Wisconsin
Related: About this forumquestion: how the hell is Walker winning in Wisconsin?
looking at it from Oregon, i don't understand how this guy keeps winning. 3 elections in 4 years, right? How? Why? is he really so popular? Do the people of Wisconsin support his position on the issues? Are they seeing it as voting against unions and Obama?
help me understand. Wisconsin used to be reliably liberal, what happened?
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VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)we didn't show up...
0rganism
(23,944 posts)seems like Kansas is a whole different kettle of fish.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)When WE vote ....WE WIN!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)... Milwaukee Election Commissioner Neil Albrecht verified the high voter numbers, saying that turnout in the city had edged close to 70 percent, with some wards outstripping the number of voters reached for the recall effort.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)come on.....
Scuba
(53,475 posts)We've run a Republican-lite candidate against Walker three times in a row, and lost each time. Meanwhile, progressive candidates like Tammy Baldwin win state-wide races in Wisconsin.
Maybe next time we'll run a progressive for Governor. Clearly moving to the right isn't working.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)that would make a difference....when WE vote WE WIN!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)... praised Scott Walker's Act 10, voted against the teachers union, donated money to charter schools and outsourced Trek jobs to China, for some reason Wisconsin Democrats weren't inspired. Weird, eh?
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)you keep telling yourself that.....whatever gets you through the night...its all right....its all right!
But you are welcome to run whomever you want.....work inside the party
Previous Mid Term election results belie your position....
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Now take a look at Tammy Baldwin, smeared by the Wisconsin right as a "Madison liberal lesbian".
That would be US Senator Tammy Baldwin to you.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)particularly because YOU will decide what YOU think is or isn't a Progressive issue.....I ain't playing that silly game.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)As for party preferences, a yearlong annual Gallup poll released in January 2014 identified 17 states as blue, meaning their residents were solidly or leaning Democratic; and 14 as red, as in solidly or leaning Republican. That left 19 states, including Wisconsin, rated as competitive.
In sum, Wisconsin doesn’t measure up as one the bluest states.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2014/apr/02/rush-limbaugh/wisconsin-heavily-democratic-state-and-yet-under-s/
Even Blue Maryland got a R. Governor.....so cheer up buttercup!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)even Maryland got a R for Governor....
Look at what the polling showed...
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/governor/md/maryland_governor_hogan_vs_brown-5098.html
nuff said!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)sorry...it is Purple....its a swing....
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Wisconsin 2012 election results
Barack Obama Popular vote 1,620,985 (52.83%)
Mitt Romney Popular vote 1,407,966 (45.89%)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Wisconsin,_2012
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)He DID campaign with her!
AllyCat
(16,180 posts)It's hard to go door to door and talk to people about her or Barrett and they are a union or working class household and they note that neither of hose candidates help workers much. Republican-lite, DLC, Third Way will NOT help us. It has only hurt so far. Will continue to hand elections to teabaggers.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)its conjecture pure and simple....typically proposed by Left Leaning Independents who cannot commit to voting for whomever wins the Democratic primary...
AllyCat
(16,180 posts)All of it. Your job promoting the DLC/Third Way propaganda is to slam everyone else who disagrees with you as a commie lefty. How you then extrapolate that to noncommittal for the Dem nominee is also part of the job.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)by default....if you are NOT going to vote for whomever the DEMOCRATS ELECT in a DEMOCRATIC election called The Primary...they you just became Independent.....in a democracy...you don't always get what YOU want. You have to trust your fellow Democrats....I trust them....after all President Obama was not my choice...but I DO support him now...because I DO support Democrats...
Independent = Not Dependable....
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)I doubt many Dems voted for him so if I am right more repukes voted than did Dems.
I think the answer to your question when asked about any 2014 race the answer is more repukes voted than Dems I don't know where independents come down.
0rganism
(23,944 posts)OK, so the 1st time is in 2010 - somehow he slipped in under the radar, or something like that?
Then there's the recall - i heard a lot of voters just wanted to give him a chance to finish out his term
This time around, was it just a matter of turnout + advertising?
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)It is that simple.
There have been several reasons given. One is there was nothing worth voting for. Another is that "our guy is not as bad as their guy" was not a reason to vote.
I don't buy either. I think people did not bother to vote and rather than take responsibility for the loss they make those excuses.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)
Warpy
(111,253 posts)Democrats just couldn't be arsed to go out and vote for business as usual.
Robert Reich has that exactly right. Wall Street Democratic policies are killing us, just a little slower than Republican policies are. Might as well get it over with.
ginnyinWI
(17,276 posts)My mailbox was stuffed with slick, glossy flyers saying how wonderful he was and how bad his opponent was. Same with ads on the local TV news. Every image of her showed her frowning and ugly, in black and white. And his Magnificence all in glowing colors. And yes, the Dems stayed home and the Rep base came out.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)Dear Wisconsin: Minnesota Wants a divorce
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10593701
AllyCat
(16,180 posts)Our state is horrible now. So proud to live here and talk about Wisconsin the last couple decades I have lived here. Now, I just want out.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)Yeah, I sure didn't see the change in Wisconsin coming. Overnight crazy.
