Wisconsin recall: a big deal for GOP conservatives, not just Scott Walker

[Valin]

CSM: For the conservative wing of the Republican Party, the Wisconsin recall election on Tuesday is a test of core GOP doctrine. Of course, Gov. Scott Walker's career hangs in the balance, too.

Mark Guarino

June 5, 2012

 

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (r.) and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (l.) greet J & D Manufacturing employee Steve Poppe during a visit Monday, June 4, to the company in Altoona, Wis. The governor made campaign stops at six of the state's largest cities on the day before Wisconsin's historic recall election.

Steve Kinderman/Eau Claire Leader-Telegram/AP

 

Chicago

 

For Gov. Scott Walker, Wisconsin’s Tuesday's recall election is about whether his bid to slash state spending, particularly at the expense of public-sector labor unions, will cost him his job.

 

For Republicans more broadly, the recall tests whether pragmatic-minded voters in a swing state validate or repudiate the conservative mantra that the best path to prosperity starts by shrinking the size and scope of government.

 

Perhaps no other governor has been more radical in this cause since 2010 than Governor Walker, who took on the Republicans’ historic bogeyman – unions – and won. Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has praised Walker for reining “in the excesses that have permeated the public-sector union and government negotiations over the years.” Other Republican governors are lining up to follow his lead. Walker could be a hero and his platform a model for the party – if he isn’t recalled.

 

(Snip)

 

 

 

 

[Valin]

News Flash...Just In!....

Scott Walker Hates Women!

[NCTexan]

... a big deal for GOP conservatives... For the conservative wing of the Republican Party, the Wisconsin recall election on Tuesday is a test of core GOP doctrine.

 

 

Yup... them thar "wingers" are not like normal peoples... it's a big deal for 'em.

 

 

This is not a big deal for the rest of the Republican Party, the Democrat Party and the highly coveted Independents... in other words "normal people".

[Geee]

Posted this in the Coffee Shop this morning:

 

 

"Was at the polls at the 7 o'clock opening. Our tiny polling place had the parking lot full and cars parked down the road. I was #84. Milwaukee radio stations are reporting crazy turnout also. Hoping it's a good sign."

[Saltbag]

Posted this in the Coffee Shop this morning:

 

 

 

"Was at the polls at the 7 o'clock opening. Our tiny polling place had the parking lot full and cars parked down the road. I was #84. Milwaukee radio stations are reporting crazy turnout also. Hoping it's a good sign."

 

Great to hear, @Geee

Keep us posted!

 

I saw pictures of the "deterrent" union flyers saying stay home and don't bother to vote. If I were on the fence, that would make me want to vote all the more. That whole strategy just screamed of backfiring to me.

[Draggingtree]

Proving once again, libs are batshit crazy.

Via Revealing Politics:

[Geee]

Obama tweets his token support for Wisc. Democrat

 

 

 

President Barack Obama sent Wisconsin Democrats a last minute good luck card, via tweet.

 

 

 

 

“It’s Election Day in Wisconsin tomorrow, and I’m standing by Tom Barrett. He’d make an outstanding governor. -bo,” Obama said in a 7:17 pm EDT tweet, which was posted post after the evening news reports.

Obama’s evening tweet minimizes the president’s association with the Wisconsin recall-election, which Republican Gov. Scott Walker seems set to win. Democrats sprung the recall election in the hope of reversing Walker’s successful state-wide reforms, including a revamp of the state’s collective bargaining practices.

Obama and his deputies have largely avoided the state Democrats’ efforts.

On Friday, he declined to touch down in the state, even though he flew over it while attending six fundraisers in Illinois and Minnesota.

On Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney twice referred reporters to the state Democrats when he was asked about the president’s support for the Democratic candidate, Tom Barrett.

