Recount In Wisconsin

More Madison madness.

Comments

[PD]

Much as I detest Kloppenburg, I think it's a smart move to declare victory. Might as well try to gain any advantage you can get, even a psychological one.

[maryrose]

PD:
The bigger they think they are-the harder they fall. It's a rude premature move and makes her appear small and a tool of the unions.Other than that sure go ahead prove what a really partisan and biased judge you are. I thought judges were at least supposed to feign impartialty. I guess in wisconsin -not so much. It's a classless move and everyone with any sense of decorum knows it.

[clarice]

Whatever happens, Prosser sits on the Ct for another 4 months I am informed and the challenge may take even longer than that to resolve in which case the court should be tied and unable to act on Sumi's case or this challenge .

[Jane]

No budget deal.

[PD]

No budget deal.

What a shame.

I heard a clip today of Obama talking about how the shutdown would be a bad idea because the Federal government should meet its obligations.

Dear Mr. President,

I hereby release you from your obligation to spend my money.

[MarkO]

It seems to me that the clever move now will be to have the Republicans reluctantly agree to the Demos position and say they are doing so because otherwise the country will shut down. Then, announce that they simply will not compromise on the new budget.

The billions lost here can be made up in the next budget. The political capital will be large.

No loss of face. No loss of position. Only a brief delay for the sake of our seniors and the troops.

[maryrose]

Marko:
I don't want the dems to get all that they want because they have obstructed and demogogued this issue, Obama included from the get-go.Repubs can pass a 1 week stop-gap at 12 billion and dare dems to vote it down. Then who's playing politics with soldiers and seniors? Why the dems of course.

[Lurker9876]

Now there's new claims of a discovery of 500 votes in Wakesha county or something. All they have to do is go find missing votes in the conservative counties and voila! KLOP lead gone!

But then...the KLOP supporters will suddenly find 1000 votes in Dane county....

[Lurker9876]

maryrose, but but but...the mainstream media will twist the fact in order to put the blame on the House Republicans!

[Danube of Thought]

If you track the procedures that would follow a recount victory for Prosser, it looks like a stacked deck, with appeals being heard by Dems. But this could go on quite a while, it seems.

[jimmyk]

Boehner gives the Dems a gift by saying a shutdown will be blamed on the Repubs.

Meanwhile I still Repubs talking about "shared sacrifice." If it's in our own best interest it's not sacrifice. "Shared sacrifice" makes me think of Jimmy Carter and turning down thermostats and cardigan sweaters.

[jimmyk]

I still hear Repubs....

[clarice]

here's the 500 v0te story
http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2011/04/report-500-votes-found-in-waukesha-county-wisconsin/
Since Waukesha went 73% for Prosser and Klop "won" by only 204 votes this is a BFD

[jimmyk]

That is a BFD, but all bets are still off if the absentees haven't been counted yet.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Another issue raised in that article is that there were 900 voters who cast ballots but did not vote for either Prosser or Klopp. These"undervotes" were all n Milwaukee County. All precincts but one voted heavily for Prosser.

"Count every vote"

[Danube of Thought]

If he gets 73% of those 500, he will lead by 26 votes overall.

If anybody has definitive info and a link about the status of absentee ballots, please let us know. I've heard there are 7,000 uncounted, 8,000 uncounted, and none uncounted because all were included in the final tally.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Wisconsin City Caught Destroying Ballots

If true, this doesn't sound good.

[matt]

why do I feel that the elections in Egypt are more honest than in Wisconsin.

[clarice]

DoT the Milwaukee paper stresses the count is still unofficial--AP made it based on call ins and it could be wrong. OTOH it appears the absentee ballots were counted:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/119308059.html

[clarice]

HEH--From the link:

"In one twist, state law calls for Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson to appoint the state judge who would hear the case if the loser of a recount in a statewide election goes to court over the outcome. Abrahamson and Prosser have clashed on the court. Prosser's private remark calling Abrahamson a "total bitch" was the subject of a recent political ad attacking Prosser.

State law says the trial judge in the case should be a reserve judge if one is available.

"The chief justice picks the reserve judge, which of course would add controversy to what is already controversial," said Janine Geske, a former Supreme Court justice and now a professor at Marquette University Law School.

