Democrats in Wisconsin needed about 540,000 signatures in 60 days to trigger a recall election for Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Today was the deadline, and they posted a seven figure number.
Democrats and organizers filed petitions Tuesday afternoon with more than a million signatures as they sought to force a recall election against Gov. Scott Walker – a massive number that seems to cement a historic recall election against him for later this year.
It would mark the first such gubernatorial recall in state history and would be only the third gubernatorial recall election in U.S. history. Organizers Tuesday also handed in 845,000 signatures against Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch as well as petitions against four GOP state senators including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau.
The sheer number of signatures being filed against Walker – nearly as many as the total votes cast for the governor in November 2010 and almost twice as many as those needed to trigger a recall election – ensure the election will be held, said officials with the state Democratic Party and United Wisconsin, the group that launched the Walker recall.
“It is beyond legal challenge,” said Ryan Lawler, vice chairman of United Wisconsin.
On, Wisconsin! And that’s got to make the Kochs nervous, as they spent millions defending Walker only to see the recall effort succeed mightily…possibly because of their involvement.
This fight is just beginning.
schrodinger's cat
Our media elders will still lecture us on we are a center right nation.
Scott
“It is beyond legal challenge,” said Ryan Lawler, vice chairman of United Wisconsin.
Well, I hope he’s right, but Walker and his cronies seem to specialize in shady legal challenges filed in courts they know will rule in their favor…
butler
Not to get too far ahead of things, but do the Dems up there have a decent replacement candidate to rally around?
Villago Delenda Est
@schrodinger’s cat:
Unquestionably so.
They should be hung from the same gallows as maggots like Walker.
Brachiator
I was listening to an interview with one of the recall organizers this morning. He or she noted that they didn’t want to talk about exact number of signatures until later today, when an official announcement would be made.
These are some serious numbers.
The response is going to be fun to see.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Walker got just over 1,128,000 votes in the 2010 general election, per Wiki. That’s gotta hurt. (his opponent got just over 1,000,000)
General Stuck
I love it. Not only for pure political and justice served reasons, because it confirms my often pollyanish wanking that Americans can only be pushed so far, and then they turn and fight back. Such a trait is needed for survival in these days.
The Moar You Know
Fox News admitted as much earlier today. They’re going to go with the “poor misunderstood Republicans who are only trying to save jobs in the face of the deficit being victimized by the Democrat/Welfare rabble” and the “OMG this will cost the state so much because of angry sore losers” angles.
pat
(I posted this on the newtie is a dick thread, before I saw this one.)
I went to the local Dem headquarters a couple days after the recall petition drive started. Since then, I have seen folks on street corners next to the Festival Foods parking lot, in front of the library, all over town. This was a huge undertaking, and it is going to take a LONG time (and a lot of money) to go through all of those signatures.
The jerk could actually save some money for the state (the local paper has been carrying front-page stories about the consequences of the cuts in school budgets) if he would just either accept the signatures as they are, or quit already. But of course he won’t be doing that.
edit: I’m talking about the Wisconsin recall, obviously. 1MILLION sigs. YAY!
Linda Featheringill
I googled population numbers for Wisconsin and found out the recallers had obtained signatures from almost a fourth of the total adult population in the state.
Wow.
Go, Wisconsin! Go, Wisconsin! Go, Wisconsin! Yea!
BGinCHI
It will be interesting to see what the national media will make of this in an election year.
Any predictions on how this will get spun as “Both sides do it”? Let the analysis fail of national media pundits proceed.
PeakVT
Go, Badgers, go!
Southern Beale
But they’re all dead people or California liberals!
{ raspberry }
That’s what the true believers are saying. Fucking wankers.
jefft452
“…as well as petitions against four GOP state senators including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau.”
This is important too
After 1/3rd of Republican state senators that it was possible to recall were beaten, all we heard from the “liberal” media was that the recall effort was a failure and dark warnings of backlash and recall fatigue
Getting 4 more senators on the ballot demonstrates that we are not giving up
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@BGinCHI: Well, you know, Grey Davis. Democrats get recalled too.
