Posts Tagged ‘Wisconsin’

Tuesday was the primary election for the recall of Governor Scott Walker.  Democrats fielded four candidates and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett prevailed.  There was a “challenger” to Governor Walker, a “protest” primary candidate who received a whopping 3% of the vote.

The problem for Democrats is that the combined total of votes cast (with 92.4% reporting) in the Republican primary was 589,176 and the combined total in the Democrat primary (with the same 92.4% reporting) was… 585, 888.

Think about that.  Democrats had a robust primary campaign between Barrett and Cathleen Falk, but Walker had no real competition, and more ballots were cast in the Republican primary than the Democrat primary.

That does not bode well for Democrats going into the June 5 general election for the recall.

Prediction: Gov. Walker wins the recall, further minimizing union power in Wisconsin and putting Wisconsin in play for both the Presidential election and the U.S. Senate election.

The Maryland primary has already been called for Mitt Romney.  D.C. is expected to go with Romney, as will Wisconsin.

Rick Santorum is out of reasons to stay in this race.  Gingrich isn’t even worth wasting time on.

[UPADTE]

Romney has won huge in D.C. and will have a strong win in Wisconsin.  The fat lady continues to sing.

[UPDATE]

We now have the biggest break in the primary election season – the next elections aren’t until April 24, and full three weeks.  Yes, Santorum leads in Pennsylvania, but what’s the point?  Assuming Santorum can maintain his lead there, which is a big assumption, Romney will win Connecticut, Delaware, New York and Rhode Island.

This is a great newspaper editorial cartoon. When you actually look at the reforms Gov. Scott Walker proposed in Wisconsin last year, and then compare that to the reaction from the public employee unions and Democrat legislators – union members occupying the State Capital, and Democrat legislators fleeing to Illinois.

Anyway, this made me laugh out loud.

What must be the world’s longest (and largest) spending spree is coming to an end.  Politicos everywhere were abuzz this afternoon following Representative David Obey’s (D-WI) surprise announcement of his plans to retire at the end of this Congress. Elected in 1969 (he’s been in Congress longer than I’ve been alive, and it feels really nice to say that), Obey won all but two of his 21 elections with more than 60% of the vote (1969, in his first election, and in 1994, the year of the Republican Revolution and, importantly, when the political environment was very similar to today’s).

While the 71 year-old Chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee asserted during his announcement that being “bone tired” was one of the primary motivations in making his decision (Hey, who can blame him? All those taxpayer dollars don’t spend themselves!), it no doubt deals a huge blow to House Democrats as they already face an uphill battle to November.

Will Obey’s move inspire other Dems to follow suit? How ugly will the fight for the Approps gavel get? Today’s events leave many a question mark, but it can safely be said that Republican Sean Duffy, who was already waging a fierce battle against Mr. Obey, is having a pretty great Wednesday.