Once there is a ruling, it may be appealed to the Court of Appeals based in Madison, a court made up of five members: Margaret Vergeront, Brian Blanchard, Gary Sherman, Paul Higginbotham and Paul Lundsten.

None of the five judges on the appeals court endorsed either candidate. Blanchard and Kloppenburg shared the same campaign manager, Melissa Mulliken.

The statute says the appeals process outlined above is the "exclusive judicial remedy" in the case of a recount dispute. It does not explicitly say whether the finding of the Court of Appeals could then be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

But Kennedy of the Accountability Board said he understands the law to mean that a decision by the court of appeals on the race could be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Under Supreme Court rules, Prosser alone would decide whether to hear a case if it came before the high court. If he steps aside, that would leave six justices to hear the case and raises the possibility of a 3-3 split. In that case, the ruling by the appeals court would stand."

[jimmyk]

Well the update at that gateway pundit link makes it seem possible that there may not be 500 ballots after all. We'll see.

[macphisto]

beware the Recount-quista.

[clarice]

Gateway update:

UPDATE: This comes from Josiah Cantrall in Wisconsin:

” A discrepancy was discovered in vote totals from a community in Waukesha county. More votes were cast for the school board race than the state supreme court one. Now local precinct workers are claiming they’ve found 500-600 ballots which would explain this discrepancy. This community voted 70% for Justice Prosser. Officials are confirming if these “lost” ballots are valid. These ballots could give Prosser a majority.

However, this all may be a technical error. The village and town both voted for the school board candidate and thus, votes may have simply been double counted.

Investigation is under way.”

[Dale]

Klopp will win in a recount. Thousands of "missing votes" will be found.

Business as usual.

[Ralph Gizzip]

It just goes to prove the old axiom, "If it's not close they can't steal it."

[hit and run]

Ralph:
It just goes to prove the old axiom, "If it's not close they can't steal it."

Close is a relative term. Unless we know how many votes are fraudulent,then for all we know it wasn't close and they stole it anyway.

In which case the old axiom,"Some Democratic counties/precincts will hold back reporting votes to first determine how many they need to manufacture in order to win" would be a more likely candidate.

[Old Lurker]

When Gibbons returns to write about the United States, stealing elections so that looters can loot will be marked as the inflection point in the rise and fall of the United States. What a wonderful generation is my cohort of Baby Boomers, building on and extending exponentially the ability to steal from future generations mapped out by Brokaw's Greatest Generation.

Paul Ryan offers the only plan on the table to avoid the cliff, but I doubt the will of those who understand the peril will offset the greed and dishonesty of the looters.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

They have same day registration in Wisconsin. It would be interesting to examine who signed up.

[Jimmi J]

Come on, Kloppenburg won fair and square. Whether by 1 vote or 100,000, a win is a win. Sure, the Republican reign only lasted a few months and their union rights busting bill will now be shot down in the courts along with anything else they try to pass before the recall elections. The momentum is shifting big to the Dems in WI and nationally. People just don't want to give up their "free" stuff from the government. It's only going to get worse.

[squaredance]

They will steal this election right out in the light of day. They grow more brazen by the second. Face it, we are tax serfs. Nothing that we can do inside the system will change this so long as the American people remain such hapless fools.

Until enough Americans understand what is happening and throw the whole lot of them in jail there will be no change, or even hope.

It is highly unlikely that this will happen.

This election should have been a cakewalk govern the behavior of the Democrats. It is not, it is a huge victory for the Marxists. The POTUS is out there cheering for our enslavement, cheering on the vote fraud, cheering on the special deals to their core patrons. What will fall out of this is yet another bogus "constitutional right" for Collective bargaining for public employees.

This is as corrupt as it gets. We are little more than immense banana republic.

Just wait until the next election. We are just a few votes (and a few SCOTUS justices") away from slavery.

We are not far from the commissar knocking on the door; we are not far from having to publicly kowtow to the local union boss.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

All that means squaredance is that it is more important than ever to get off the couch and fight. Bitching does no good at all.

[centralcal]

Good morning. Before turning in last night, I followed Clarice's link to Ann Barhardt. Wow. All the brave and courageously truthful outspoken conservatives these days seem to be women.

[Porchlight]

The momentum is shifting big to the Dems in WI and nationally.