FlipYrWhig
@butler: Tom Barrett, who ran against Walker last time, appeared to be the front-runner in the last poll I saw.
BGinCHI
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, I figured that would be first up.
What I’m waiting for is the why. I’m also interested to see whether they’ll notice that no elections from now on in that state will happen without a lot of scrutiny from voters. Consciousness-raising has happened across that state like never before. WI Dems better be good to their base.
Hill Dweller
Walker must be taking advice from Willard. How else do you explain him attending a fundraiser, organized by the founder of AIG, in NYC tonight ?
Michael W
As I just said to my Mom. Democracy bitches I love it. And Now back to your regularly scheduled broadcast.
Schlemizel
You are just trying to raise my hopes so it will hurt more when they are mashed. Any guess on the next shitty legal challenge one of his crony judges will approve to void the will of the people?
I want to believe but I’m afraid.
The Moar You Know
@Hill Dweller: If I were Walker I’d be spending as much time in public as possible. I suspect that taking Koch money and then failing to make good on what you promised them might be…dangerous to one’s health.
feebog
I expected something close to this number when Wisconsin United decided not to release any more numbers shortly after the first of the year. The “shock and awe” value would not be there if it was apparent that this many signatures would be the total. They also announced that all but the very latest signatures had been pre-screened, look for less than 5% of this total to be disqualified.
Now comes the hard part; findin a candidate. Looks like they may hold a primary once the GAB certifies the special election. That will be fine as long as the candidates stay positive and go after Walker instead of each other.
Schlemizel
@FlipYrWhig:
Any analysis on why he lost last time. It was ~6% but still I’d hate to find out the guy had some problems that can’t be fixed if he runs again.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@BGinCHI:
In my head, I can just hear Mika Breszinski just dropping Grey Davis’ name, all by itself, with a self-satisfied little nod, as if that settles the matter.
@Hill Dweller:
Wow. That’s some tone-deaf shit right there.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Walker has it made now. If he gets recalled you know he is going to go right on Wingnut Welfare.
Being a worthless piece of shit is a paying job on the right.
OT:
Erickkk, Son of Erickkk, at Redstate, excerpted from a book review he has up there:
This is valuable information for the conservative book buyer! There’s nothing like seeing a Real Proud American Citizen talk about an easy way to get out of performing one of their civic duties. Thirteen comments on EE’s post and six of them are about what a good idea this is to try and avoid jury duty and not one criticizing EE.
What Proud Patriotic Real Americans!
geg6
OMG, that is just an insane number in a state that size. Holy shit.
Bwahahahaha.
ON WISCONSIN! My heart swells with pride in what those people have accomplished with these recalls. This is a big story. Which is why you’ll see nothing about it on tv, whether network or cable (well, maybe Rachel and Big Head Ed). Even the liberal NYT will bury it inside. But I think this could get bigger than anyone predicts.
Brandon
So the election will be held in Nov. 2012 in line with the Presidential cycle? That’s really gotta hurt.
Chuck Butcher
Having lived in WI, yes – Waukesha County, I’ve had hopes that Walker just couldn’t make this shit work there.
My mother lives in MI, she’s so furious I start to worry about her health – 84yrs.
BGinCHI
@Odie Hugh Manatee: It’s my personal goal to beat E sonof E about the head and shoulders with a copy of Coulter’s book. Bet that will draw a crowd too.
BBA
@Hill Dweller: The founder of AIG? C.V. Starr, who’s been dead for 40 years?
FlipYrWhig
@Schlemizel: No idea and I’m not local. The only thing I remember about Barrett was that he was beaten up while stepping in to defend a woman from a physical attack. Sounded like the kind of thing that makes a guy both a good person and an appealing political candidate. The Wikipedia entry on Tom Barrett is no help. I’d like to know what went wrong myself.
Schlemizel
@Brandon:
It could easily be sooner – the law requires it to be within a certain time of the petition approval. It could be as early as June! Thats one of the reasons it important to have a known good candidate to run against him.
Steve
Already seen on Facebook:
These people will believe anything. The only solution is to outvote them.
priscianusjr
New motto of the state of Wisconsin:
“Nobody fucks with the Badger.”
