[IH8Rice]

CNN showed a quick video of some old fat fvck sleeping in his chair in senate(?) and someone shaking his chair to wake him up. anyone know who that is?

 

[dante]

CNN showed a quick video of some old fat fvck sleeping in his chair in senate(?) and someone shaking his chair to wake him up. anyone know who that is?

Dunno, but the Assembly went on for 60+ straight hours. Honestly wouldn't be surprised if people fell asleep during that...

 

[IH8Rice]

Dunno, but the Assembly went on for 60+ straight hours. Honestly wouldn't be surprised if people fell asleep during that...

yeah it probably happened during that time.

 

[dante]

Didn't bring my camera today, as I was just meeting up with the wife for a short bit after work. Got there ~5pm or so, , and there were some people milling around the entrance (complete with red velvet ropes like it was some NYC club), but still very, very limited access. Made my way around towards the capitol that faces the college, and what is marching up the street but 20-30,000 protesters having their own "New Orleans-style funeral march" up towards the capitol building. They had a band, umbrellas, and about 1/2 dozen caskets representing the programs that are being killed. Instead of forming up at the Capitol building, they proceed to march around the square, while a couple dozen cops frantically closed off traffic. I chatted with a couple, and apparently they were expecting a rally, but they were caught off-guard by the sheer number of people.

Oh, and large inflatable palm trees were a pretty common occurrence.

 

[dante]

First political casualty? Apparently one of the GOP reps who voted for this bill is running for County Exec of Milwaukee April 5th (Gov Walker's old position). Here was his statement right after casting the vote for the bill (and against any of the amendments meant to change it):

"I applaud Governor Walker for taking bold steps to addres this state's financial crisis and look forward to working with him, my colleagues in the Legislature, our employees, and the taxpayers of this state as we work together to balance our budget and put Wisconsin back on the right track."

Aaaaaaaaaand here's his quote now, after he's realizing that the people in Milwaukee County are probably more liberal than his home constituency:

Stone said Thursday that although he voted for Walker's budget-repair bill and its elimination of much of the collective bargaining for public unions, he didn't agree with those provisions.

"I understand it's a major issue to the unions," Stone said. "It's not necessarily the way I would have drafted this budget-repair bill. I would have approached it in different ways."

Stone said he would have preferred to leave the collective bargaining intact, but felt the other provisions in the measure made the repair bill worth supporting.

"It's not a perfect bill," Stone said.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/117380038.html

I seriously think that that the GOP have deluded themselves into thinking that the public is (was?) actually behind them. I mean, why else would they be voting lock-step with the Governor (at the expense of their own political futures) unless he had some juicy blackmail on each of them?

 

[stoney]

RE: Jeff Stone comment -
If he was really looking after his constituency, he voted in line. If he is looking out for himself, as he obviously is, he would have voted differently.

Politicians need to be limited on duration of roles and timing between moving 'up' the chain, as it clouds judgement for what's right for your constituency vs. yourself.

 

[dante]

RE: Jeff Stone comment -
If he was really looking after his constituency, he voted in line. If he is looking out for himself, as he obviously is, he would have voted differently.

Politicians need to be limited on duration of roles and timing between moving 'up' the chain, as it clouds judgement for what's right for your constituency vs. yourself.

How about voting for either:

a) What's "right" or
b) What you believe in?

Allowing the public to make all of the decisions leaves you with the budget mess in California where people are demanding services through referendums but refusing to allow the taxes to be raised to cover those services. At the very least if you vote you conscience and always defend your votes, people can decide whether they agree with your views or not.

 

[stoney]

How about voting for either:

a) What's "right" or
b) What you believe in?

Allowing the public to make all of the decisions leaves you with the budget mess in California where people are demanding services through referendums but refusing to allow the taxes to be raised to cover those services. At the very least if you vote you conscience and always defend your votes, people can decide whether they agree with your views or not.

That works too. As for the CA comment... There's a reason why anywhere but here looks attractive for many of us.

 

[sanjuro]

There is really only one voter Prop that kills our tax base - Prop 13. Your tax rate is based on when you purchased your home, not current rates.