Sure it is. That's why the unions had to pour millions in out-of-state cash and manpower into Wisconsin, turning up the fraud machine to 11, in order to "win" a low turnout special election by 204 votes.

[squaredance]

The momentum is shifting to the Dems.

This is not folks like Walkers fault, it is the spineless GOP at the national level.

Go to the UK and see what more than a decade of hard left rule has doe to that society an nation. It is really gone, the UK, gone forever.

Such a great election, and they have managed to undo it in a year. Their resources are vast.

The Tea Party people have to actually earn a living, it is unrealistic to imagine that they can stay at full engagement 24/7/365.

It is rather doubtful that 2010 marked a sea change. It is more likely a last hurrah.

Grim times indeed/ Only a broad change in the electorate can avoid the great fall that is coming toward us. It is almost beyond belief that the American people are so stupid.

[Danube of Thought]

Almost all--don't forget Paul Ryan.

[henry]

Just for kicks, WI elections are run by 1850 municipal clerks. Any recount has to look at what each clerk did right, wrong, or different. This will be lawsuit heaven. LUN

[clarice]

oh, piffle. I think nationwide the pendulum has swung as far left as it's going to and t is swinging back to the right. read Dahl and Lindbloom if you haven't--this has long been the American way.

[centralcal]

For a more informative breakdown of the WI voting, I suggest this article from NRO - Madison v. the Rest of Wisconsin.

Yet without the electoral bloodbath in Dane County, Prosser would have won Wisconsin by a comfortable 53.3 percent to 46.7 percent margin. The non-Dane County Prosser vote actually exceeds the 52.3 percent Walker received statewide in November. It wasn’t the state’s voters rejecting Walker’s agenda — it was Dane County’s government workers attempting to keep their paychecks intact.

[Appalled]

It is almost beyond belief that the American people are so stupid.

No, they are not stupid. They are not soft. They are not in some la la land. They are simply busy, financially stressed, and think government ought to function without so much drama. They understand choices, but the choices have to be presented to them clearly. They don't have time for a single-minded focus on c-span or Fox or Rush. (Or MSNBC, for that matter)

Much of the problem is that the elites do believe the American people are stupid and think what they want is irrational.

[boris]

"choices have to be presented to them clearly"

Is that all?

Maybe you could explain what exactly was unclear when you voted for Obama.

[Threadkiller]

DoT, in the past, has made it clear that the power of the people and their right to vote would be the disinfectant in an election. I have yet to see a comment here that has any faith in the voting system. You either apply the rules or you don’t. If you are going to apply them it has to be done before, during, and after the election.

Until then you can keep the faith. Seriously, keep it.

[squaredance]

True about Ryan, but he is a case in point, or, rather, a positive one among many darker ones.

The point is that over the last few years the problems could not be made more obvious or given starker highlight: The true nature of the Democrats are more radically and viscerally exposed than they have ever been in my lifetime. Moreover, there are highly rational and articulate voices, Ryan's voice being an exemplar, who present rational, thoughtful, researched and eminently sane critiques of where we are, how we got here and where we are likely to end up, and they proffer real and viable solutions. Yet not enough American people do respond. I doubt the broad mass of them even know who Ryan is, or if the do they think him some evil Republican trying to shut down government "for the Rich", as if that formulation made any sense whatsoever.

One would have thought that even the most dim eyes would be cleared by now. This certainly was the case under Carter and Clinton.

What has changed? Well enough of the "Old America" has gone to their graves, that is what has changed. What remains have had their good sense hijacked by the corruption of government, educational and media by the "Long March through the Institutions" by the Left.

This is why it is ultimately a matter of the soul of the American people at large. This is a darkness to be awakened from, not an argument to be won. We are dealing with a sort of mass hallucination--a sort of mass cowardice and abdication of reality.

I fear that the whole experiment of the Tea Parties will prove this point. It is not a matter of "doing something", it is a matter of waiting out the spoilage and the wreckage until the scales fall, and the gamble is hair-raising (and heartbreaking, I fear).

This is not the nation it once was. Much has to be thrown off before enough see the light. There is little time.

