AP Photo/Andy Manis
Damon Terrrell speaks to protesters at the state Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, February 27, 2011.
Forgetting politics and looking at today's recall elections in Wisconsin may be difficult, especially with turnout this high (so far) and this much money involved. But the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel notes that this is indeed historic (in a more traditional way):
Since 1908, there have been 20 recorded state legislative recall elections held in the United States, according to one recall expert. Wisconsin is in the process of holding nine such elections in the space of a month.
One of those elections features a Republican who has literally never had a Democrat oppose him for this office before today:
State Sen. Luther Olsen's district is comfortably Republican - so much so that in 16½ years in office he has never drawn a Democratic opponent. No more. For the first time, the senator from Ripon faces a real opponent in Rep. Fred Clark (D-Baraboo)... Democrats see the Olsen-Clark matchup as the race that could give them control of the Senate.
Democrats need a net gain of three seats to regain that control, and that road may be tough today. Yesterday's polling doesn't portend a clean sweep by either side. Even if the Democrats are put back in charge, it is debatable how soon they'd even be able to address the issue driving all of this: unions and collective bargaining. But as Steve Benen notes, it may have an immediate impact on national politics:
Needless to say, interest in the outcome extends well beyond the state. Because so much of the dispute has centered around collective-bargaining rights — or more specifically, the GOP drive to gut these worker rights — union leaders and activists throughout the labor movement are heavily invested in today’s races, and they’ve been joined by a variety of progressive allies, including the Democrats’ Organizing for America. Likewise, a variety of far-right organizations, including Koch-financed outfits, have already spent millions to prevent Democratic victories.
So that's why Benen believes:
The better Dems do today, the more likely their success will be used as a template.
After the jump, you can find Rachel discussing that and many other things concerning the Wisconsin recall elections last night with MSNBC's own Ed Schultz (who is again doing his show live from Madison, WI tonight). Polls close at 9pm Eastern, right as we go on the air tonight -- so be sure to tune in at the top of the hour.
Leave a Comment:
High turnout usually favors Dems. These races are going to be close and even if the Dems lose, a large Dem turnout in these safe districts will not be good for Republicans. If the Dems win control, then Republicans will be forced to negotiate every bill and compromises mean Republicans are going to have to give something up. Walker may not like the legislation, but vetoes will reinforce the negative image of the governor and fuel his recall. The threat of more recalls will make Republicans amenable to rolling back some of the legislation. If the Dems win by a large margins, more recalls will be a certainty.
I can't wait to see how the Republicans will cheat their way to "victory." They are crude, amoral dimwits and it's usually not tough to spot the theft. It certainly wasn't the last time they needed a few extra votes.
I have to disagree with that, Mike. We're talking about people occupying a slice of the ideological spectrum who are still fighting against the civil rights movement, who are still fighting the Civil War, still floating nullification as an answer to the "Tariff of Abominations", still fighting the ratification of the Constitution. These are people who do not recognize defeat. They find confirmation and strength in either defeat and victory, and they seem to thrive most on adversity. Win or lose in Wisconsin, I expect Republicans to dig in deeper regardless.
I only take issue with the idea that the Republican election theft machine is unpolished. To my mind, what's frightening about it is just how incredibly sophisticated and well-oiled it is. And I'm as sure as I can be they stole this one. As hard as the masses worked, and perfectly as they did everything necessary in a complicated process, as much as they exceeded every parameter and got the vote out in absolute droves, every single one of those creeps should have been recalled. Who knows what the actual vote count was, but I'd bet it was a landslide in every case.
There's a really smart guy named Richard Chardin who has a blog called "Truth Is All." I always wondered what the odds were of this or that happening in elections -- he's figured them. If you want your mind blown, check him out.
He's also developed this very cool mathematical analysis of the GOP election theft machinery. Using hard core math, he predicted they would only recall two -- months ago. Very much worth looking at.
Just the fact that this is happening should school national politics!