And Californians certainly criticize Prop 13, but I wonder is it any better than having a representative-based system that rides a small wave of unhappiness and then decides to change to lives of thousands?

 

[IH8Rice]

youd think theyd be on his side...

 

[dante]

I'm glad someone else got pics of this:

Oh, and Daily Kos has apologized to Bill O'Reilly since there obviously *are* palm trees in Madison.

 

[BurlyShirley]

Saw this rant from fatass Michael Moore on Colbuffington Repost today. Thought it belonged here:

Speech delivered at Wisconsin Capitol in Madison, March 5, 2011

America is not broke.

Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

Today just 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined.

Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer "bailout" of 2008, now have more loot, stock and property than the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can't bring yourself to call that a financial coup d'état, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true.

And I can see why. For us to admit that we have let a small group of men abscond with and hoard the bulk of the wealth that runs our economy, would mean that we'd have to accept the humiliating acknowledgment that we have indeed surrendered our precious Democracy to the moneyed elite. Wall Street, the banks and the Fortune 500 now run this Republic -- and, until this past month, the rest of us have felt completely helpless, unable to find a way to do anything about it.
I have nothing more than a high school degree. But back when I was in school, every student had to take one semester of economics in order to graduate. And here's what I learned: Money doesn't grow on trees. It grows when we make things. It grows when we have good jobs with good wages that we use to buy the things we need and thus create more jobs. It grows when we provide an outstanding educational system that then grows a new generation of inventers, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and thinkers who come up with the next great idea for the planet. And that new idea creates new jobs and that creates revenue for the state. But if those who have the most money don't pay their fair share of taxes, the state can't function. The schools can't produce the best and the brightest who will go on to create those jobs. If the wealthy get to keep most of their money, we have seen what they will do with it: recklessly gamble it on crazy Wall Street schemes and crash our economy. The crash they created cost us millions of jobs. That too caused a reduction in revenue. And the population ended up suffering because they reduced their taxes, reduced our jobs and took wealth out of the system, removing it from circulation.

The nation is not broke, my friends. Wisconsin is not broke. It's part of the Big Lie. It's one of the three biggest lies of the decade: America/Wisconsin is broke, Iraq has WMD, the Packers can't win the Super Bowl without Brett Favre.

The truth is, there's lots of money to go around. LOTS. It's just that those in charge have diverted that wealth into a deep well that sits on their well-guarded estates. They know they have committed crimes to make this happen and they know that someday you may want to see some of that money that used to be yours. So they have bought and paid for hundreds of politicians across the country to do their bidding for them. But just in case that doesn't work, they've got their gated communities, and the luxury jet is always fully fueled, the engines running, waiting for that day they hope never comes. To help prevent that day when the people demand their country back, the wealthy have done two very smart things:

1. They control the message. By owning most of the media they have expertly convinced many Americans of few means to buy their version of the American Dream and to vote for their politicians. Their version of the Dream says that you, too, might be rich some day – this is America, where anything can happen if you just apply yourself! They have conveniently provided you with believable examples to show you how a poor boy can become a rich man, how the child of a single mother in Hawaii can become president, how a guy with a high school education can become a successful filmmaker. They will play these stories for you over and over again all day long so that the last thing you will want to do is upset the apple cart -- because you -- yes, you, too! -- might be rich/president/an Oscar-winner some day! The message is clear: keep your head down, your nose to the grindstone, don't rock the boat and be sure to vote for the party that protects the rich man that you might be some day.

2. They have created a poison pill that they know you will never want to take. It is their version of mutually assured destruction. And when they threatened to release this weapon of mass economic annihilation in September of 2008, we blinked. As the economy and the stock market went into a tailspin, and the banks were caught conducting a worldwide Ponzi scheme, Wall Street issued this threat: Either hand over trillions of dollars from the American taxpayers or we will crash this economy straight into the ground. Fork it over or it's Goodbye savings accounts. Goodbye pensions. Goodbye United States Treasury. Goodbye jobs and homes and future. It was friggin' awesome and it scared the **** out of everyone. "Here! Take our money! We don't care. We'll even print more for you! Just take it! But, please, leave our lives alone, PLEASE!"

