Summer shocker for GOP in Wisconsin recall battle

[cal04]

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/state-a-local-politics/153305-breaking-news-summer-shocker-for-gop-in-wisconsin-recall-battle

The first nationally important election since November 2010 will be almost certainly occur this summer in multiple recall votes for Wisconsin state senators. The first petition with the required signatures will be filed imminently, probably today (Friday), for a recall vote to replace Republican state Sen. Dan Kapanke.

Multiple Democratic sources in Wisconsin tell me that all of the recall petitions are gathering significant support, ahead of schedule, and multiple petitions with the required signatures will filed in the coming days and weeks.

The signatures will first have to be formally verified. Of the eight Republican senators being targeted for recall by Democrats, if three of them are defeated in recall elections the Wisconsin Senate will shift from Republican to Democratic.

There are several Democratic state senators that Republicans are targeting for recall; time will tell whether any of them achieve the required signatures. If public opinion is a guide, the Democratic senators will probably win their battles while the Republican senators face great peril from the voters.

[monmouth]

1. Is this being reported in the media? I can't bear to turn the tv on...n/t

[toddwv]

13. Cenk covered it today. He had a good little piece dedicated to it.

Seemed rather gleeful that the recalls were going to happen.

[Donnachaidh]

2. toss them all out -- a not so gentle reminder that lockstep in politics is painful

And dangerous.

[closeupready]

3. This.

/thread.

[Bandit]

4. One thing to keep in mind, there are 175,000 public employees effected but over 6 million population

Republicans won in the last election overwhelmingly..I would not count any chicks before the eggs are completely hatched...:shrug:

[gholtron]

6. The fact that so many signatures were gathered

in a short period of time, and given that a few of the repuke Senators barely won in their district, and given the fact that the polls show Snot Walker and this almost law is very unpopular, I would start counting the chickens. Course, that's just me.

[AllyCat]

16. +1! Welcome to DU gholtron!

[rpannier]

22. I would also point out

That of those remaining people, many of them are already Democrats
And a decent number of the rest are probably married to, or related in some way to one or more public employees

[titaniumsalute]

30. Population really has nothing to do with voting

Yes there's a big difference in numbers between 6 million and 175,000 people.

However out 5.6 million population you need to factor out everyone under 18 years old first. (23.2% according to 2009 numbers.) That actually makes the adult population about 4.3 million people.

Then you need to factor in people who are registered to vote which I believe is about 85% of the people who are vote-eligible. That takes the number down to 3,655,000 people registered to vote. In most non-presidential elections the voter turnout is miserable. Let's say it may get as high as 50% (which I highly doubt) for the sake of argument. That leaves 1,827,000 voters.

If you take 175,000 public employees and all of the retired public employees which is like 40,000, you get 215,000 pretty much guaranteed votes. Then factor in say a multiple of 4 times this number from friends and family memebers of those public employees and you have yourself a nice big chunk of votes.

Last, you also need to factor in all of the thousands of Dems and Inds that didn't bother voting last fall in the Gov and State Congress elections. A lot of people stayed home. They WILL go out and vote this time.

[donquijoterocket]

43. republicans won

Because they were remarkable effective at keeping their agenda and true intentions from the voting public- which is to say lying- but now it's out in the open and everyone can see what they're really all about along with their connections to our wannabe seigneurs and their money. I don't think people will be fooled so easily again plus a lot of the anger and resentment that tilted that vote has either dissipated or reshaped itself.

[CanonRay]

45. Plus fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, aunts & uncles, children

etc, etc. Not to mention non-public union employees and THEIR families. None of whom will sit it out.

[txlibdem]

5. +1 n/t

[Scuba]

7. It appears seven of the eight Republicans will face a recall...

...with Glen Grothman's extremely "red" area being a tough place to collect signatures.


We only need to flip three seats to flip the Senate.

[Bound by Honor]

9. Grotham will be targetted and thrown out

All 8 will be thrown out.

And The rest will be thrown out next Janurary. Funds will be available.

