1. Bernie Sanders didn't just win by 13 points, he won 71 of 72 counties. That is not a good look if you're Hillary Clinton and you're trying to impress people in a state you need to win in November (if you're lucky enough to become the Dem nominee). Here's a great rundown from Politico's Steven Shepherd on the exit polls in the Dem primary last night, and how Bernie did well across the board.
2. GOP voters are clearly separated into "talk show sheep" and "the rest of the state." Take a gander at this tweet from WisGOP hack Collin Roth.
I present you: "Talk-Radio Land" #WiPrimary #WiRight #Wipolitics pic.twitter.com/Tb9416LaUO
— Collin Roth (@collinroth) April 6, 2016
Also worth noting, Trump still got 35%, which really isn't much different than a lot of the states he won. It's just that he couldn't grab any of the voters that his now-former primary opponents. Of course, Sykes, Bader, Icki and the rest of the WisGOP spokespeople on AM radio were the other reason- a megaphone of propaganda that isn't repeated in many other places. So let's see if Wisconsin is just a goofy one-off in GOP-world (sort of the flip side of how Scott Walker bombed among all other GOP voters, come to think of it).
3. The Supreme Court race with Bradley beating Kloppenburg is one of the most disappointing outcomes of an election that I can remember. Maybe because I refused to believe my state would elect such an amoral, homophobic sleaze like Bradley to the bench, and also because people were tweeting out that Kloppenburg won the exit polls earlier in the night, which made it all the more cruel as the votes didn't come in.
And if you're wondering why the state Dems didn't get as involved as they should have, apparently Kloppenburg's campaign insisted on not getting Dem help, to stress her "independent" bona fides. But of course, she ran no ads stressing that "independence" and that she could be a check the power of the Governor (or if she did, I sure as hell didn't see it). She and campaign manager Melissa Mulliken should be disqualified from ever doing a statewide campaign again. Now this doesn't excuse the Dems and 3rd-Party groups for not stepping up a month ago. They should have realized the opportunity that was out there after Bradley was shown to be such a train wreck in both ethics and basic humanity, but they didn't do anything to cement opinions in the race before the millions in dark money ads started coming out and tricking just enough people. And the party failed again when it came to getting votes in rural and Northeastern Wisconsin, as has been the rule in non-presidential elections in the 2010s in this state.
4. The huge lines at the polls were not an accident, and were intentional voter suppression. We are not the only state that has installed these ALEC maneuvers to rig elections for Republicans, but we now also have proof that rigging elections is the intent, courtesy of dipshitted Congressman Glenn Gross-man. This is more than enough evidence for the Obama Administration to prove malice and targeting of certain groups with these voter suppression laws, and requires them to step in to guarantee the Constitutional rights of Wisconsinites, as well as all Americans. The excuses for not taking action are well past unacceptable at this point.
And the excuses for the bad guys winning all of these high-profile elections in Wisconsin in non-presidential years is also beyond thin. I don't want to be demoralized, but what the hell should I think at this point? It reminds me of this excellent Fight Club line.
I felt like putting a bullet between the eyes of every Panda that wouldn't screw to save its species.Wisconsin voters, last night was your last warning.
Jake...I'm right there with you. I'm at a point in my mid 30's of "what's the point" anymore to voting. The system has been rigged so blatantly by the GOP that the reality is the Progressives have literally been silenced. They have enacted voter "specific" ID laws; gerrymandered the entire state; Optiscan ESS voting machines that can, and have been hacked; free right wing propaganda radio 24/7; an army of FB trolls, and so much dark unaccounted money flowing in from God only knows where, that the deck has been stacked against us! I'm at a point in my life that I'm thinking of just letting this Right wing transformation happen, unobstructed. Maybe that's what it will take for people to wake up...when everything has been deconstructed and destroyed to a point we cannot provide for our communities, our well-being as a society, maybe then the people will wake up. I just don't understand how, looking at the totals from last night, over 70,000 people who voted for either Sanders or Clinton failed to fill in the circle for Kloppy. Election rigging or has the dumbing down of our people already been completed?
ReplyDeleteI also severely wonder about the undervote, whether it's legitimate and/or a function of the long lines frustrating voters so much they wanted to mark the presidential race and get the hell out of there.
DeleteOr it could just be ignorance about the candidates, so the person felt no reason to fill it out (which is an epic fail by Kloppenburg and DPW if true).
I get the temptation to say "the hell with it," and stop caring about the damage being done to the state. But that's what the crooked aholes want us to do. Which is a main reason I can't stop caring.
Yes,I'm questioning the results, the problem is no one else with political pull questions the results of any election in recent years. There was an article last year proving election machine vote flipping and purging allowing Walker to win in 2010 and the recall election. Nothing came about, no DOJ investigation, nothing from the GAB... Do you notice that the spread is always the same in these elections? 52 to 48 or 54 to 47, very strange. Disenfranchising an estimated 300,000 people with this voter ID law. a simple piece of legislation, which resulted in Kloppy losing the election by 90,000. That's a pretty good ROI
ReplyDeleteNot just Wisconsin's last warning, but for the entire party. We're gloating at the debacle that is the republican presidential campaign and not noticing that our own house is burning down.
ReplyDeleteThe republicans boosted turnout by 500,000 from 2008, by 300,000 from 2012. I know that, different years, different races, but still! The increased turnout was due to more people voting republican!
Outstate, Ted Cruz kicked the a** of both Bernie and Hillary - and that has some severe repercussions for downticket races.
Re: Kloppenburg - Agreed, that was disappointing. Instead we elected someone who was clearly not qualified on the basis of her ethics (lack thereof) and positions. (Opposing birth control? I'm sure she used birth control during her affair with her law firm's COO.)
But as someone who hosted a couple of events for Kloppenburg - JoAnne sincerely didn't want any help from the DPW. I understand that, and respect her judgement. Had we had the 2008 electorate, or the 2012, she would have won with that stand.
The only good sign is the number of school referenda that won, and the results in a number of local races that I'd had my eyes on. For example, progressives held their grip on the St. Croix County Board, even though the county voted for republican presidential candidates by something like a 3:2 margin.
That tells me that the voters can be convinced with grassroots organizing and doorknocking by the candidate.
Doorknocking works in local races (where the candidates aren't known), and densely-populated areas where people move a lot (college campuses, big cities). It does not seem to work at the state or federal level in other types of communities.
DeleteThere you need yard signs/billboards for visibility and name recognition, and maybe a few ads so the media pays attention to you.
The other factor- "free media," which the GOP has a major advantage with thru their AM radio spokespeople and Bubble World BS outlets like MacIver. Dems have failed to cone up with anything like this, which is the only reason a hack like Bradley could get vites from independents and low-info/ mis-info voters.
The number of Dems who voted for Bradley and the number of people who left that spot blank is what is so discouraging to me. You can't tell me a person that votes for Bernie Sanders would vote for an unethical bigot like Bradley if they were informed. The haters, who came out of the closet with Walker's Act 10 divide and conquer policy and the the election of the first black President, I get... Bernie and Hillary voters, no way.
ReplyDeleteIt has to be a top down effort to educate people who don't pay attention to politics. Bernie and Hillary both did a little blurb on why people should vote for Kloppenburg, but if you didn't attend their rallies, you didn't hear that message.
Very true, and neither got involved until after Early Voting was done.
DeleteHaving Dem candidates work for downticket is especislly important because they don't have the GOPper-ganda machine to raise their profile and carry their water. Instead, Dems have done it backwards, assuming people will just figure it out, and you see the awful results.
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