The executives in the board rooms and hedge funds could not contain their laughter, their glee, and within three months they were writing each other huge bonus checks and marveling at how perfectly they had played a nation full of suckers. Millions lost their jobs anyway, and millions lost their homes. But there was no revolt (see #1).

Until now. On Wisconsin! Never has a Michigander been more happy to share a big, great lake with you! You have aroused the sleeping giant know as the working people of the United States of America. Right now the earth is shaking and the ground is shifting under the feet of those who are in charge. Your message has inspired people in all 50 states and that message is: WE HAVE HAD IT! We reject anyone tells us America is broke and broken. It's just the opposite! We are rich with talent and ideas and hard work and, yes, love. Love and compassion toward those who have, through no fault of their own, ended up as the least among us. But they still crave what we all crave: Our country back! Our democracy back! Our good name back! The United States of America. NOT the Corporate States of America. The United States of America!

So how do we get this? Well, we do it with a little bit of Egypt here, a little bit of Madison there. And let us pause for a moment and remember that it was a poor man with a fruit stand in Tunisia who gave his life so that the world might focus its attention on how a government run by billionaires for billionaires is an affront to freedom and morality and humanity.

Thank you, Wisconsin. You have made people realize this was our last best chance to grab the final thread of what was left of who we are as Americans. For three weeks you have stood in the cold, slept on the floor, skipped out of town to Illinois -- whatever it took, you have done it, and one thing is for certain: Madison is only the beginning. The smug rich have overplayed their hand. They couldn't have just been content with the money they raided from the treasury. They couldn't be satiated by simply removing millions of jobs and shipping them overseas to exploit the poor elsewhere. No, they had to have more – something more than all the riches in the world. They had to have our soul. They had to strip us of our dignity. They had to shut us up and shut us down so that we could not even sit at a table with them and bargain about simple things like classroom size or bulletproof vests for everyone on the police force or letting a pilot just get a few extra hours sleep so he or she can do their job -- their $19,000 a year job. That's how much some rookie pilots on commuter airlines make, maybe even the rookie pilots flying people here to Madison. But he's stopped trying to get better pay. All he asks is that he doesn't have to sleep in his car between shifts at O'Hare airport. That's how despicably low we have sunk. The wealthy couldn't be content with just paying this man $19,000 a year. They wanted to take away his sleep. They wanted to demean and dehumanize him. After all, he's just another slob.

And that, my friends, is Corporate America's fatal mistake. But trying to destroy us they have given birth to a movement -- a movement that is becoming a massive, nonviolent revolt across the country. We all knew there had to be a breaking point some day, and that point is upon us. Many people in the media don't understand this. They say they were caught off guard about Egypt, never saw it coming. Now they act surprised and flummoxed about why so many hundreds of thousands have come to Madison over the last three weeks during brutal winter weather. "Why are they all standing out there in the cold? I mean there was that election in November and that was supposed to be that!

"There's something happening here, and you don't know what it is, do you...?"

America ain't broke! The only thing that's broke is the moral compass of the rulers. And we aim to fix that compass and steer the ship ourselves from now on. Never forget, as long as that Constitution of ours still stands, it's one person, one vote, and it's the thing the rich hate most about America -- because even though they seem to hold all the money and all the cards, they begrudgingly know this one unshakeable basic fact: There are more of us than there are of them!

Madison, do not retreat. We are with you. We will win together

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/america-is-not-broke_b_832006.html

 

[Singletrackone]

Wealth transfer is always a bad idea. And we are broke there is something like 3 trillion dollars of unfunded government pension liabilities. Point of fact historically unions were very opposed to being in the government business because there is no alternative. Meaning ****ty companies go away, ****ty governments rob your children's children. Welcome to the new age......