FlipYrWhig
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Ha, I really dislike quips about how much pride a person takes in getting out of jury duty. I thought I was a rare bird for that view! It’s like bragging about how you get away with picking your nose while driving or something. Unseemly.
jl
Congratulations, WI.
If some concerned citizens gather enough signatures, can they force a competency hearing for Perry? Who seems to determined to triple down on his stupid comments on Turkey being run by Islamic terrorists, perhaps even more fatally damaging his reputation for sanity and/or, detectable smarts.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Rachel Maddow had a segment last night that a group calling itself “Lunch Pail Republicans” has formed in Indiana to fight against Daniels’ union-busting, joining with the NFL players’ union. So a major sidebar to the flippin’ Superbowl will be the bipartisan opposition to the Corporate Republicans who hate working people.
BGinCHI
@jl: Some states get the leader they deserve.
ETA: With apologies to Austin and the urban parts of Houston.
debbie
Best news of the day. Game on!
Schlemizel
@BGinCHI:
Having lived under the maladministration of little timmy pawlenty for 8 years I have to disagree. The majority of the sate deserved a hell of a lot better than that. The problem is low information morans fell for his nice guy bullshit, even after it was obvious he was screwing up the state because he wanted to run for President.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@BGinCHI:
The problem with that plan is that EE would probably enjoy it. It would be just like Ann was beating up on him!
@FlipYrWhig:
I proudly serve when called in the past and I’ll continue to do so until I am physically unable to. According to EE and his ilk, I’m still not a Real American because I’m an evil librul out to destroy the country.
Yup, by doing my civic duties. ALL of them. :)
fleeting expletive
Um, if WordPress is going dark tomorrow to protest SOPA, does that mean that BJ is out o’ bidness too all day?
debbie
I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned this yet, but I was listening to Glenn Beck for a couple of minutes yesterday, and it seems his #1 goal for 2012 is to uncover the truth as to how George Soros led what was an inside job to destroy the economy.
JPL
OT..Since word press is offline tomorrow does that mean we can use the so.ci.a.list word ?????????
41..posted a word press problem also
Chuck Butcher
@FlipYrWhig:
You can see CNN exit polling for part of the answer.
(I) 56 Walker / 42 Barret
Primary turnout was 19.6%
Hill Dweller
@BBA:
Maurice Greenberg is throwing the fundraiser. He was head of the AIG’s North American division from ’62 to ’68, when he became Chairman and CEO of AIG; a position he held till 2005. He is currently the chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Co., Inc.
You’re right, he wasn’t the founder, but he was largely responsible for building AIG into the clusterfuck it became.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t make Walker’s attendance any less tone deaf.
David Koch
Halperin says these petitions are rife with massive fraud.
http://tinyurl.com/7nnrjhx
tulip
Wait, and I know this may be a stupid question but I thought the recall was determined to be against Walkers first amendment rights or something.
Was that just for checking the signatures? I thought the whole recall process was being taken into consideration with the earlier ruling.
Also, I’d be curious as to what happened with Barrett, was it just a barrage of negative ads with SuperPac money?
MikeBoyScout
Thank-you Wisconsin!
Well, the battle is set. A las Barricadas!
Maybe we could get a bleg up?
DonkeyKong
“Look, the people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not… fuck with us.”
BGinCHI
@Schlemizel: I know, I know. It was just a snark on TX and their continuing efforts to elect fucking idiots and then allow those idiots to run for an even higher office. With apologies to LBJ, who was an asshole, but a pretty good President.
Benjamin Franklin
Tell your tale walkin’, Walker.
BGinCHI
@David Koch: Hilarious.
Dustin
@tulip: Yeah, pretty much. He got targetted by Walker’s allies and money more than anything else. Barrett got Gored, basically.
@DonkeyKong:
Exactly. It’s looking more and more like Walker and his ilk blew their chance to enact their agenda and now it’s blowing up in their faces. Couldn’t happen to a nicer group of people, I tell ya.
gaz
Hey wait!
