end, winning matters. Ford was the nominee that year, not Reagan. And Prosser, if he should eke out a win, will make rulings favoring the radical right in WI. Those few votes will have serious results.
Omnes Omnibus
@Three-nineteen: Okay, I wonder what this means wrt AP’s numbers.
@Linnaeus: This.
BGinCHI
@Three-nineteen: If that’s right then there is only one precinct out and it’s Jeff Co and can’t be very big. I don’t see how Prosser bridges the gap.
It’s going to a recount though, and who knows how many absentee ballots there are out.
The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@Linnaeus:
The problem here is still significant: if Prosser wins, bar none the Dems will need to flip the Senate to have any realistic chance of turning back Walker’s agenda for a good many years. A win here helps stem the tide and provide much more tangible momentum to the recall efforts. It’s going to be easier to stop this shit by preventing it rather than trying to turn it back once it’s already done, and if Prosser wins, the latter is what we’re probably going to have to deal with.
JGabriel
Kloppenburg (D) now leading by 224 votes out of 1,478,924 counted, with 3627 or 3630 precincts reporting.
This is ridiculously close: Kloppenburg leads by 0.015%
JGabriel
The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik:
Question: Realistically, can Kloppenburg win a race this close? I mean, right now, Republicans control the Governor’s office, both branches of the legislature, and the Supreme Court (even if Prosser properly recuses himself, it’s still evenly split).
With a race this close, Walker and the rest of his GOP buddies will pull out every stop to ensure their guy wins, even if it means cheating.
.
shortstop
@bodacious: It wasn’t “proven false.” The guy in it just objected to it being used for political reasons. He felt stronger ties to his Republicanism than he did to other victims of sexual predation.
Omnes Omnibus
@JGabriel: The truly nonpartisan Government Accountability Board handles election issues. I have a reasonable amount of trust in their integrity.
Judas Escargot
@PaulW:
after all the crap the Republicans put the state through the last two months, the incumbent GOP justice STILL GOT 700,000 plus votes?! What the hell?
As I said the other day, there’s a lot of mean old white people out there. The kind who not-so-secretly crave Kent State solutions to the DFH problem.
Massachusetts almost ended up with a governor (a former HMO CEO no less) who explicitly campaigned on how many state workers he was going to fire, and not much else.
We’ll have at least a few more election cycles fueled by their resentments.
Judas Escargot
@Hermione Granger-Weasley:
he ran unopposed, lol. ten years ago.
Damn.
So there’s no real apples-to-apples way to measure the shift in votes. (We have the primary results, but that’s not really apples-to-apples).
daveNYC
@PaulW:
Also, too as a judge, it is harder to tie him directly to the mess the Republicans have made of things in Wisconson. If he hadn’t been such a stark raving asshole and instead had gone with the ‘call balls and strikes’ line, this probably wouldn’t be a contest.
JGabriel
@Omnes Omnibus: Good, thanks. I hope you’re right. Given what I’ve read of WI in the past few weeks, it does seem like the kind of place that would set up safeguards to ensure integrity in these kinds of situations.
.
shortstop
@BGinCHI: It is Jeff Co., but the rest of the county went 58-42 for Prosser. This really is a nailbiter.
Omnes Omnibus
@Judas Escargot: Running unopposed means that no one even though they had a shot at making it respectable.
jah
from @news3jessica,
In 2010, Town of Lake Mills, voted 431 for Barrett, 551 for Walker.
assuming the reporting that milwaukee is all in is correct and lake mills is the only precinct left, don’t see how prosser overcomes the gap.
Svensker
@jah:
With only 100-200 votes difference, the mail-in ballots will be critical. How long to count those?
Chris
@The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik:
Hate. And, like I’ve said before, wartime mentality. Their base literally considers the Democrats (not just the politicians, but the entire demographics that support them) to be an enemy on the same level as al-Qaeda, the Soviets and the Third Reich. That’s a pretty powerful motivator to go out to the polls and vote.
We (not just our politicians but our voters) don’t have anything like that kind of mindset, so we start out at a disadvantage in the motivation department.
Anya
@Zifnab: I think the “blacks are scary”, “gays are ruining my marriage” crowd come out in full force for judicial elections because they want judicial activism.
Speaking of judicial elections is anyone else freaked out by this election. I feel really uncomfortable about judges being elected. What’s the rule in campaign contributions for judges? Shouldn’t judges be barred from receiving campaign contributions?
Linnaeus
@The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik:
Oh, I agree. Not trying to be Pollyannaish about the ramifications of losing; just that you’ve got to find ways to turn negatives into positives as much as can be done. True, that ain’t easy.
themann1086
There will also be some exciting recall elections over the next year; winning this could validate some electoral Domino Theory :)
patrick II
@Anya:
I agree–I am generally uncomfortable about electing judges. But then, if this judge were to appointed by Walker, how do you think that would go?
me
@jah: They say there are about 700 votes there. If those people voted in the same proportion, Prosser would net about 100 votes.