“The President endorsed Tom Barrett… the president supports him, stands by him and if you talk to the [barrett] campaign, I’m sure they can give you more details about how that support is manifested,” Carney said midday Monday. (snip)

 

http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/05/obama-tweets-his-token-support-for-wisc-democrat/

[Geee]

5 Reasons Why Labor Has Already Lost the Wisconsin Recall Election

 

Labor unions have a lot riding on the outcome of the Scott Walker recall election. They have poured millions of dollars and sent hundreds of volunteers to Wisconsin to assist Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, the Democratic candidate, in his efforts. Local unions have rallied to Barrett’s standard and have initiated a massive get-out-the-vote drive to bring their supporters to the polls on election day.

But all the money and all that effort has gone to waste. Labor unions have already lost the recall election regardless of how the vote turns out. Here are five reasons why:

1. Voters have moved on from the controversy over collective bargaining reform, which was the cause of the recall effort .

When Act 10, the bill to reform the collective bargaining process in Wisconsin, was being considered, labor unions tried their utmost to see it defeated. Tens of thousands of teachers, public employees, and other union members poured into Madison to physically try to intimidate lawmakers into voting against the measure. Democratic state senators took flight and left the state in order to deny the GOP majority a quorum to pass the bill. The anger was real, and union leaders were heartened to think that this kind of enthusiasm could translate into votes. So despite their failure to stop the measure from passing (a mammoth defeat that was followed up by another huge loss when most of the law was upheld in the state Supreme Court), they believed they had the momentum to overturn the 2010 election and recall several of the Republican senators who voted for the measure. Once in the majority, the senators would repeal the law and all would be made right.

 

Their efforts fell short — another defeat — when four of the six GOP senators won their recall elections, denying Democrats a majority by one seat. Then, late last year, a petition drive got underway to get the state board of elections to schedule a recall of Governor Walker. They managed this with relative ease, and the recall vote was scheduled for June 5.

But something funny happened on the way to the governor’s mansion for unions and their Democratic allies: the Wisconsin voter moved on from the controversy over Act 10. The white-hot anger expressed by public employee unions that inspired much of the public to support their cause has retreated, and voters now see jobs and the Wisconsin economy as far more important factors in the race than collective bargaining reform.

In a recent Marquette Law School poll, 46 percent of the registered voters polled listed job creation as the most important issue in the recall election. On the other hand, 12 percent of Democrats likely to vote said restoring collective bargaining was the most important issue.

Even if Barrett wins, his victory will not be due to the controversy over the collective bargaining issue, but to the fact that Wisconsin’s job creation has been sub-par over the last year. The unions will no doubt try to spin any such victory as a response to Walker’s efforts to “take away” their collective bargaining rights. But the fact is, the public has tired of the controversy and moved on to more pressing matters.

http://pjmedia.com/blog/5-reasons-why-labor-has-already-lost-the-wisconsin-recall-election/

[Geee]

Dem-labor fallout begins in Wis.

 

 

Democrats and unions began urgent damage-control efforts Monday in an effort to deflate Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-Wis.) expected win in Tuesday’s recall election.

Despite expressions of confidence, Walker’s adversaries spent the eve of the vote trying to salvage cold comfort as polls showed their man — Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) — heading for defeat.

They pointed, for example, to the fact that Democrats appear set to regain control of the state Senate, which could reduce Walker’s effectiveness as governor. But citing a probable down-ballot victory emphasized the fact that the left’s main goal seems out of reach.

Intrade, the political market service, put Walker’s chances of winning at 93 percent.

 

In addition to spinning the expected defeat, Democrats and labor pointed fingers of blame. Some union officials and activists partly blamed President Obama for refusing to help. Others stated that the recall was always going to be an uphill battle.

Walker has led in all recent independent polls, including a survey from Democrat-affiliated Public Policy Polling released Monday that had him up 50 percent to 47 over Barrett. The race has been highly emotional and hard-fought and has garnered national attention for months.

One union official involved in the race argued that even if Walker won on Tuesday, he would be so wounded from the recall that he will be rendered ineffective for the remainder of his term.