[maryrose]

Can you imagine how frustrating it is to the rest of Wisconsin that one county,in this case dane can dictate how the rest of the state goes forward. I agree with clarice. We aren't going any further to the left. the pendulum is swinging back and I believe Walker has allowed for all possible contingencies. In Ohio about 900 Cleveland teachers and other employees just got their walking papers. Enrollment is down and there is no money. Some of the teacher protesters and the felon who sent the death threats in Wisconsin are going to get pink slips. Had they been reasonable more would have been spared. If there is no money they will not get paid. It is as simple as that. Only too late will these teachers realize this Walker bill was meant to try and save more of their jobs

[maryrose]

Trust me the unions will be powerless to save those last hired because of the antiquated seniority system. The Wisconsin kids get stuck with past their prime bad teachers just in it for the money. Believe me I have seen this scenario play out firsthand.

[Janet]

They have same day registration in Wisconsin. It would be interesting to examine who signed up.

That can't go on. Same day registration is just asking for fraud. Checking on things & exposing fraud AFTER the vote does us no good. We're forever playing catch up.

and squaredance,
Where are the strong honorable men leaders? Clarice posted this video of Ann Barnhardt last night.
The first video of her reply to Lindsey Graham is too good. Just strong & wonderful.
Palin, Bachmann, Barnhardt,...
Where are the men?

[squaredance]

Appalled: Oh wake up,and stop confusing wishful thinking and sloganeering with reality while you are at it.

Good grief...pay attention to WTF is going on.

How ludicrous.

[Threadkiller]

I can imagine, maryrose. In California Alameda, San Francisco, and L.A. counties dictate where the rest of the state goes. It blows my mind every time I look at the numbers after an election.

I wish California would make the State senators represent only a county and not have districts that jump county lines. That would shift the power in Sacramento quite a bit. There are far more conservative counties here than people may think.

[squaredance]

Boris: That is a truly indecipherable response. Try re-reading my post; you appear not to have understood it at all.

(And Me

[Janet]

All the brave and courageously truthful outspoken conservatives these days seem to be women.

Oh, centralcal had already made that point! I need to hit refresh more often.

[Old Lurker]

We just do not have the money.

[boris]

Italiacto! ... say what ???

[maryrose]

TK:
I feel your pain. I have never seen a legislature as dysfunctional as the one in Sacramento. It saddens me that I don't see a way to turn it around out there.
I remain hopeful because that is my optimistic nature. We go forward and greet the challenges of this new day. At some point there will be savings in Wisconsin and the unions are not winning everywhere. Many states are passing legislation under the radar to counteract the unions and the pro-abortion forces. I think eventually states will attain more power wrt Medicaid, Medicare, collective bargaining, school choice, and overall healthcare. This behemoth of a healthcare bill isn't going to cut it in the long term.And it will be found to be unconstitutional.

[Threadkiller]

Here is a man and his video collection.

[squaredance]

...voting for for Obama, Really now).

BTW, Barnhardt is just super, and more power to her, but she is hardly a "leader". She is a PO'd American, which is just dandy, and I wish there where more of them, but, outside of political junkies about on the internet, few would know who she is and what she believes.

Goodness, what is Palin, a follower? Ineffectual?

Hardly.

It is clear that the rot is deeper than more "leadership" can address. Not that we should not encourage leadership, particularly on the Hill, but it is clear that we have moved beyond mere politics.

Again: The resolution of this mess rests in the heart and soul of the American people--in their true nature and character.

[Rick Ballard]

Boris,

Squaredance said that you have to set your hair on fire in order to "truly understand". Somebody (else) should try it and see if it's true.

[clarice]

LA Times:
is job approval among blacks is sliding.

Once monolithic, blacks' support for the first African American president is still....

....immense. But for unclear reasons it's declined about 7% from well above 90% to 85% in March. That's a new low since Obama's inauguration 26 months ago.
Equally ominous for Obama in 2012, his approval among Hispanics, the nation's fastest-growing demographic, has also fallen to again tie his term low of 54%. That's a drop of 11 points from its early high of 65%.

Gallup seems puzzled by the unexpected decline, mentioning March's major news as possible reasons: the ongoing fight with Congress over no fiscal 2011 federal budget and Obama leading the country into a new military combat zone over Libya.

[daddy]

On the cab ride in to the Newark Hotel today heard an ad over the radio that the Taxi Driver had tuned up on the news channel. A voice of extreme emotive power told how Chris Christie was giving Tax Breaks to millionaires and screwing the children of millions of poor and middle class hard working citizens by taking away funding for their dreams of higher education. Christie this, Christie that, Christie horrible.