That asshole Sykes is already talking about voter fraud.
lllphd
@The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik:
imho, the difference you describe, which seems accurate, can be boiled down to we don’t have a boogeyman. the repugs can trashtalk the libruhls till the cows come home with impunity, but dems daren’t speak a breath against ‘the heartland.’ because, no matter what we say – and this situation is amplified for obama – they can figure out a way to twist it to their advantage.
as for why WI dems didn’t do better with this one, a MN friend who traveled twice to madison for rallies suggested to me that the pedophile priest ad did not help but hindered. evidently WI is wicked catholic, and most of those folks would interpret this as an attack on the church, which has surely been through enough (?? i know; whatever….), especially since ya have to bet that joklo, like abrahamson, is herself jewish.
sigh. the beat goes on…..
rickstersherpa
Again, we find there is no good reason not to vote, and that even if the choice is between “not so good” v. “terrible” there is always a choice of the lesser of two evils.
I have lived in Europe with small parties and proportional representation. You don’t get doctrinaire liberal government there either because they all form coalitions and the elites make sure the policies stay within the neo-liberal tracks. Small party can nuture and grow, like the Greens, but the Greens, who just won a big state election in Germany (kind like a Democrat winning the Texas governorship), are not the radical hippie party they started in the 1980s. If you have safe Democratic district, primary him from the left. Borderline districs, try to support the most left wing candidate who can carry the district/state is my motto.
Joel
It will go to recount, but if the Jefferson county votes are ~700 as rumored, Kloppenburg wins by ~100 votes.
JGabriel
WE have another bump in the results (via AP):
Kloppenburg (D) now leading by 235 votes out of 1,478,943 counted, with 3629 of 3630 precincts reporting.
Kloppenburg leads by 0.016%
.
Omnes Omnibus
@rickstersherpa: I pretty much agree with all of this.
someguy
I wouldn’t sweat the results here. As long as it’s close, we’ll win in court.
Yutsano
@someguy:
I wish I could share your enthusiasm. But the Republicans are masters of the dirty trick. I think this will indeed be long and bloody.
me
The Jefferson County website must be being hammered becuase it’s very slow.
Tom Q
@lllphd: I think you might be underestimating the incumbency element here. Dems had a 60/40 win in the other high profile race — the race to succeed Walker — so it’s clear what’s going on statewide had a major impact. Open seat races are just easier to win, and incumbent races more difficult, even in elections with string tilts.
Tom Q
@someguy: Plus Dems in recent years have gained votes in later counts (see WA, MN).
me
OT The end of the world must be close.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tom Q: 73-27 in the Dane County Exec race as well. Hmm… 27%? Where have I seen that number before?
Jinchi
@lllphd:
Ridiculous. If the Republicans claimed to be the party of “Mom and Apple Pie”, Democrats wouldn’t need to respond by attacking homemade pastries.
All they have to do is point out who Republicans really represent. You don’t run against farmers, you run against Wall Street. You don’t run against NASCAR, you run against ENRON and BP and Blackwater.
Even better, you run defending the rights of teachers, firemen, auto workers, people who’ve had their homes foreclosed using fraudulent documents. And you bring together all the myriad groups of people the right has scapegoated in the last few years (women, hispanics, union workers, gays, Muslims, the poor, the middle class, etc.) and let them know who’s got their back.
Xecky Gilchrist
Kloppenburg leads by 0.016%
If it ends up with Kloppenburg winning by that narrow a margin, do we get to do the whole Bush-style crowing about political capital? Remember, the narrower the victory, the bigger the mandate, in wingnut-logic.
Yutsano
@Xecky Gilchrist: The nice part: she wins, she’s on the bench, she rules the way she sees fit. That will be more of a mandate than anything.
@Omnes Omnibus: This. Also.
Omnes Omnibus
@Xecky Gilchrist: No, we get someone other than a right wing hack on the WI Supreme Court. I’ll take that for right now.
shortstop
@lllphd: Kloppenburg is a German name, but not a Jewish one; there are in fact a lot of German Catholics in Wisconsin. (It’s her husband’s name, anyway — no idea what her maiden name is — and I’m not sure why her being friends with Abrahamson should lead one to assume that they’re both Jewish.)
I would not assume that most Catholics today view an accusation of failing to prosecute bona fide sexual abuse (that abuse has not been denied by any party, and the priest went on to abuse many others) as unfairly picking on the church.
Bubblegum Tate
@Xecky Gilchrist:
Perhaps, but I’m sure that will be drowned out by wingnut screams of VOTER FRAUD! ACORN! NBPP! Uh…SOMETHING ILLEGAL!