Wisconsin likes to FIRE people?!
OOOH NOOOOES!
gaz
I’m going to love watching this idiot campaign against NotWalker-D while his staff are getting nicked in the John Doe investigations, et al. The commercials practically write themselves!
gaz
@tulip: Walker’s campaign didn’t want to have to incur the cost of verifying signatures, IIRC. I believe that’s what it’s about.
Considering that at least 1 out of 2 would have to be invalid for him to nullify the recall petition, I’m pretty sure he has thrown in the towel on that tactic.
Gin & Tonic
@BGinCHI:
I’d argue that being an asshole is a large part of * why * LBJ was a good President.
shortstop
Best birthday present ever. I want to see this bastard go down.
gaz
*
This.
This is how a guy like Walker gets elected.
NEVER FVCKING FORGET IT.
(quoted from the post by @Chuck Butcher above)
also too GOOD ON WI for being awesome citizens in the end
Omnes Omnibus
@shortstop: You share a birthday with Michelle Obama and Muhammad Ali.
the fake fake al
Davis got recalled and Darrel Issa got rewarded with a Chairmanship of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Calif got Arnolt, and I got this decoder ring that talks. “Step away from the car, please.”
So good luck people of Wisconsin, Gov Walker and the schmo who might replace him. Be careful of what you wish for.
Need a shower after reading Darrel Issa’s Wikipedia page, oye.
shortstop
@FlipYrWhig: And it’s much worse when the person bragging about it makes his living TALKING ABOUT CIVICS, POLITICS AND THE POLITICAL PROCESS. Unbelievable.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@David Koch:
Halperin is a massive fraud so we can immediately dismiss his assessment.
He’s a dick too. Also.
shortstop
@Omnes Omnibus: This morning I was thinking about having been born on the same day as MO. When we were born, the idea of a black president, of a black first lady…well, stop me before I get all maudlin. Been a long time comin’, but change [has partly] come.
Lojasmo
Has Feingold ruled himself out?
I would lobe to have Mark in MN and Russ in Wi just for shits and giggles.
Yutsano
@Lojasmo:
Yes.
Mattminus
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
I don’t know about that. I think Walker is like the retarded kid that the terrorists are strapping the suicide vest to, but he hasn’t really thought the thing all the way through and is just all excited to be involved in a big plan with the higher ups.
shortstop
@tulip:
OO and other Sconnies will correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think it’s so much that Barrett ran a poor or not-good-enough campaign as that Wisconsin truly is pretty evenly divided right now. Recalling Walker will not be easy…but this news is truly wonderful.
RalfW
@David Koch:
Halperin is ripe with the stink of his own fraudulence.
BGinCHI
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Click on the link.
David Koch
@BGinCHI: @Gin & Tonic:
Tell that to the 3 million yellow people he incinerated.
David Koch
These recall petitions are undemocratic.
Chuck Butcher
@gaz:
Nah, 56/42 I vote is how he got elected, he got nominated out of the 19.6 number. I used to have access to turn-out by political ID – something I gave up with other D stuff – and the thing that always stands out, no matter how pissed the base is (R or D) they turn out. The non-affiliated is the vote that gets depressed by dissatisfaction and the easiest to flip.
I do not make easy generalizations about the (I) bunch, some behaviors are demonstrated by numbers and this is one. There is no I that would compose a Party. The one thing that identifies them as anything is the I, not ideology or policy or any really politically identifiable thing. Trying to identify the I as “middle” is really dangerous and stupid. What it comes down to is the negative that neither Party sufficiently matches their priorities – it is a “NOT” rather than an affirmation of anything.
Brachiator
@David Koch:
Yellow people?
Chris
@Chuck Butcher:
This. “Independents” often get confused with “moderates/centrists,” when the truth is that a ton of Independents are registered that way because the Democratic/Republican Party isn’t far enough to the left/right for them.
SiubhanDuinne
@shortstop: Happy birthday, SS! Hope the Baseman is doing something nice for you.