 

[Pesqueeb]

I had mentioned a while back in another thread about having a good laugh over a Zerohedge commenter talking about the "kleptocratic oligarchy". I'm starting to not find it nearly as humorous.
Quoted from Burly's post:
"For us to admit that we have let a small group of men abscond with and hoard the bulk of the wealth that runs our economy, would mean that we'd have to accept the humiliating acknowledgment that we have indeed surrendered our precious Democracy to the moneyed elite. Wall Street, the banks and the Fortune 500 now run this Republic"

Our six largest bank holding companies currently have assets valued at just over 63 percent of GDP (end of Q4, 2010). This is up from around 55% of GDP before the crisis (e.g., 2006) and no more than 17% of GDP in 1995.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-johnson/a-healthy-financial-syste_b_831844.html

 

[dante]

Wealth transfer is always a bad idea. And we are broke there is something like 3 trillion dollars of unfunded government pension liabilities. Point of fact historically unions were very opposed to being in the government business because there is no alternative. Meaning ****ty companies go away, ****ty governments rob your children's children. Welcome to the new age......

WI's pension fund is 97+% funded. Something like $80b in assets. Of course, that makes it a very juicy target for someone like Walker who could raid it if everyone switched over to a contribution plan like a 401(k).

As for wealth transfer, I'm seeing it. Tax breaks for the rich and corporations. Massive cuts to education aid to school districts. School districts raise property taxes on people like me. Trickle-up economics at it's finest... It's no wonder the gov has a sub-40% approval rating.

 

[IH8Rice]

lol

In a bold gambit to put an end to the weeks-long budget standoff in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R) split his controversial budget-repair bill in two on Wednesday, allowing the Senate to pass the most hotly contested provisions while their 14 Democratic colleagues remained out of state.

The parliamentary maneuver, first reported by local press, allowed the anti-collective bargaining measure to pass with just Republican support. Under Wisconsin law, a quorum of 3/5 of the Senate is needed for a statute that is fiscal in nature. A lower quorum is needed for non-fiscal matters.

It was also a 180-degree reversal by Walker and state Senate Republicans, who have insisted for the past three weeks that the collective bargaining provision was designed to help alleviate the state’s budget problems. State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) had previously said he would not attempt to pass any portions of the bill without Democrats present.

Wisconsin Democrats decried the move as an unprecedented and blatant end-run, but it was clear that they were powerless to stop it. Indeed, it took the conference committee only a matter of minutes to pass the severed off measure by a four-to-two vote. Minutes later, the same bill passed through the entire Senate by an 18-1 margin, with Sen. Dale Schultz, a Republican moderate who had proposed a compromise measure, lodging the only no vote.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/09/wisconsin-gop-plan-advance-anti-union_n_833796.html

 

[stoney]

Party's over, looks like it passed. They did take out a lot of the questionable selling of public property additions, so I'm not against what happened here. I was reading that there are recalls out for 8 repubs and 6 dems, which is amusing, as the amount it will cost the state. Plus if there is an in-line reversal (dem for repub, repub for dem) Repubs will still have a majority.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Well, the Koch suckers are starting to get busy here.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/people-114214-picket-board.html

What bothers me is that I'm inclined to agree that these negotiations should be open to the public.


Sorry for your loss Dante.

 

[dante]

Party's over, looks like it passed. They did take out a lot of the questionable selling of public property additions, so I'm not against what happened here. I was reading that there are recalls out for 8 repubs and 6 dems, which is amusing, as the amount it will cost the state. Plus if there is an in-line reversal (dem for repub, repub for dem) Repubs will still have a majority.

So, first of all there's no way that all 8 repubs and 6 dems will fall in recall elections. Most of the Dems (all but 1 or 2) are in safe Democratic districts, so I'd be shocked if they're even able to get enough signatures for it to go forward. I know that my senator represents a HEAVILY Democratic district, and what's more, we had something like 80% turnout in my city in Nov '10. That's important because you have to get 20% (25?%) of the number of people who voted in Nov '10. So if a community had a low turnout rate, the number of signatures you need to get are less.