Omnes Omnibus
@shortstop: There are a lot of German Lutherans in Wisconsin as well.
TooManyJens
The one precinct left to report is the town of Lake Mills. An activist on Twitter says that though it’s not official yet, Lake Mills went about 50/50, which would leave JK ahead.
http://twitter.com/#!/nicknicemadison/status/55681233937641472/55681460857872384
shortstop
@Omnes Omnibus: Yep. There’re a lot of Germans in Wisconsin.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@Judas Escargot:
yeah, its more like no-apple to exactly-same-size apple.
;)
Barry
@Linnaeus: “He does have a point; actual power does matter and to get it you need to win elections. That said, I think that you have find ways to keep momentum going, because you’re not going to win every election.”
True, but given no wins, the momentum just ain’t there.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@patrick II: Electing judges is the only way that both sides get representation. The Founders understood this, and they built as well as they could.
The system is WAI, its just really, really slow. They built that in too.
You see….even the horrifically wrong get to have representation.
For a while at least.
;)
Dollared
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/article_212b0a92-5ff3-11e0-8d71-001cc4c002e0.html
Check out this map. The German and Scandinavian Lutherans voted for Kloppenberg, the German and Irish Catholics voted for Prosser. Oversimplification and in large part based on Kloppenberg being from Eau Claire and Prosser from Appleton, but the east west pattern and the match to Wisconsin’s demographics are unmistakeable.
TooManyJens
Lake Mills unofficial final count: Prosser 366, Kloppenburg 364.
themann1086
Via the GOS (via someone else), that last precinct in Lake Mills netted Posser 2 votes. So a 200+ vote lead going into the recounts. Excellent.
ETA: Yay, a color-coded map! Contrast with Walker’s election results.
Southern Beale
Kloppenburg is winning which means the GOP will have to file lawsuits to keep her from taking her rightful seat on the court, just like they do EVERY DAMN TIME the election is close.
Fuckers.
shortstop
@Dollared: That is a really interesting map. What’s that strong Kloppenburg county all alone in the northeast, above Green Bay? I could be less lazy and look it up…
shortstop
@themann1086: I love this stuff. What makes Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland and Iron so blue?
themann1086
@shortstop: Menominee, which voted for the Klopp 241-141. Yeeeah…
Chris G
@Linnaeus: Even if JoKlo winds up losing, this election has provided tons and tons of information about who’ll turn out for an oddly timed off-year election. That’s very valuable going into the recalls. You don’t move on from a loss by just shrugging and calling it a moral victory, you study the loss and figure out what you’ve learned for the next time.
themann1086
@shortstop: Ashland and Bayfield have sizable Native American populations and a large rate of housing vacancies, according to the 2010 Census data. Douglas and Iron are both very white, although Iron has more vacant housing units than occupied ones.
I heart census data.
cmorenc
Do I understand correctly that this judicial race was for a TEN year term on the Court (and not e.g. a shorter four-year term?) If so, Klopperburg’s narrow victory, if it holds up against any recount or challenge, will have much more lasting impact in Wisconsin (and indirectly, elsewhere across the upper midwest) than most of us from out-of-state even realized.
Joel
@Jinchi: Yes, and the keyest, and hardest thing (I fail at this all the time) is to attack the republican politicians, not the republican voters. Nothing good comes from the latter.
Omnes Omnibus
Testing
Omnes Omnibus
@shortstop: Unions. It is mining and shipping country.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@Joel:
.yup. plays into their game.
I made the same mistake here, by mocking juicers for falling for EDK’s Refabricated Compassionate Glibertarianism.
I’m an idiot.
;)
But im going to go read the weeping and gnashing of teeth at HotAir now.
That will make me feel better.
;)
jibeaux
@cmorenc:
Ten..
ahhhhh
Hermione Granger-Weasley
wallah.
oh pleasepleaseplease let it be Alex Jones.
Rupert
@themann1086: Vacant largely = seasonal vacation homes in these northern counties. Lots of lakes, forest, & recreational possibilities generally.
kideni
Wisconsin’s tradition of electing judges has roots in Progressive Era ideals of giving the people the power to decide their government at as many levels as possible. That’s pretty idealistic in this day and age of corporations spending amazing amounts of money on campaigns and voters not paying attention to the actual issues, but it’s a nice ideal. Every time there’s a judicial election various media factions weigh in about whether the system should be revamped, but thus far there hasn’t been a serious effort to change things.
Poopyman
So if (when) this goes to the courts, does it end up at the WI Supreme Court? And wouldn’t every justice have to recuse him/her self?
It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out, that’s for sure.
JGabriel
It’s Official! Kloppenburg wins by 204 votes.
.
me
Jefferson County posted the final totals.
P – 13,238
K – 9,741
About 400 for each from the current AP count
A Humble Lurker
Wow. Can I just say, however this turns out (after recounts and such) this has been just nuts, and it’s an amazing victory that things were even this close?