It would be so lovely if it does.
Thinkin' happy thoughts!
Hope for the best. Plan for the worst.
I wish we had the option of recall here in Florida. I just go to sign wavings and have my "Pink Slip Rick", bumper sticker on my car.
We need a recall election policy in Ohio too! Our last two Governors have been screw ups. Ted Strickland tricked people by running as a Democrat, after being a republican. I'll never trust another Republican who says they're country first.
Voters are truly America's only salvation if we are going to leave any legacy with an acceptable quality of life for future generations at all.
We The People MUST START KICKING ALL REPUBLICANS OUT OF OFFICE TODAY.
Wisconsin could very well be the a major historical turning point, like winning the revolutionary and civil wars, that will restore Democracy in America if voters begin fighting back against never-ending republican betrayals, by kicking out their republicans today, it's that important.
GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
O.K. now get that past church going right wingers.
The American Voter will also vote out our pathetic President. 9.1% unemployment, weakening economy, S&P downgrade, and an extremely volatile market all under his watch.
If he would have improved our economy it is one thing, but he has done nothing to improve our economy, and it can certainly be argued that he made our economy worse!
Quite right. What we need is a genuine socialist. Not some lapdog that keeps coming back to his critics on the Right, no matter how many times they kick him.
Roger Bybee is a Milwaukee-based writer and educator who edited the Racine Labor weekly for 14 years in his hometown of Racine, Wis. and has worked extensively with labor and other progressive groups. He has been published in a variety of national publications including The Progressive, The American Prospect, In These Times, workinginthesetimes.com, Extra!, The Progressive Populist, Z magazine, Dollars and Sense, and the Multinational Monitor, among many others. He has written chapters for two books on the Wisconsin labor rebellion --Real World Labor and the forthcoming It Started in Wisconsin (forthcoming from Verso, fall 2011). He has appeared frequently as a commentator on radio and TV programs.
He can be reached at 414/507-4888 or winterbybee@gmail.com
Stakes High in Wisconsin Vote, But Labor Effort Energizing Public
Tuesday
Aug 9, 2011
9:19 am
edit
By Roger Bybee
A sign to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker hangs on a statue in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol on March 10, 2011 in Madison. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Today marks one of the most fateful days in Wisconsin history, as the outcome of six recall elections directed against Republican state senators—combined with two recall elections against Democratic senators Aug. 16—will decisively shape the state’s future.
With all the chips on the table, the response from labor and its allies has been overwhelming, according to the coalition We Are Wisconsin.
"In the past two days, volunteers have visited over 103,000 doors to help us Get Out the Vote to support our six great candidates up for election," the group reported Aug. 7.
The presidential election of 2012 will also be hugely impacted by the results in Wisconsin, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin. “If he can't win here, he also can't win in other states," Franklin said of Obama
Obama’s chances in Wisconsin and other Midwest industrial states will of course also be affected by his ability to generate jobs for desperate communities and his colossally unpopular and labor-opposed drive for three NAFTA-style “free trade agreements.”
Fighting Walker's Fiefdom Dream
The labor-led recall insurgency, on a scale unprecedented in national history, was ignited by Gov. Scott Walker’s new law stripping public employees of all meaningful union rights. Walker originally sought a total ban on public-employee unions, before being persuaded to settle for provisions that would “merely” render unions functionally inoperable.
The coalition of labor and progressive groups—later to emege as We Are Wisconsin—gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures to force new elections
Since assuming office in January, Gov. Scott Walker has relentlessly plowed through Wisconsin’s progressive traditions in seeking to rapidly re-configure the Badger State as a Southern-style fiefdom where the demands of corporate CEOs are enthroned and the democratic voice of the majority of citizens is enfeebled by anti-union legislation, restrictive voter ID laws targeting low-income constituencies, outrageously partisan redistricting, and suspect election results.