[Scuba]

11. I appreciate your support, as do all of here in Wisconsin. n/t

[monmouth]

14. Are "out of state" contributions accepted? Wisconsin is my nomination

for the beauty prize of states this year. No swimsuit competition but plenty of guts and fortitude. If it wasn't so damned cold I'd move there in a heartbeat. I like the cut of Wisonsin's jib...LOL.

[Scuba]

15. Send cash and pizzas. Thanks.

[BrightKnight]

17. Act Blue Links - They are going to need money to make this happen.

https://secure.actblue.com/page/wiscrecall

https://secure.actblue.com/page/recallrepublican8

https://secure.actblue.com/page/recalltherepublicans

[cyclezealot]

20. Don't forget Ohio.

So many priorities.. ?
There is an voter initiative underway to put Ohio's new anti labor law on the ballot.

[Scuba]

12. And welcome to DU !!

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[diane in sf]

18. What on earth are you talking about/trying to say?

[liberal life]

10. make sure the recall vote is on paper ballots hand counted and posted at the precincts

Nothing has changed about our faulty election systems set up for easy election theft.


http://fucorporatemedia.com/

[diane in sf]

19. You are absolutely correct!

[sybylla]

25. Rest easy. Wisconsin requires paper ballot

or verifiable paper ballot on electronic voting machines. We require that both parties are represented equally in our election workers at the polls. And many of our municipal and county clerks who are in charge of managing the voting process and counting votes are Democrats. We have a very open and well-supervised process here.

[PatSeg]

28. That is good to hear

My first thought when I saw this thread was about election fraud. I've learned to never get comfortable and never, ever trust republican politicians.

[elocs]

35. Which is why I consider cries of election fraud conspiracy here unfounded,

particularly concerning the election of Walker. Throughout the summer of 2010 the polls showed Walker beating Barrett so it should have been no big surprise when it happened, especially with so many Democrats sitting out the election which had consequences throughout the state.

I am confident about our election process here. Governments are formed, laws and policies are made as a result of those who choose to participate in the process and that participation begins with the elections.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

38. With respect

I've read your posts on this subject which have provided somewhat of a relief. However, even though there are people in parts of Wisconsin who are doing their best to keep elections honest,I don't think we can or should completely kick back and rest easy. As I keep repeating, much of the fraud takes place in the tabulation of votes, paper ballot or otherwise.

[sybylla]

50. With respect

I never say we shouldn't be vigilant.

I say that, for the moment, so long as we have the system we have, there's no need for chicken little style bewailing of our voting system. It's paper-based. It's watched closely by both parties. It's verified every time we have an election through a scattering of recounts that nearly always cover multiple jurisdictions. So far, the pukes haven't been able to fuck that up in the legislature.

The bigger problem we have here is people being turned away from the polls. If the new voter ID bill passes, it will only get worse.

[midnight]

44. Right you are liberal life... Because we have Diebold here in Wisconsin...

Diebold Inc in Brookfield, WI is a private company categorized under Calculating and Accounting Equipment. Register for free to see additional information such as annual revenue and employment figures.http://www.manta.com/c/mm75n00/diebold-inc



“Was it people voting or was it Diebolt and their motto " We vote for you so you don't have to ".{ found on HP } The r's big win still does not smell right .”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/butterfly218/wisconsin-gop-plan-advance-anti-union_n_833796_80112554.html

Diebold�s track record

Wherever Diebold and ES&S go, irregularities and historic Republican upsets follow. Alastair Thompson, writing for scoop.co of New Zealand, explored whether or not the 2002 U.S. mid-term elections were �fixed by electronic voting machines supplied by Republican-affiliated companies.� The scoop investigation concluded that: �The state where the biggest upset occurred, Georgia, is also the state that ran its election with the most electronic voting machines.� Those machines were supplied by Diebold.

Wired News reported that �. . . a former worker in Diebold�s Georgia warehouse says the company installed patches on its machine before the state�s 2002 gubernatorial election that were never certified by independent testing authorities or cleared with Georgia election officials.� Questions were raised in Texas when three Republican candidates in Comal County each received exactly the same number of votes � 18,181.