At the end of it all a voice came in and said that this ad was paid for by the New Jersey NEA.

They play hardball, and my bet is I will not hear any counter ad from the Right in equivalence.

[hit and run]

boris quoted and responded to Appalled,not squaredance.

Maybe re-read what you wrote squaredance so that you don't confuse something Appalled wrote with your own words.

[Rick Ballard]

Hit,

Smoke got in his eyes for a moment. Musta been too much Brylcreem.

[Danube of Thought]

Mickey Kaus on Wisconsin (he poses a couple of very good questions at the end):

On Last Word, Lawrence O’Donnell said Kloppenburg’s vote “will be the decisive vote on whether Wisconsin’s anti union bill is legal.” Maybe. Maybe not! One of the judges often counted on a post-Kloppenburg 4-3 liberal majority is hardly a sure thing vote for either side. In fact, Justice N. Patrick Crooks sided with the conservatives more often than the liberals, although not necessarily in high-profile 4-3 cases. (Crooks is described by kf’s key sources in the field as a bit of a Souter type–not as liberal as Souter, maybe, but independent and unpredictable after having originally been supported by conservatives.) …There is also the minor issue of whether opponents of the anti-union law have a case. Or does everyone agree that doesn’t matter anymore?

[anduril]

Sean Trende has a lengthy political analysis of the electoral results in Wisconsin. Fairly shrewd: Reading the Wisconsin Tea Leaves.

[matt]

no, daddy, but Christie himself will take them on. Even better. According to Drudge, he called the teacher's union a bunch of thugs yesterday. Front page news.

We are in Act 1 right now. The players are marking out their positions and the stakes. The crisis comes in Act II. Here in CA Governor Moonbat has absolved himself of any responsibility for the crisis as the clock ticks on on a $20+ billion shortfall.

The gimmicks and flummery won't hack it this time, nor will it in IL either. Caterpillar, the largest employer, threatened to move out of IL the other day.

The public sector unions are defending what they have, but the real question will be do the takers outnumber the creators? Are the people paying the bills politically strong enough to overcome the ones who are on the public payroll and benefit lists in one way or another? Will the rule of law survive when the Left has ties the law into pretzels? I love Thursdays.....

[Appalled]

boris:

Well, boris, the clear choice was between McCain and Obama. I split my vote (GOP senator/ Dem President) in hopes that would squelch National Health, while at the same time putting a lid on expensive and foolish interventions.

It really hasn't worked out so swell, because the GOP lost more senate seats than I anticipated, and Obama forgot that he was against Stupid Wars. Though, if McCain were President, Congress would likely be all Democrat, there would be no Rep Ryan, because Frum-ism would be ruling the (much smaller) Republican party, no Wisconsin governor (and no thread like this), because Walker would have gone down to defeat.

[Danube of Thought]

and Obama forgot that he was against Stupid Wars

And how would you rate him on health care?

[Danube of Thought]

Here in CA Governor Moonbat has absolved himself of any responsibility for the crisis as the clock ticks on on a $20+ billion shortfall.

Problem is, he doesn't get to do the absolving.

My hope is that the GOP stands firm and the whole house of cards finally comes home to roost (I'm going to copyright that one). Let CA show IL, NY, NJ and WI what ultimately happens when you let the public employees feast at will off the taxpayers.

[daddy]

"Obama forgot that he was against Stupid Wars"

I'm not real good at euphemism. To me that sounds like horseshit.

[Appalled]

DoT

Obama and the Democrats campaigned on Healthcare in 2008. It was unrealistic to think they would abandon it. The bill, as passed, was a horror, but I think that's mostly Harry Reid's fault for pushing it through in the way he did. Personally, whatever the constitutionality of the mandate, I think that is a reasaonable way to approach the way they were trying to structure the healthcare market. The real problem with the manadate is the penalty for avoiding it is too small, meaning that there is going to be massive noncompliance when this thing gets going.

[boris]

"if McCain were President ... Walker would have gone down to defeat"

Maybe that seems clear to you ... but when you say "clear choice" I now hear "pretzel logic".

[DebinNC]

I wonder where those thousands of WI college students who seem to have defeated Prosser think they'll be working when they graduate? It's hard to believe college students in this economy haven't given that serious thought, especially as so many will graduate seriously in debt and the repayment clock will start ticking.