“[Walker] has two outcomes for tomorrow, which is be removed from office or survive. Neither is a great victory for him,” said the official, who predicted a Barrett victory. “He is going to come out of this thing battered even if he wins. … If it’s a Democratic state Senate, that weakens him even more.”

Four Republican-held state Senate seats are up for grabs on Tuesday, with Democrats needing to win only one to take control of the chamber and secure a check against Walker’s agenda.

 

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/governor-races/230841-dems-labor-fallout-begins-in-wisconsin

[Valin]

Proving once again, libs are batshit crazy.

Via Revealing Politics:

 

 

OMmmm My Goodness Gracious Me Oh My

OMmmm My Goodness Gracious Me Oh My

OMmmm My Goodness Gracious Me Oh My

 

I just feel soooo spiritual now, I am truly in touch with our mother the Earth, and our friends from the forest floor.

 

Bambi doesn't like Walker either

 

Not sure which Bambi

 

 

[Valin]

Politico: Wisconsin recall: Democrats prepare for recall recount

ROBIN BRAVENDER

6/4/12 11:40 PM EDT

 

Brace yourself: Wisconsin Democrats say they are preparing for the event that the hotly contested recall race could drag on for weeks, or even longer.

 

Floating the prospect of a recount is, of course, a message that bolsters the party’s claims that the race is closer than people think and that it will go down to the wire — despite polls showing Walker with the lead.

 

(Snip)

 

H/T Hot Air

 

[Draggingtree]

Proving once again, libs are batshit crazy.

Via Revealing Politics:

 

 

OMmmm My Goodness Gracious Me Oh My

OMmmm My Goodness Gracious Me Oh My

OMmmm My Goodness Gracious Me Oh My

 

I just feel soooo spiritual now, I am truly in touch with our mother the Earth, and our friends from the forest floor.

 

Bambi doesn't like Walker either

 

Not sure which Bambi

 

 

Valin great addition to the video thanks

[Valin]

City of Milwaukee Employee Uses Work Email for Liberal Get Out the Vote Efforts

MacIver Institute

June 4, 2012 1:52 PM

 

[Racine, Wisc...] A nurse with the City of Milwaukee Health Department used her city email account to forward an email about a massive get out the vote effort by a left wing organization in Racine.

 

Nancy Burns, public health nurse coordinator for the city, forwarded an email from Voces de la Frontera to an undisclosed number of recipients.

 

"I have nothing to do with that," Burns, the public health nurse coordinator, told the MacIver News Service. "I'm just a forwarding service."

 

(Snip)

 

[Valin]

ROTFLMAO!!!

 

Wisconsin’s Ralph Nader-Will Hari Trivedi Save Scott Walker?

Jun 5, 2012 1:41 PM EDT

With every vote critical in the tight Wisconsin recall fight, Trivedi’s third-party bid appears to be draining votes from Democrat Tom Barrett. Caitlin Dickson reports.

 

Tom Barrett is up against a lot today. Having lost Wisconsin’s gubernatorial election to Scott Walker in 2010, Tuesday’s recall election is his chance for a do-over. But while he was able to soar past labor favorite Kathleen Falk in the state’s Democratic primary last month, the biggest obstacles to reaching the Governor’s Mansion are still ahead of him. Monday night, Barrett supporters received a mysterious phone call telling them that if they’d already signed the recall petition, they don’t have to vote.” Barrett countered this attempt to suppress voters with a reactionary robo-call of his own, but now he’s faced with what may be his biggest challenge to ousting contentious Governor Walker yet: a pro-pot, libertarian-leaning third-party candidate named Hariprasad “Hari” Trivedi.