Following the 2003 California election, an audit of the company revealed that Diebold Election Systems voting machines installed uncertified software in all 17 counties using its equipment.

Former CIA Station Chief John Stockwell writes that one of the favorite tactics of the CIA during the Reagan-Bush administration in the 1980s was to control countries by manipulating the election process. �CIA apologists leap up and say, �Well, most of these things are not so bloody.� And that�s true. You�re giving politicians some money so he�ll throw his party in this direction or that one, or make false speeches on your behalf, or something like that. It may be non-violent, but it�s still illegal intervention in other country�s affairs, raising the question of whether or not we�re going to have a world in which laws, rules of behavior are respected,� Stockwell wrote. Documents illustrate that the Reagan and Bush administration supported computer manipulation in both Noriega�s rise to power in Panama and in Marcos� attempt to retain power in the Philippines. Many of the Reagan administration�s staunchest supporters were members of the Council on National Policy.http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

[sybylla]

51. But we also have a voter-verified paper ballot.

Not just Diebold, but machines from all the bad players. Those of us who were part of the Black Box Voting movement worked hard in Wisconsin to make sure if we went electronic, we had voter-verified paper ballots. And we do.

That's not enough to keep people from wailing about the inaccuracies/reprogramming of the tabulators. And yet, we had numerous recounts of close elections in Wisconsin last year, recounts in legislative races that encompassed several counties and major cities each, and yet no irregularities showed themselves.

If you talk to Dem Clerks (county or municipal) and they will tell you elections in Wisconsin are very closely watched.

Will that change? Maybe. But we need to thank SOS Doug Lafollette who responded to all the pleas from the Black Box Voting crowd and made sure we had voter-verified paper ballot.

[Roci]

21. Maybe, just maybe

democracy isn't quite dead in America. Of the eight Targeted, I hope the folks in Wisconsin sweep 8-0. And then, it's Walker's turn!

Roci

[mwb970]

23. Why were WI voters so foolish as to elect republicans in the first place?

It isn't like their duplicity and hypocrisy is somehow unexpected or couldn't be predicted. This grotesque overreach in the service of corporate fascism is exactly what we get every single time we let the damn republicans take over.

Our voters here in Ohio made the same terrible mistake, throwing out a popular, competent Democratic governor and putting in his place an impetuous, ideologically driven, heartless right-wing banker nutjob who serves his corporate overlords and attacks Ohioans with his every move and statement. (Kasick has also made Ohio a national laughingstock, having already been lampooned multiple times by Stewart and Colbert for his goofy behavior.)

We're in for four more years of this! :(

[Evasporque]

24. Good question.....my thoughts...

I think that they voted out of fear...of the future...thanks to the constant onslaught of right wing propaganda. Combine that with a very vocal minority of deep seeded racists that bubbled to the surface after Obama became President...make no mistake about it there is a reason why Milwaukee is one of the most segregated cities in America...WHite middle class in WIsconsin in general fear and do not like black people. As the economy struggled a portion of these people were forced from their isolated white suburban high debt load lifestyles and found that they have become "just like them". They lost their jobs and homes and were forced to live in apartments and other low income areas which forced a modicum of integration....they screamed about it....the white middle class of the near suburbs joined in with the Tea Party insanity...and that tide alone was enough to tip the scales of public opinion to the GOP...the squishy middle sway ed to the right thanks to millions of outside money...Barrett should be Governor right now and Walker back to booking reggae bands to play on Bradford Beach and bitching about grass mowing in the parks.

The conservatives in Wisconsin are particularly vile....and vindictive...they have long been kept at bay and as long as they have 350k suburban homes and 40k in credit card debt with two six figure incomes and mostly white schools they are quiet....when that looked to be falling apart their true colors showed through.

They are fuckers, ignorant, dangerous selfish fuckers....and after these recalls....The Republicans will have a long time before anyone will listen to them....they screwed up big time....watch a year from now...the Walker recall will happen...