[Appalled]

boris:

The GOP in 2008 stood for social issue activism, watered down big governmentism (a la Medicare Part D), and interventionalism abroad. PLus, on the personality side, there was McCain's anger management issues. (Who can forget his drama queen dramatics at the time the Bushies were frantically trying to designm TARP)

The Democrats in 2008 stood for big government (straight, no chaser), winding down of the wars, and less social issue activism. And Obama seemed less prone to snap decision emotionalism.

Spending less was not part of either party's platform. Nor was the idea that government should really, truly, get out of the way. So I opted for the party which was less inclined towards War, and the candidate who did not seem likely to get us into a mess because of their temper.

I did split my ticket, in the hopes the GOP would be able to block the Dems Big Government nonsense. It did not entirely work out.

[Ranger]

It's hard to believe college students in this economy haven't given that serious thought, especially as so many will graduate seriously in debt and the repayment clock will start ticking.

Posted by: DebinNC | April 07, 2011 at 10:34 AM

Have you talked to very many college students lately? The reality of being unemployed and having to move back into Mom and Dad's basement without any way to pay back your loans doesn't sink in until about two weeks before graduation for most of them.

[hit and run]

Appalled:
Spending less was not part of either party's platform.

Obama promised a net spending cut - by going through the budget line by line.

McCain promised an across-the-board spending freeze.

Obama accused McCain of wanting to take a hatchet to the budget where a scalpel was to be preferred.

[Appalled]

h & r:

With respect, I took no party seriously on the issue.

[DebinNC]

Have you talked to very many college students lately?

Our youngest is a Junior, and we've had innumerable talks about making wise career choices in this economy. I can't imagine the vast majority of boomer parents of young adults, in college or not, aren't doing likewise, especially if their children are debt-laden, which ours is not.

[Danube of Thought]

Obama and the Democrats campaigned on Healthcare in 2008. It was unrealistic to think they would abandon it.

Correct, but it was an awfully good reason not to vote for them in the first place, unless you think that screwball scheme is OK. It is horrible legislation whether or not the mandate is held unconstitutional.

[hit and run]

I completely understand -- and agree about your particular view of the candidates.

But with respect to the "party platform" -- it's just not the way they were running. They wanted people to believe they were spending cutters.

The mood of the country -- measured by the poll-tested nature of the candidates' stated positions on the issue -- was for spending decreases even back in 2008.

[bio mom]

At NRO today: Worth reading

Madison versus the rest of Wisconsin.

When asked to comment about conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice David Prosser’s apparent razor-thin electoral loss on Tuesday, Gov. Scott Walker laid the blame directly at the feet of the state’s tempestuous little brother, the City of Madison. “You’ve got a world driven by Madison, and a world driven by everybody else out across the majority of the rest of the state of Wisconsin,” said Walker on Wednesday at a capitol press conference.

In a race decided by 204 votes (out of nearly 1.5 million cast), Prosser lost Madison’s home, Dane County, by a margin of 73 percent to 27 percent. Dane County is the second-largest county in the state, with a population of 491,357. Prosser’s challenger, Joanne Kloppenburg, received 133,513 votes in the county, almost 90 percent what Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett received last November. This kind of turnout for a spring primary is unprecedented in the state’s history.

It comes as no surprise that Dane County has by far the largest number of government employees in the state (79,343), outpacing Milwaukee County by 13,000 despite Milwaukee County’s having twice the population; 20.3 percent of Dane County’s workers are government employees, the fourth-highest percentage in the state (most of the counties ahead of Dane are low-population areas that house state universities). The statewide average for government workers as a percentage of total workforce is 11.8 percent. (See a full list of all counties here.)

As a byproduct of being home to so many government employees, Dane County has the state’s highest percentage of residents over the age of 25 with at least a bachelor’s degree (40.6 percent). Consequently, the county has the third-highest per capita personal income in the state at $43,617 (trailing only Ozaukee and Waukesha counties).

Madison’s caste of government employees recognized that in order to keep their generous pay and benefits coming, they had to turn out en masse to oppose Prosser, who they viewed as a stand-in for Walker. This self-interested intensity distorted Madison’s statewide influence — while Dane County is home to only 8.7 percent of the state’s population, the county’s voters made up 12.7 percent of the electorate in the Supreme Court race.