 

Trivedi wasn’t invited to the last two debates between Walker and Barrett, and he wasn’t even included in the most recent survey by Public Policy Polling, but that doesn’t mean he won’t play a key role in today’s recall election. Before dropping Trivedi from their polling options, the third party candidate had about 2 percent support, a small margin that could have a big impact. “Very few voters are supporting independent Hari Trivedi,” wrote PPP’s analysts, “but among those who are, their second choice is overwhelmingly Barrett, suggesting that Trivedi is pulling votes away from the Democrat. In a tight race, that could be a difference maker.”

 

(Snip)

 

There is no chance, of course, that Trivedi will nab the governorship. But in addition to his pro-pot, pro-choice and pro-renewable energy policy ideas, Trivedi is a staunch supporter of restoring collective bargaining rights for public workers. It could be this stance, above all, that draws in those would-be Barrett supporters still wary of the Milwaukee Mayor for reportedly embracing Walker’s union reforms to balance his own city’s budget.

 

[Valin]

June 1 2011

 

This is what happens when the two different worlds collide

 

 

Semper Fi

[Valin]

Wisc. recall: Heavy turnout in Dem stronghold of Milwaukee

Zachary Roth

Jun 5, 2012 3:08 PM EDT

 

Milwaukee has called in extra poll workers amid heavy turnout for today's recall elections. The city is a Democratic stronghold, so that's a positive sign for those hoping to see Gov. Scott Walker ousted.

 

Still, Walker has been narrowly leading in recent polls. We'll have to wait until polls close at 8pm Wisconsin time.

[Draggingtree]

Wisconsin recall: Democrats prepare for recall recount

 

 

 

By ROBIN BRAVENDER | 6/4/12 11:40 PM EDT

 

Brace yourself: Wisconsin Democrats say they are preparing for the event that the hotly contested recall race could drag on for weeks, or even longer.

 

Floating the prospect of a recount is, of course, a message that bolsters the party’s claims that the race is closer than people think and that it will go down to the wire — despite polls showing Walker with the lead Yet there’s reason a recount can’t be so easily dismissed.

 

Walker can’t seem to break his 50 percent ceiling of support among Wisconsin voters. His ballot support has hovered at either 50 percent or 49 percent in 12 of the 14 polls released since early May, and recent polls show the race tightening in the final stretch.

 

“We’re very much anticipating that there’s a chance that we could be in a recount scenario,” said Mike Tate, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. He said the party will have more than 440 lawyers Read More

 

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77045.html#ixzz1wxGLjDOo.

[mozartlover]

A "recall recount"??? Oh God NO. Let this end tonight. Definitively. Emphatically. Once and for all.

[Geee]

A "recall recount"??? Oh God NO. Let this end tonight. Definitively. Emphatically. Once and for all.

 

Let's hope that Walker has an overwhelming lead and it is not possible. I am hearing that there are enormous amounts of new regestrations in Milwaukee and Madison though

[NCTexan]

[mozartlover]

http://www.drudgereport.com/

 

Siren up; exit polls: Walker will retain seat.

 

A little too early IMHO but interesting.

[Valin]

The latest updates on the Wisconsin recall election

 

Early exits: Wisconsin recall voters ideologically similar to 2010

Scott Clement, Peyton M. Craighill and Jon Cohen

06:29 PM ET, 06/05/2012

 

So far, voters in the Wisconsin recall election have very similar ideological leanings to the 2010 electorate that first voted Gov. Scott Walker into office, according to preliminary exit polls. More than one in three voters identify as conservative while just north of two in 10 are liberals. Moderates continue to make up the biggest chunk of Wisconsin voters, accounting for over 40 percent of the electorate.

 

 

[Valin]

Daily Kos: BREAKING: Madison, Wisconsin Turnout Over 100%

[Geee]

Polls close at 8 central

 

Live election results map:

 

 

http://www.todaystmj4.com/pages/152344525.html

[mozartlover]

Polls close at 8 central

 

Live election results map:

 

 

http://www.todaystmj4.com/pages/152344525.html

 

Thanks Geee.

 

I'm getting a little nervous.....