Furthermore, my state senator was popular enough that he ran unopposed in the last election... I really can't see him voted out regardless. However, maybe figure 1-2 Dems might lose their seats? The flip side is that probably 3-4 Republicans are gone. Several were in districts that Obama won handily, and they're in relatively even/Democratic districts around Milwaukee. So far the most successful recall efforts have ~30% of the signatures needed for a recall, and it's barely been a week. I'd bet there will be at least 5-6 recall elections (if not more) coming up this summer for Republicans, and maybe 2-3 for Democrats?

Lastly, there are going to be a plethora of legal challenges to this bill. So far the obvious ones:

1) Violation of the state's open records law, with no 24h notice given before a committee hearing (less than 2 hours notice, thanks email timestamp!). Would void the committee's actions, meaning it would have to get voted on by the Assembly and Senate again.
2) Breaking Article 8, Section 8 of the WI Constitution. That states:

Text of Section 8:
Vote on Fiscal Bills; Quorum
On the passage in either house of the legislature of any law which imposes, continues or renews a tax, or creates a debt or charge, or makes, continues or renews an appropriation of public or trust money, or releases, discharges or commutes a claim or demand of the state, the question shall be taken by yeas and nays, which shall be duly entered on the journal; and three−fifths of all the members elected to such house shall in all such cases be required to constitute a quorum therein.

So it's not ALL fiscal bills, only the vast majority of them. Basically if it has anything to do with taxes (new, continues or renews), or the state spends money, or the state makes promise to spend money, then it's a "fiscal bill". There are definitely areas of the bill where it's *really shady* as far as whether this will pass the constitutionality test. Is requiring state employees to contribute more to their health care/pensions a tax? Is it reduced compensation? An argument could be made for either, so it's going to be up to the lawyers to hash out. There's also a bit about a new employee (political crony) position, but the bill doesn't allocate any money to pay for him... Now suddenly the Governor is treading on *really* shaky ground, since hiring someone is a de facto promise to pay him next year. Does that count as a state promise to spend money in the future? Dunno, up to the courts to decide...

3) Abdicating of legislative responsibility. Basically the legislature *can't* just give up things that it's ultimately responsible for (separation of powers). This one I'm a little more murky on, but it will be challenged in court that the legislature is ultimately responsible for certain items, and can't delegate that authority to the governor's branch.

Should be interesting to see how all of this plays out...

 

[dante]

Oh, and was at the capitol last night, and the mood changed VERY quickly. At around 6:30pm word got out that the Senate had voted and that the police were shutting down the building (ie, not letting anyone else in). The next thing I see is hundreds of people STREAMING into a side-door, overrunning the lone cop that was there to hold people out. Basically everyone could (theoretically) only get in one door, but you could leave through several. One person "left", and held the door open for everyone else to run in. I was meeting my wife outside, and we saw (at another entrance) people running into the building and then the sounds of cops shouting at them to leave. It was ugly enough that my wife and I headed away to get dinner and let things calm down...

And Madison was such a cute, sleepy little town until recently.

 

[dante]

Oh, and this is an interesting editorial, especially when you consider that it's a right-wing newspaper that endorsed Walker during the campaign...

The governor and Legislature seem to believe that they can save the house by burning it down.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the gov's policies...

 

[dante]

Party's over, looks like it passed. They did take out a lot of the questionable selling of public property additions, so I'm not against what happened here. I was reading that there are recalls out for 8 repubs and 6 dems, which is amusing, as the amount it will cost the state. Plus if there is an in-line reversal (dem for repub, repub for dem) Repubs will still have a majority.

Lol, FOOLED YOU!

Meanwhile, in a curious move, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau produced a new analysis of the bill, changed from the previous night, which includes more elements of the original budget repair bill. Nobody could produce a copy of the actual legislation in time for the conference committee session yesterday, leading to speculation that it was being written while the session was going on. The Director of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Bob Lang, said that these omissions were just oversights, and the bill language remained the same throughout. Mm-hm.

If you read the LFB correction, you’ll see that the sale of state-owned heating, cooling and power plants has returned to the bill.

 

[sanjuro]

You don't have to go home but you have to get out of here...

 

[stoney]

Lol, FOOLED YOU!

Wow. The initial article I read noted that as a removed line item. I don't support it on that alone.

 

[Beef Supreme]

This is seriously messed up.