Consequently, Prosser lost Dane County by 85,000 votes. Some heavy-turnout wards of the City of Madison went to Kloppenburg by obscene 97 percent to 3 percent margins.

Democrats are trying to spin Kloppenburg’s tentative .013 percent win (recounts forthcoming) as a statewide rebuke of Governor Walker’s attempt to rein in public-sector-union bargaining power. Democratic state chair Mike Tate told Wispolitics.com the results showed Wisconsin had swung back to his side and “voters were rejecting Walker’s policies.”

Yet without the electoral bloodbath in Dane County, Prosser would have won Wisconsin by a comfortable 53.3 percent to 46.7 percent margin. The non-Dane County Prosser vote actually exceeds the 52.3 percent Walker received statewide in November. It wasn’t the state’s voters rejecting Walker’s agenda — it was Dane County’s government workers attempting to keep their paychecks intact.

In 1960, Democratic presidential candidate (and Missouri senator) Stuart Symington warned of the growth of public-sector-worker “rights.” “This government,” Symington said, “you’ve got to grab it! You run the government, or they run you, and there’s no middle ground.”

Right now, government employees in Madison run Wisconsin. It’s up to Scott Walker and legislative Republicans to wrest control back.

— Christian Schneider is a senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.

[Ignatz]

--I think nationwide the pendulum has swung as far left as it's going to and t is swinging back to the right. read Dahl and Lindbloom if you haven't--this has long been the American way.--

clarice,
The pendulum swings from left to right no doubt, but the carriage it is riding on has been turning steadily left toward a more powerful, pervasive and invasive central government for well over a hundred years.

[Ignatz]

Appalled,
Why would you have thought for one moment the Dems were sincere in their opposition to the Iraq or Afghan wars?
Hadn't a majority of them voted to authorize both?
Wasn't their opposition the most obvious political opportunism?
Is there anything in Dem history that demonstrates a disinclination to drag us into or continue innumerable wars?

[Ranger]

I can't imagine the vast majority of boomer parents of young adults, in college or not, aren't doing likewise, especially if their children are debt-laden, which ours is not.

Posted by: DebinNC | April 07, 2011 at 11:18 AM

Oh, I am sure they are. But I live in a university town and I have taught these kids, and I can tell you that once they are on campus, the vast (90%+) majority of them have an attention span that is focused on the next test/quize/writing assignment, and the next party. They are young and they just imagine life will fall into place for them because they are entitled to it.

As far as I can tell, the real dsicriminator is the issue of having done something before going to college (either military service or working a real job) or actually having to work to pay for their education, rather than just take out differed loans. There are, of course, exceptions, but the trend is pretty pronounced.

I think one of the key reasons that Dems have pushed differed loans as a means to pay for college and tried to expand the number of people who go to college is to try and lock in Dem voting habits within kids before they have to face the real world of working and paying taxes.

[clarice]

Well, ignatz, the world has grown more complicated and dangerous and this country has grown increasingly urbanized and homogenized in 200 hundred years so it is not surprising to a certain extent that the federal govt would grow some, but it has overgrown its usefulness and is now a hindrance which needs substantial pruning IMO.

[DebinNC]

Some heavy-turnout wards of the City of Madison went to Kloppenburg by obscene 97 percent to 3 percent margins.

What's "obscene" about it, other than more Prosser voters not showing up there and throughout the state? The high motivation level in Dane County is explained by self-interest, but the lower motivation level elsewhere isn't excusable or explainable imo.

[clarice]

"Forty-five rockets and mortar shells on Thursday afternoon were fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip in the span of three hours, according to a tweet by the IDF Spokesperson. Earlier, an anti-tank missile shot from the Gaza Strip directly hit a school bus outside Kibbutz Sa'ad in the Sha'ar Hanegev area, injuring two people."

Too bad none of them was fired up Goldstone's rearend.

[Captain Hate]

Deb, I'm depressed with every election of how few people exercise their responsibility to vote. That didn't begin this week.

[My Mama was a grammar, er, yes she was also a great grammer.]

