A two-year saga of recall elections, public demonstrations, litigation and legislative walkouts drew to a finish Tuesday as Wisconsin voters turned out in massive numbers and voted to keep Republican Gov. Scott Walker in office.
A half-dozen states cast ballots today in House and Senate primary elections, but it was on Wisconsin – the site of a historic Democratic campaign to oust a sitting governor – where the eyes of the political world were trained.
The Associated Press declared Walker the winner shortly after 10 p.m. Television networks initially reported that exit polling showed the race “too close to call,” and the final margin remains to be seen. But with 60 percent of the vote, Walker led Barrett by a wider-than-expected 15 points, 57 to 42 percent, in a victory Republicans quickly brandished as a seal of approval for conservative governance.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, a former head of the Wisconsin Republican Party, hailed Walker’s performance as a rejection of “the selfish special interests that wanted to take Wisconsin back to the days of Democrats’ failed policies.”
“Wisconsin Democrats now head into November dispirited and in disarray, while Republicans remain strong and organized, with momentum on our side,” Priebus said.
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney phoned Walker after he was declared the winner, a Romney campaign official said. In a statement to the press, Romney said the recall vote would “echo beyond the borders” of the Badger State.
Operatives in both parties say it’s uncertain whether the results in Wisconsin represent a bellwether for the presidential campaign in that state. But in addition to validating Walker, the outcome is also an affirmation of Walker-ism: an approach to governing characterized by deep spending cuts, confrontation with public employee unions and a refusal to consider increasing taxes.
GOP optimism about the recall election had grown in recent weeks thanks to a barrage of TV ads casting Barrett as a free-spending, tax-raising career politician. The Republican Governors Association poured over $9 million into the race, compared with about $3.4 million for the Democratic Governors Association, and Walker outraised Barrett by a towering margin. The final polls – both public and internal campaign surveys – showed a tight race with a small lead for Walker.
Anxiety ran so high during the day that nervous operatives in both parties were speculating with dread about the possibility of a recount battle if the result is not conclusive enough to silence activists of all partisan stripes.
(Source: Politico)
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8 Responses
The implications of the Walker recall failure are huge! It means Democrats couldn’t dig up enough corpses to cast ballots. A Wisconsin Democratic Party field trip to Chicago for remedial education is planned.
Another interesting fact based on the experience in Indiana. When the state abolishes compulsory unionization of public employees, the number of union members collapses, thereby crippling the ability of the unions to spend money on elections, severely hurting the Democrats.
One might suggest that if the Republicans in New York were ever able to repeal mandatory union membership, it would radically change the political climate.
One might suggest that if the Republicans in New York were ever able to repeal mandatory union membership, it would radically change the political climate.
that will never happen , because they part of the problem . just look at the redistricting of the NYS senate. everybody cut deals with each other so that most could keep there seats.
#3- It would only take a small percentage shift to give the Republicans a majority in the Assembly (5-6% or so). Remember that outside New York City (and Albany County), civil servants aren’t a big percentage of the population. There is some evidence that if union membership was made voluntary, very few people would join unions – meaning that the big “union” vote doesn’t really exist.
Given that New York’s Republicans rarely take elections seriously, I can see a problem. But that is subject to change.
#1, In Wisconsin they don’t vote for corpses, they bus people in from Chicago to register and vote. Same-day registration, and no ID required; just something that looks like a utility bill that you claim is yours. This time, however, the support for Walker and Keefisch was so strong that they couldn’t bus in enough Chicagoans to outweigh it.
#2, Yes, in WI they’ve found the same thing. Once the state stopped deducting union fees from workers’ pay cheques, only a third of AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) members started voluntarily paying fees themselves; the other two thirds said “hell no, and thank you Governor Walker”.
The libs are crying about being outspent by a wide margin but the truth is that the money spent by each candidate was quite even
#6, if you look only at the amounts spent by the candidates, Walker outspent Barrett by about 7:1. But if you look at the total spent by everybody, including the unions, it’s about even, and if you throw in the massive donation of manpower that the unions threw in on election day more was spent on the Barrett campaign.
Oh, and that exit poll the press are trumpeting, that supposedly shows 0bama leading Romney 51-45? After you reweight the sample to reflect the actual outcome, it turns into a 48-48 tie. Which means 0bama should be worried about Wisconsin; it’s very much in play.
Obama will in fact still win the general elections come November “unfortunately “He has the despicable liberal Jewish vote which is pouring millions his way, and but all minorities , Romney needs a miracle “I hope to be proven wrong. God Help Us