Violet
OT – Caught about two seconds of NBC’s Nightly News tonight and they showed a Romney rally today that was very empty. The reporter said it was supposed to be an energetic rally to built on the debate last night (or something like that), but that it wasn’t very full and that Romney seemed off-message.
Is enthusiasm for Romney in SC waning?
SiubhanDuinne
@Violet:
A consummation devoutly to be wished.
SiubhanDuinne
@the fake fake al:
Heh. You should have waited until tomorrow.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@BGinCHI:
Now that’s an LOL!
@Mattminus:
If there have been any rich-guy backroom deals with Walker, he will be paid for his silence. That and he will be portrayed as a Great Conservative who was taken down by evil mob boss-type crooks (eg: libruls, union bosses and members, fake petition signatures from dead people who live out of state and so on).
They will pay him and tout him until they determine that he can’t do any damage, then they can fire him. He can prevent that if he can find some other way to be a useful idiot to his masters.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator:
Vietnamese.
To be fair, Tricky Dick doubled down on LBJ’s fuckup. Basically in order to run on “Peace with Honor” in ’72.
Not that a crook like Tricky Dick knew the first thing about honor, mind you.
Chuck Butcher
@Chris:
There is this component and there are others, a lot of gun owners who’d vote D went I over that issue. The resource extraction industry is another, not the owners – the employees. There are plenty of ordinary R voting I because they’re fiscal not cultural warriors. The list of priority emphasis is huge and frankly often stupid.
(on the gun owners thing, there are a hell of a lot of gun owners who don’t at all buy the NRA line, but somebody like Gore or Kerry scare the hell out of)
Yutsano
@Violet:
I doubt it was ever there in the first place. They’re being forced to accept Mitten but they sure as hell ain’t gonna like him!
SiubhanDuinne
@Villago Delenda Est:
Nor a whole helluvalot about peace, for that matter.
Violet
@Yutsano:
While waiting for a doctor’s appointment today I read the WSJ’s coverage of the SC race. They said that Mitt was doing well in the coastal counties because they’ve had an influx of non-South Carolinians in the last several years. Apparently it’s a big retirement area (north of Myrtle Beach) for people from the northeast. Someone they interviewed said, “You’d never know you were in the Bible belt!” They like Mitt there. No surprise–bunch of old, rich, white retirees. Just his type.
jl
@Violet:
“Romney seemed off-message.”
Given how well Romney does when he is on-message, not sure whether that is a good thing. Might be bad news for Democrats.
Litlebritdifrnt
@shortstop: I suppose it is hard NOT to get maudlin, when you actually think of the enormity of the obstacles that we overcame and what we ACTUALLY DID, all these midget republican candidates think they can overcome US? Really? We are an Army, we gots our boots on and we are waiting to be told to mobilize.
gaz
@Chuck Butcher: /quietly steps off of soapbox
Chuck Butcher
@Chuck Butcher:
One of the big reasons the D Party can hold or grow its base is that it is so fractured that it seldom manages to be outright offensive to one of the factions, that and as an organization they manage to try to make the factions feel represented. The schism in the R brand is going to be tougher, there is a hell of a lot of offense being handed around – it gets smoothed over by resentment/other of liberals. The Mitt/Bain/MA thing is getting rammed down their throats and they don’t like it. What this means in ’14 is a pretty open question, and ’16 – Wow!
mclaren
Burn, baby, burn.
MikeJ
@David Koch:
The 40 million black people who can for the most part vote would disagree with those 3 million.
Southern Beale
At what point do these bazillionaires decide they’re wasting their money on such endeavors? Just curious.
Chuck Butcher
@gaz:
Depressed Primary vote is a damn big deal and I had no intention of minimizing it. It is the one time voters have a real chance to affect the direction of “their” Party. WI voters say Walker never let them know… I wasn’t there.
chrome agnomen
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
tell you what–i don’t want any of those assholes on a jury. that’s one way to help see justice served.
Odie Hugh Manatee
OT:
Just got an automated call from the sheriff’s department warning us about the coming storm (we’re on the south Oregon coast). I’ve been monitoring the weather via the NOAA site (damn our worthless and evil government!) and we’ve got a Big One coming; wind gusts to 85 MPH, ocean waves breaking up to 35 feet, high tides, flooding rivers, cold weather, lots of rain, possible landslides and more may be in the making.