Excellent, Ranger @ 11:31 AM, my hat is off and congrats not deferred.
===========

[daveinboca]

@Lurker

I lived in conservative Waukesha County for eight years and know that the fraud in 2004 which gave the detestable Kerry a 5000-vote margin over GWB was mainly perpetrated in Dane and Milwaukee counties. I often wonder why GWB or some high-ranking GOP types didn't contest WI voting the way the Dems were shrilly shrieking about Ohio. Of course, the GOP had won the national election and the crooked Doyle machine was in charge of WI and able to keep an investigation with teeth from happening, but not a PEEP from the MSM or even Republican media, in contravention to the widespread yakking about Ohio with close to a 100K margin of victory for the Republicans. It should be a matter of principle, but the Republicans simply aren't litigious maniacs, I guess.

[daveinboca]

@clarice

Just saw your comment about the execrable Goldstone. What an example of an anti-Semitic self-hating Jew bending over backwards to hurt his own people. I think they used to call such people sonderkommandos in the death camps.

[daveinboca]

@daddy

"At the end of it all a voice came in and said that this ad was paid for by the New Jersey NEA.

They play hardball, and my bet is I will not hear any counter ad from the Right in equivalence.

Yes, daddy. And it's sad that Republicans seem to lack the perverse intensity of the self-serving corrupt Demonrat machines across the country dedicated to diverting our tax dollars into their pockets. The NEA and other RICO operations are simply aiming to take over the educational system of the country. Vouchers could put a dent in their single-minded agenda, but the timid and feckless GOP types are always afraid to demonstrate. And when teapartiers show up at rallies, they're accused of carrying guns & other weapons---a total lie.

The agenda of the Demonrats aims to buffalo the timid Republicans from entering the political arena. They would prefer to be in the "Silent Majority" than to get their hands dirty dealing with the pond-scum bottom-feeding Demonrat media and student activists. Does maturity breed indifference along with perspective?

[Porchlight]

I often wonder why GWB or some high-ranking GOP types didn't contest WI voting the way the Dems were shrilly shrieking about Ohio.

My guess is that the GOP planned to fight in WI only if the Dems appeared to be getting traction in contesting OH. Since that never happened, there was no need, or no immediate need anyway. It would have been a major distraction (and a gift to one's opponents) for the winner of a second term to make a huge deal over election fraud even if there was a legitimate case to be made.

It's a shame, because that meant the WI hijinks were never really brought to light and the machine remained in place, but it was political reality at the time.

[Ignatz]

--It should be a matter of principle, but the Republicans simply aren't litigious maniacs, I guess.--

Dave,
They often don't even seem to entertain the principle of self preservation.

[Captain Hate]

The clean toga crowd seems to have had self preservation leached out of their genetic code. Either that or they adhere to some outmoded sense of honor that reeks of snobbery. They seem to think the grubby mob will always be kept at bay.

[narciso]

Yeah, you know who also thought that way, Captain, the Gracchi brothers, remember what happened to them.

[Captain Hate]

A person could get a good education merely by looking up narc's references.

[maryrose]

I think a list of all same day registration and voters should be a part of the recount. As Governor can Walker ask for this in the spirit of a free and fair election.? Can someone as a republican party advocate sue for that information as part of free and transparent elections?

[clarice]

capos,dave.

[henry]

Maryrose, all WI voting information is available online. What that means is I can look myself up and see where I am registered and which elections I voted in (but not who I voted for). I believe both political parties have access to the full dataset even though individual voters do not. Thus any same day registrations should be easy to find for party officials in the normal course of events. This is the same data used by the Milwaukee police to demonstrate the vote fraud in 2008 (see John Fund in the WSJ for a recap).

[DebinNC]

LI: WI Asst. AG acted/ing in cahoots with fleebaggers

[henry]

Now Prosser is ahead? LUN

Winnebago County issued new numbers as they do the offical canvas giving Prosser a net gain of 244 in the county. These may not be the final numbers.

[caro]

Some heavy-turnout wards of the City of Madison went to Kloppenburg by obscene 97 percent to 3 percent margins.

It has been a long time since I lived in Madison, but this just does not seem possible. There must be some residents who came from elsewhere, some small business people with a conservative outlook and also a few moderate dems disgusted by the antics of the whole circus there. I could believe 80% but 97% seems very unlikely. And suspicious.

[hit and run]

Henry:
Now Prosser is ahead? LUN

I'd pay good money for Prosser to get in front of a mic and declare victory...