Lefta Dissenter
(6,622 posts)After having our nominee selected by the Democratic party establishment instead of going through a true primary process, many Democrats took the attitude that they'd vote, but they weren't going to bust their asses for someone who didn't inspire them. If we're going to try to compete with the big money and slick campaigning of the right wing, Democrats need to be inspired enough to get out and talk to every voter in the state!
The state party sucks, their methods suck, their messaging sucks... and yes, it's time to take it over!
YarnAddict
(1,850 posts)The rest of the state, not so much.
I was raised by conservative cheeseheads, so I understand the mindset of rural "outstate" Wisconsinites. and I think the Democratic tactics over the last four years offended a lot of people.
First, the Dem legislators took off and hid out in Illinois in order to prevent the democratically elected legislature from doing its job.
Second, the protests at the Capitol did nothing for the Dems' cause. They were televised. People saw libs harassing others, obstructing entrances, MDs writing fraudulent "doctor's excuses" for teachers, etc. And the chanting: "This is what democracy looks like!" Well, not really. A lot of people think democracy looks like voters going to the polls, electing their governor, and getting on with life; not throwing what looked like a huge temper tantrum over the democratically elected govornor's and legislators' actions that they disagreed with.
Finally, the recall. People had voted for Walker, knowing what he was going to do. For a group of people who disagreed with his actions to say, "No fair!! Do-over!!" seemed like the whining of a bunch of sore losers. Emotions ran high--on both sides. My sis was telling me about a local event where there were both recall and anti-recall petitions available. Well, a pro-recall supporter grabbed the (signed) anti-recall petitions and ripped them up. Not cool.
If it hadn't been for the recall, I truly believe that voters would have turned Walker out of office after four years. I think that in 2014 people felt that they needed to justify their 2010 vote against the people who wanted to undo it in 2010.
Just my observations.
Lefta Dissenter
(6,622 posts)How do you think Kathleen Vinehout would have fared, had she run in this last election?
YarnAddict
(1,850 posts)I didn't pay that much attention to Cheesehead primaries. I was more focused on and interested in what was going on here on the other side of the puddle. (Mercifully, Terry Lynn Land lost, but we are still stuck with Snyder.)
Lefta Dissenter
(6,622 posts)a real primary would have been nice. 
And sorry about Snyder. One of my activist friends is from Michigan - splits his time between MI and WI. He has busted his ass against both of these governors. He was dealt a double blow on Election night.
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)Menominee county (a reservation) is very democratic and liberal
The southwestern 5 or 6 countries are democratic and 3 of them are pretty reliable, if low population.
Wisconsin's Lake Superior shore is democratic and is pretty reliable at the polls.
Outside of Green Bay/Fox River area which leans republican, much of the remainder of state is very close to 50-50 and as it turns out depending on how central WI swings, so goes the state.
With respect to losing to Walker, truth is Dems have lost despite better and better voter turnout, and that's because the tea-party in Wisconsin is very highly motivated. They misunderstand most of the economic and tax problems in the state, but they are very angry due to their perception that urban areas in SE WI get unfair shares of tax resources.
They have an enemy to oppose and they do.
YarnAddict
(1,850 posts)so I was basing my observations on the experiences with my own relatives. My dad self-identified as a Democrat, but on at least one occasion made the statement that "Ronald Ray-gun was the best president we ever had." I didn't get it. He grew up during the Depression, and knew that FDR had ended it; he was a WWII vet, and knew what a great leader FDR was. But still thought Raygun was a better prez!
I think a lot of my relatives felt alienated by things that happened in the 60s and 70s. Everyone was supposed to be "rah-rah American" about Vietnam, but instead they saw televised protests and flag burning (which deeply offended my dad.)
My in-laws (northern Milwaukee 'burbs) were staunchly R, so I was treated as an ignorant hick for my own views. And much other stuff. Like, believing in public education even though (in their view) parochial schools were soooooooo much better.
It was very helpful when my dh's bro married a woman (Minnesotan) who was even more liberal than me, and much, much more outspoken!
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)Imo, it's important to be careful about falling into that popular pattern without good reason, as it tends to bias thinking.
It often makes places like the northwest side of Milwaukee the goat in every democratic loss, and the losses really need to be seen as more far-reaching.
IMO, the bias in thinking tends to trap Dem campaigns into a rural anti-Milwaukee vs Milwaukee/Dane Co. game plan.
There are democratic strongholds in the state outside of Dane and Milw counties, and there are swingable areas.
IMO, the purple battleground of WI is the center of the state. If you make a circle centered on Steven's Point using a radius that reaches to Menasha you have a good idea of the part of the state that pretty regularly swings between general and off-year elections.
YarnAddict
(1,850 posts)is a place liberal young people leave as soon as they can, and don't return to live unless they have become much more conservative. I don't understand that, either, since there is unionized industry, and a university. Maybe more of both, plus cultural attractions that would appeal to a more diverse population, would help. But, I think that TPTB in the area like things the way they are.
Things have only gotten worse since Dave Obey retired.