This is projected to run through Friday.
@chrome agnomen:
The sad thing is that you are right. IMO these fuckers are corrupted souls who should never be allowed to pass judgment on a fellow citizen.
Good thing for EE and his ilk that this is a free country. They’re free to skip out on jury duty and they will fight you to death to keep that right!
rikyrah
GO WISCONSIN!!!!
Chuck Butcher
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
I’ve been there for one of those – building – in Gold Beach. It makes for a real storm. Take care, good luck.
Mike in NC
@Violet:
They’re known as “halfbacks” because so many of them retired from up north and moved to Florida, only to discover they hated the heat and humidity and general quality of life there. So they moved halfway back to where they came from, putting them in northern SC and southern NC.
10 – 20 years ago if you drove 50 miles in any direction from Myrtle Beach, you’d find nothing but farmland and forests. Today you see hundreds of gated communities sitting on golf courses.
What they most have in common is an aversion to paying taxes, especially for things they no longer care about, like public schools or transportation.
David Koch
@MikeJ: http://pro.corbis.com/images/U1571805.jpg?size=67&uid=%7Bc06285f3-8d1d-42ae-bfdd-9359c0e33d64%7D
gaz
@Chuck Butcher: just so we’re clear my last comment was intended as self-deprecating, since I hadn’t interpreted the post you wrote very well – I thought you meant actual voter turnout – silly of me!.
FTR I totally agree with you – and even if what I said made no sense in the context of walker – god damn it – it’s still true in general. =) =P
And yeah, I wasn’t there either.
Cheers
Maude
OT Word Press and Mozilla are going dark at midnight, for 24 hours.
See you on the other side.
Also, Reginald Hill died. He was 75. I mourn his passing.
jeffreyw
There ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And she’s always gone too long
Each time she goes away.
Roger Moore
@Chuck Butcher:
I think the big difference is that the Republican party is the us party (or the insider party) and the Democratic party is the them party (or the outsider party). The Republicans define themselves in terms of their membership in the tribe, with anyone who the Republicans don’t like falling into the Democrats by default. That makes the Democrats less coherent, but it means they can accept many different kinds of people, even some who tend to antagonize each other.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Chuck Butcher:
Thanks. Gold Beach is facing right into the storm so they get it head on. That’s pretty much the same for most of the coast. We’re (Brookings) relatively lucky because the city faces southwest and most of the headlands north of the town are state park land so there are few houses located near the ocean except for a small number that are immediately north of town. That helps to keep the winds down a bit but there are plenty of areas around here that will be exposed to the full brunt of the storm.
Staying glued to NOAA to stay on top of it. Plenty of gas and the generator is ready, deep freeze & pantry are loaded, candles, LED DC lights, flashlights, batteries & lanterns charged, filled and ready!
I hope I’m ‘disappointed’ and don’t get to use the stuff. :)
gaz
@debbie: Maybe he’s gunning for Alex Jones’ spot over on Coast to Coast or whatever the hell it is.
Edit: Oh. apparently he’s a “guest”. If he were my guest, I’d make him start paying rent if he was over that often.
Roger Moore
@Southern Beale:
When their ROI gets too low. Maybe they failed with Walker, but as long as they succeed somewhere and manage to accumulate some ill-gotten gains, they’ll still count themselves ahead. They’re only going to give up when they get completely shut out. Or the twelfth of never. Whichever comes second.
Roger Moore
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
I think this is because these wingnuts don’t really believe in the jury system. A lot of people genuinely think that the police and DA would never accuse somebody who’s innocent, so trials are at best a wasteful formality and at worst a way for guilty people to escape punishment. Why would they want to participate in such a farce?
piratedan
@Odie Hugh Manatee: aye, up here in Parkdale, shadow of Mt. Hood, and we have a foot on the ground and supposedly another 5 to 8 inches to follow
VidaLoca
@shortstop:
I’d say it was more like “both”: Barrett is a reasonably good guy as politicians go but we all know where good guys finish. As a candidate he brings no passion, no charisma to the game whatsoever. In the fall of 2010 he dithered for weeks deciding whether or not he wanted to run, while the Republicans were getting themselves organized. When he finally did run, he was ineffective. When he lost the gubernatorial race he went back to being Mayor of Milwaukee — in which position he has done not one. damned. thing. to oppose Walker. Until, that is, he realized that a few thousand other people had taken up the challenge. Now once other people have done all the heavy lifting he’s making noises like he’s rarin’ to go. Again.