JGabriel
@me: I may have jumped the gun a little by calling it “official”, but at least it’s complete. Once the GAB publishes the results it’s official, and then Prosser will undoubtedly request a recount.
.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@shortstop:
cell phones. just like Colorado.
;)
Stillwater
Not to go all conspiracy here, but this quote was interesting:
That falls into the unknown known category, right? Or is it known unknown…
Svensker
Prosser sez
via Josh
Don’t you think that’s an interesting choice of words?
joe from Lowell
@kd bart:
Shlameil! Shlamozel! Hossenfeffer Incorporated! And Kill Whitey!
Stillwater
@Svensker: Heh.
Common Sense
I really don’t agree with electing judges. It allows for situations like Wisconsin’s, where outside money and influence can rig justice in a state.
shortstop
@themann1086: @Omnes Omnibus:
Thankee.
The third baseman’s great-grandpa was a logger up there (Belgian drafts and all) back in the day. Not as far back in the day as when the Ingalls family lived in the Big Woods before using the Homestead Act to “make it completely on our own, with no help from the government,” as Laura avers, but fairly far back.
shortstop
@Common Sense: Fortunately, the people who appoint judges are inhumanly free of influence by outside money.
JGabriel
@Common Sense:
As opposed to Republican appointed judges, who are never influenced by outside money and never rig decisions?
Seriously, though, I kind of agree with you. I’m not entirely comfortable with electing judges — as they are supposed to stand against the tyranny of majority, and it’s kind of tough to do that when you rely on the majority for your job.
On the other hand, locally appointed judgeships are prone to cronyism and graft.
It’s a bit of a catch-22.
.
kideni
Another thing about the Lake Superior area is there are a number of artsy communities, especially Bayfield and Ashland, which attracts not just potters and painters but also the coffee shop owners, B&B proprietors, and organic food purveyors that serve them and their patrons. Environmentalism is also pretty strong up there: Gaylord Nelson, one of the founders of Earth Day, was motivated by trying to protect the Apostle Islands. It’s a wonderful, beautiful area. If I ever move away from Madison, I’m going to Bayfield or Madeline Island.
Common Sense
@shortstop:
I’m well aware that other elected officials are corrupted by the same influences, but allowing the election of a Supreme Court judges just bothers me. The sham that this was a non partisan election is just ridiculous. I know that Prosser was elected through the same corrupt methods that have shone through so brightly with Walker. I understand that the only way Kloppenberg could compete is through making this local election a national one, thereby funneling millions of dollars and resources to the state and fighting Republicans on their own turf using their methods. I just don’t like the methods and it sucks that we have to adopt them.
I live in Texas and our “non partisan” judges are elected as well. Look at the state of the justice system in Texas for evidence as to why I feel the way I do about electing judges to make law. It is corrupting in that judges are beholden to their campaign contributors.
And JGabriel makes another great point wrt judges standing against the majority. This type of system puts judges in campaign mode when they render their decisions. “How will this affect my reelection prospects? What type of attack ad could be made from this?”
bemused
@kideni:
I just heard John Nichols on Randi Rhodes show say that Ashland voted for Kloppenburg 71%!
JGabriel
WE finally have the full results up at AP:
Kloppenburg (D) now leading by 204 votes out of 1,479,976 counted, with 3630 of 3630 precincts reporting.
Kloppenburg wins by 0.014%
Still waiting for the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board to publish the results on their site and make it official. I suspect that might take a few days, as I’m not sure if all the absentee / military ballots are accounted for or not — there’s conflicting info on that.
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James E. Powell
I didn’t see this elsewhere, but I thought it was germane for any analysis of the turnout.
2008 Presidential total vote – 2,983,417
2010 Gubernatorial total vote – 2,160,832
The Populist
I love it. I am sure the right will sue. Keep turning out America. If we can’t beat the corporate donations cash wise, we can own them turn out wise.
It’s time to show the right and their enablers and supporters that your ideas ARE NOT mainstream.
The Populist
@Common Sense:
Simple solution, eh? Tell the right to convene a constitutional convention to make sure personhood means PEOPLE not corporations, retry Citizens United once that happens and then if they still insist a corporation has a voice, demand transparency rules that common folks have to abide by.
If you give GOP candidate X money, we should all know WHO you are. If you hide behind a PAC or some other non profit to funnel the money, they still have to report WHO is supplying all this money.
I see this as a situation that anybody, right or left, should cheer and support.
Elie
@JGabriel:
This is wonderful — wonderful. Best news I have had in a long time.. Yay Wisconsinites!
lolo
Voter fraud, you bet there was. This is Wisconsin, where anyone can vote twice with impunity. But it doesn’t matter now if Prosser’s 7500 vote lead holds.