Dante - I have $50 bucks for the political organization of your choice. Which is the best one to fight this?

 

[IH8Rice]

and the hits just keep on coming.

The Wisconsin state Assembly on Thursday afternoon passed a controversial bill that curtails most state workers’ collective bargaining rights, one day after state Senate Republicans used a technical procedure to get around the intentional absence of 14 Democrats and pass the measure in their chamber.
The bill will reach Gov. Scott Walker's desk for final approval. The bill would, among other things, allow public workers to collectively negotiate wages only, prohibit public-worker raises beyond inflation, and bar unions from taking dues from public workers’ checks. Walker has argued the bill is necessary to help the state correct its deficits and avoid massive layoffs and property tax hikes.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/10/wisconsin-assembly-poised-to-pass-controversial-labor-bill/?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

 

[sanjuro]

This is seriously messed up.

Dante - I have $50 bucks for the political organization of your choice. Which is the best one to fight this?

http://www.ianspizza.com/

 

[dante]

http://www.ianspizza.com/

Probably a pretty good choice, especially on Saturday when there are supposed to be 100,000 protesters out again.

Otherwise the state Democratic Party of WI (I'm pretty sure they're behind www.recalltherepublican8.com website) is probably your best bet to coordinate. Apparently they've raised ~$800k recently based on the outrage of what's going on here... There were several groups that were running ads (and still are) advocating "call your state senator", but since it's all over but the signing, I'm guessing that recalls will probably be most effective.



edit: Must spread rep....

 

[DaveW]

How long until the next general election in your state?

 

[dante]

How long until the next general election in your state?

First up is April 5th, which is local elections and a state supreme court race (including one liberal and one conservative). Then there are 3 assembly seats that have to be filled in a special May election. Then there are just recall elections until Nov 2012 when the next general election is (all Assemblymen, 1/2 of the State Senators).

 

[dante]

How do you know when Wisconsinites are *really* pissed??

NSFW

They bring out the TRACTORS!!!!

No, seriously. Farmers out here are going to be impacted by the state's massive cuts to public health care (cutting income requirements from 200% of the federal poverty level down to the federal minimum of 130% of the poverty level) since they predominantly lower income and don't have full-time jobs for health care benefits. Since they don't have to pay very much in property taxes, and since they can grow much of their own food, their actual *income* doesn't have to be as high as someone working in the private sector. The one thing they do need is health care, though. So to call attention to it, they decided to have a tractorcade around the capitol.

Old tractors

Newer tractors

Even newer tractors

Big tractors

Little tractors

Manure spreaders

Pedicabs

People dressed as cows

And of course, the piece de resistance... A tractor, carrying a fireman's flag, held on with a hockey stick. Does it get anymore Wisconsin??

More random pics:

Snipers on the rooftop

Random crowd shot

Rich guys with their "puppet"

More rich guys with their "puppet"

It is Wisconsin, afterall. Protesters in the bar on the square.

More random crowd shots

All 14 senators are back in the state, Walker's signed his bill but the Sec of State is delaying publishing it till the 25th (the last day he legally can) in order to give the numerous lawsuits time to proceed. People were signing recall petitions by the thousands, and it will be interesting to see how many signatures they have after today.

No clue on where this whole "movement" goes from here though...

 

[dante]

One down, 8 more to go.....

Democratic state Sen. Dave Hansen of Green Bay was the first of nine state senators to face a final recall election, and he easily survived Tuesday.

Although he did only beat a tax-dodging deadbeat with a couple of Disorderly Conduct and Restraining Orders though.... Kind of surprised that 35% of the people *actually* did vote for the guy.

 

[Silver]

Kind of surprised that 35% of the people *actually* did vote for the guy.

http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2005/10/lunch-discussions-145-crazification.html

 

[Pesqueeb]

Hey Dante, you get to vote today?