He’s currently dithering between running for another term as mayor of Milwaukee and running for Governor (or to be more precise, he’s actively campaigning for the former position while angling for a crack at the latter) but at least you could argue that it’s a step up from not campaigning at all. I would be completely unsurprised if he were to announce that he’s running for Governor by the end of next week.
It’s true that historically Wisconsin is pretty evenly divided between the 2 parties. Elections are usually decided by smaller margins than the one Walker racked up over Barrett. A lot of people who voted for Walker have been suffering from buyer’s remorse over the past year though, and it will take more than the Koch’s money to convince them that it’s raining when he comes back again to piss on their legs.
Mnemosyne
@the fake fake al:
But what Issa really wanted was to be governor himself. That’s the funniest part of the whole story — he orchestrated the whole recall and got pushed aside by Schwarzenegger because Ahnold was the only Republican who was electable statewide, unlike Issa.
gbear
@Southern Beale:
You’ll know when they start hiring their own armies.
Gus
@MikeJ: Exactly. It’s glib to say he murdered 3 million people. His policies may have led to disaster, but there are shades of gray. He also helped institute Medicare.
Brandon
@priscianusjr: I think you mean, “nobody fucks with the crazy nastyass badger”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg
@Schlemizel: June? That’s pretty soon. Getting the turnout bump from the Presidential election in Nov. would have been guaranteed Walker’s demise. Too bad it looks like this election is going to be a one off. I hope they have a good candidate running against him. The guy who lost to him in 2010 seems like the logical front runner. But then again, he lost to him in the first place. The more I think about it, this is a big gamble for WI Dems because if they cannot take down Walker, I would think that his hand is strengthened to continue his agenda in two years. Hell, I’d feel that way if I won two plebiscites in two years, despite massive organized opposition.
VidaLoca
@Brandon:
This is one of the reasons for going after the four State Senators in addition to Walker. If the Dems can take only one of those Senate seats (net gain of one — assume that the Republicans will mount recall campaigns against Dem Senators once they get their acts together) control of the Senate would flip and a loss in the gubernatorial race would be somewhat neutralized.
Having said that, you’re right that his hand would be strengthened in other ways. If the left in Wisconsin loses this election it will be a setback, no doubt about it.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Roger Moore:
True, they do love authoritah, especially if it fulfills their preconceived notions of those they view as lesser than them. Guilty, hang’em all! It’s easy and it requires no thought.
That’s right up their alley, simple and stupid.
@piratedan:
My condolences. I’ll keep my wet weather, at least I don’t have to shovel it!
Good luck with the snow, the cold, the icy roads and I hope your power stays up! :)
gaz
@Gus:
Win!
The most fvcked up part of your argument is that it’s sort of hard to disagree with it. Well played.
Edit: Also too: @MikeJ, and David Koch, etc.
JR in WVa
@Brachiator: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, etc, etc.
Linda Featheringill
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
I looked up your incoming storm. Wow. That’s some major weather!
Steve
@VidaLoca: Of course it would be a setback to lose this, but there’s an important message that gets sent by the recall effort, win or lose – particularly at the legislative level. Your typical state legislator isn’t independently wealthy and doesn’t particularly enjoy being embroiled in a permanent campaign where they have to constantly fundraise and fight for their job. The next time there’s an attempted power grab, whether in Wisconsin or somewhere else, you can bet that wavering Republicans will be thinking to themselves, “Do I really want to end up as the target of a recall for casting this vote?”