Next tuesdays SUpreme COurt JUstice election will show how pissed off Wisconsin is over Walker and his band of tea party thugs in Madison.

[sybylla]

27. Apathy kept some Dems home, anger kept others home.

Just like on the national level, Dems were pissed off that things weren't happening fast enough. Our government employees actually had to take two weeks unpaid furlough as part of a budget balancing effort, which universally pissed off public employees. And Unions in this state had gotten lax(over the past six years and more), often not endorsing a candidate in a given race because a pissed off incumbent might get vindictive. They had even gone so far as to endorse pukes on occasion or refuse to endorse their own members running for office - one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.

Add to that Teaparty anger, great gobs of third party cash and a shit-ton of lies re: Walker, et al, and Dems stayed home in significant numbers.

The Assembly race I worked on last fall for a very progressive candidate had about 10% fewer voters turn out than had previously voted - which cost the Dem incumbent the seat by one of the narrowest margins. This was certainly not uncommon across the state.

Also, the Dems in WI had only two years of majority in both houses and a Dem Gov. Our legislative leaders in both houses refused to pass two bills that might rally the base, including one that, like Minnesota, would require reporting of third party election spending.

The base knew it and proceeded to kick their asses in the election over it. The overall effect was to take a bunch of good legislators down with them and put air-headed Stepfords in their place who march in lock step in Madison.

[Enthusiast]

29. That would be my take.

For some reason millions of Ohioans chose to get their information from Fox News. They were "hell bent" on removing Ohio Democrats from office as if they alone were responsible for the economic collapse. And millions of Ohioans continue to wallow in their willful ignorance, just as in Florida. Dummying down American education has paid off big time for the GOP.

[annabanana]

31. "you have to pay attention" has never been truer!. . .n/t

[Courtesy Flush]

33. It's all about the economy

I reject all this bullshit about the public voting against Democratic policies. It's no secret that the incumbent party suffers in a bad economy. This economy is the worst in a long time, so people vote out all the king's horses, and let all the king's men try to put it back together.

If Obama had inherited a strong economy, there's no telling how much progress he and other Democrats could have made.

[mwb970]

39. I wish the voters had taken into account *why* the economy is bad. /nt

[quakerboy]

42. I think that was a huge factor

Economy plays big in every election. Who dosn't care about money, stability, stuff?

But I think that policy did play a bigger part than you think. A lot of the hard activist core of the left came to this last election disgusted on policy/accomplishments. And that cost us excitement that would normally translate into votes.

Plus the whole citizens united turning corporate $ into $$$$$.

[howmad1]

46. On the other hand.....

if Obama had followed through with a strong progressive agenda, instead of being a wall street funky, the Democrats would have kept the state houses and the house of representatives, and none of this bullshit would have happened.

[subterranean]

47. Obama was also elected in large part because of the bad economy.

If the economy had been strong in November 2008, we'd likely be complaining about President McCain now.

[Courtesy Flush]

49. My point exactly. nt

[safeinOhio]

40. Kasich has done one great thing for

the Ohio Republican party. He has made Taft look like a Saint.

[sendero]

26. Nothing scares these jackass "legislators"..

... more than being unceremoniously tossed back into the private sector to do some real work.

Sure, if it's a Washington senator, they will benefit from the revolving door setup, but these state positions not so much.

If Wisconsin is successful with this it will change politics in this country, the Right's wings will be clipped and clipped good.

[Courtesy Flush]

32. Wisconsin is one of the few states with a lively history of successful recalls nt

[WillyT]

34. K & R !!!

:kick:

[russspeakeasy]

36. Don't forget about Florida...we are on the brink of disaster.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

37. I know you had some well attended protests recently

Have these continued? That governor of yours is a real freak. BEST of LUCK to you --We're on your side all the way.

[L. Coyote]

41. K & REC

[opihimoimoi]

48. NEVER VOTE FOR REPUBLICANS...They Lie Cheat Steal ...They are BULLIES