 

[dante]

Nope. My guy's a (D) in a solidly (D) district. They couldn't even get the signatures to force a recall election. Will be interesting to see what happens, though, and remember that this is all a preamble to next January when the recall election for Walker will (probably) be held. For the most part the elections today are about Republicans in Republican districts... They all won in 2008 when WI went blue for the election of Obama, so none of them are going to be a cakewalk. My guess is that it's all going to come down to turnout, and which side is more upset. I would normally say that that's the Democrats, but as the election of Prosser in April showed, Republicans are just as energized as the Democrats right now.

At the VERY least I'd hope that this serves a warning to ALL politicians to campaign on exactly what they're going to do once they're in office. None of this "we won't mention a word of it during the campaign and then plan on dropping a bomb a month after we get into office" bullsh!t that our governor pulled. You want to make a stupid decision like turning down $800m in federal rail funds (and costing WI taxpayers $100m in the process), go for it if the people are stupid enough to vote you in after you campaigned on it.

Honest politicians......... hey, I can dream, can't I?

 

[dante]

My analysis posted in the FF comments:

The outcome of this is going to be HUGE here in WI… The Democrats have everything to gain, with control of the Senate (and a stop to Walker’s agenda) hanging in the balance. The Republicans have everything to lose, as these are *Republican* candidates running in *Republican* districts. Remember, (today) these are all Republican candidates who won in 2008 when Obama won WI pretty handily. So far, some of the GOP candidates appear headed for the door. Randy Hopper got caught having left his wife/kids and was (apparently) living in Madison, not even in his own district. Kapanke is in a more liberal-leaning district as well, and the polling hasn’t been positive. The real coup will be if Democrats can pick up Darling’s seat (she ran originally as a moderate Republican, but hasn’t governed that way) along with Olsen’s (so Republican a district that he’s barely had a challenger in the general election).

Even though 30+ million has already been spent, if the Democrats pick up 3-5 seats, be prepared to REALLY see the money roll in. There are 2 vulnerable Democrats that face recalls next week. Assuming that those elections determine control of the Senate, be prepared for an ONSLAUGHT of money and resources being poured into the state in the next 6 days.

However, there’s definitely more downside to the Republicans than the Democrats. If the Democrats fail to gain control of the Senate, it’s not a death knell. These are Republicans running in Republican districts. The real question is going to be come January when Walker himself faces a recall. Yes, taking back control of the Senate will make it far, far, far easier and give a psychological boost, but with Walker polling ~40% approval, and with the ground game that the Democrats have built up to collect signatures it’s almost a certainty that there’s going to be a recall election. *That* will be interesting, as statewide the Republicans haven’t done too badly. Milwaukee didn’t turn out heavily enough to swing the election to Kloppenburg, and their % of adults voting fell far short of Madison (heavily Democratic) and Waukesha (heavily Republican).

Will be very, very, very interesting to see tonight.

 

[stevew]

unions couldn't buy it back.

 

[dante]

unions couldn't buy it back.

Meh, if Walker isn't petrified, he damn well should be. These were Republicans who won their districts in '08 (when WI went 54% for BHO). Even still, 2 lost their seats and Olsen only won 52-48%. In 2008 he didn't even have a Democratic challenger.....

 

[$tinkle]

Meh, if Walker isn't petrified, he damn well should be.

apart from watching re-air of rachel & ed in the middle of the night*, i haven't followed this too terribly closely since the dems skipped town a year or so ago, but it seems this was effectively a referendum on walker. pretty sure he's since exhaled.




*no, it won't put you to sleep, but it should

 

[dante]

apart from watching re-air of rachel & ed in the middle of the night*, i haven't followed this too terribly closely since the dems skipped town a year or so ago, but it seems this was effectively a referendum on walker. pretty sure he's since exhaled.

Ehhhhh, not really. Democrats won in 2 of the districts that went Republican in 2008 and solidly for Walker in 2010. We'll wait and see the numbers, but I'd bet that Democrats did better in every race/district than they had in either the 2010 elections or the judicial election this spring. The Dems have the ground game to get Walker's name on the ballot in January, and he's sitting at 39% approval rating.

No, he hasn't exhaled yet... He just has a few more months to try to push through his divisive agenda with a 1 vote margin of error in the Senate. (which could change next week when the Democrats are up for recall)