We’ve seen the way formerly reasonable Republicans can behave when they’re worried about a tea party challenge from the right. Well, the pressure on their jobs can’t come from only one direction. In truly egregious situations like Wisconsin, Democrats have to do some of this stuff even though it won’t always be a winner.
Roger Moore
@Steve:
More correctly, we shouldn’t let the pressure on their jobs come from only one direction; it certainly can come from only one direction if we get lazy and don’t present any serious pressure from the left. That said, the pressure really ought to be applied during the general election. Recall really ought to be reserved for the most extreme cases of officials who either A) deserve to be impeached but aren’t because their party protects them or B) behave completely different in office from the way they promised to during their campaign. Walker probably qualifies under B), but he really is an exceptional case.
Nickws
@Villago Delenda Est:
The point being that the poster @ 72 is such a truth-telling progressive that he was using an anachronistic racial semi-slur when making his point.
Well, at least he didn’t call ’em “slopes”.
kideni
@VidaLoca: What VidaLoca said. Barrett pretty much had to be dragged into the race, and then he ran a bland, if not incompetent, campaign. I think he came out on top of the poll out today because 1) he’s the only one on the list with much statewide recognition; and 2) there are 9 or 10 people angling for contention at the moment, but the poll only looked at 4 or 5.
For Barrett’s campaign, and something that any Democrat has to contend with, it doesn’t help that the Milwaukee media market is rabidly right wing, so the state’s largest population center gets limited information unless they seek out alternative sources (the Journal-Sentinel has some good reporters, but their editorial section overwhelms them). Milwaukee alternative media and bloggers were screaming about what a terrible job Walker had done as county exec and the ethics complaints that were starting to bubble up. They got no traction in the regular media, though, and Barrett did nothing to highlight Walker’s problems either.
It was a bad year for Democrats everywhere, not just in Wisconsin. Barrett didn’t lose by that much, either: 47 to 52 really isn’t a landslide. As others have said, Wisconsin’s purple. It’s extremely rare that all branches of government are held by one party. Also, before this year, Wisconsin Republicans have often been fairly moderate and reasonable, so few people expected them to come out with such a hard-right agenda. Now they know.
elftx
@BGinCHI:
Here is an interesting article from August. Perry was “so picked by God”, which is why the little meeting last weekend of those that speak directly with God cracked me up..It was plenty obvious they thought they had their man to begin with.
Maybe they need to change carriers..seems like their connection with the Almighty was defective.
http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/rick-perrys-army-of-god
Yutsano
@elftx:
Or God is just fucking with them. He does have a sense of humor after all.
/Maher
pkdz
I remember reading about how the Governor’s race and the US Senators race each ended up with similar results, county by county. Remember, Feingold lost that day as well. So glad for some happier days here in Wisconsin. http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/results/wisconsin
Steve
@Roger Moore: Well, I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that we should be trying to recall everyone all the time. That would be a money fight that we could never win in the long run.
@Nickws: It is a commonly-heard point to accuse someone of not caring when people are bombed halfway around the world because they are just brown people, or yellow people in this case. Not saying I agree with the underlying point, but the usage is ironic, not racist.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Linda Featheringill:
Yup, it looks like a mean one. It’s calmed down a bit here, the garage door isn’t rattling so much at the moment. :) We’re up on a south-facing bluff that’s above the ocean about 100 feet up, about 300 feet back, and the ocean is pounding like a freight train enough to shake the ground.
The next weather wave should be over us soon, it’s moving fast and has a lot of energy.
shortstop
VidaLoca and kideni, thanks for the info on the flaws in Barrett’s last campaign…and his lack of action since.
And thanks, Siubhan!
Yutsano
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I’m waiting on the massive snow dump. Having a huge amount of moisture go over your cold airmass won’t look pretty in the morning I fear.
The Other Bob
@Brachiator:
As opposed to the 1 million brown people Bush’s war killed.
Todd Dugdale
PPP surveyed WI in October.
Q12 If there was a recall election between
Republican Scott Walker and Democrat Tom
Barrett, who would you vote for?
Scott Walker 48%
Tom Barrett 46%
Undecided 6%
Barrett had the best match-up.