If the heavily-funded Republican senators can maintain their majority, we can expect Wisconsin to become more like a top-down corporate state and much less like the relatively labor-friendly “laboratory of democracy” for which it has gained national admiration. The Walker administration has exemplified its nostalgia for the Robber Baron era by weakening child labor laws and re-instituting prison labor to displace public employees.
However, if the labor-led electoral insurgency can capture a net of three Senate seats, Walker’s blitzkrieg against Wisconsin workers and public institutions will be cut off.
Such a success would also fuel a potential recall drive against Walker himself in early 2012, whose disapproval rating stands at a dangerously high 59 percent. Lately, Walker has been trying to soothe seething citizens with statements like, “The public wants to move on," but many will not “move on” until he has been moved out of the Governor’s Mansion.
Along with the highly unpopular law aimed at ending Wisconsin’s tradition of public-sector unionism, Walker has slashed public-education funding by $800 million, cut public healthcare programs and turned down $9 million in federal health funding, spurned over $810 million in federal mass-transit funding seen as critical to generating jobs in Wisconsin’s flat-lining economy, and expanded corporate tax breaks by about $300 million.
Walker’s full-scale assault on the progressive side of Wisconsin traditions and the public “commons” has been amply financed and carefully strategized by a wide range of corporate and conservative interest groups (the DeVos family of Amway fame, the multibillionaire Koch brothers, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Club for Growth, Americans For Prosperity, the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, and high-powered "school choice" groups.
Corporate-Sponsored Candidates
As soon as the recall elections endangered complete Republican control of Wisconsin government, many of these same forces took advantage of the massive loopholes created by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.
The decision repeals a century of campaign-finance law, reinforces the specious notion that corporations are entitled to the same rights as living humans, and allows corporations to donate money directly from their treasuries, with sharply decreased disclosure requirements.
Most recently, campaign finance groups like the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign estimate that up to $40 million or more has been spent on the recall elections, with most coming from non-candidate organizations.
For example, Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus, a Wisconsin resident, boasted that the GOP had gone “all-in" in funding the campaigns of the six GOP senators subject to recall.
The Right's War of Words
Along with an enormous stream of cash in undisclosed quantities and unknown sources, the corporate-Right coalition backing the Republicans have also mounted a vicious war of words against the pro-labor Democrats.
The Club for Growth has been running an ad claiming that State Rep. Sandy Pasch, who is taking on GOP Sen. Alberta Darling, of favoring “Illegal Immigrants Over Our Veterans.”
The rhetoric of other Darling supporters has become even more coarse and ugly, labeling Pasch's backers "Nazi-style stormtroopers" even though Pasch is Jewish:
Yet the GOP candidates across the state and their well-heeled supporters have carefully stayed away from linking the Republican candidates to Walker and his policies in their advertising, noted my friend John Nichols of The Nation, who has visited each district.
Sen. Darling, most of whose district covers affluent suburban areas including one of Milwaukee’s richest suburbs as well as the edge of an African-American community, has long tried to depict herself as a moderate.
But given the co-chairmanship of the powerful Joint Finance Committee, Darling has proven to be a ruthless hit-woman for Walker in his program of destroying union rights, slashing public education, cutting health programs (including those for women’s reproductive health although she served on the Planned Parenthood board of directors until 1995) and handing out new corporate tax breaks at a time when about 66 percent of Wisconsin firms with net revenues over $100 million pay no corporate income taxes.
Races Set the Stage
With spending in this race already hitting $7.9 million, Pasch was seen as having the longest shot of any of the Democratic challengers in the recalls.
But now the centrist and influential WisPolitics.com ranks the race a “toss-up,” with the hard-hitting ads of Pasch and her supporters contrasting her commitment to public education, Medicare, and fair taxation in contrast to Darling’s increasingly rightward lurch.
If labor and its allies can engineer sufficient Democratic victories today and next Tuesday to gain the three seats needed for a Democratic Senate majority, the impact will be immense, especially in other states like Ohio and New Jersey where the new crop of rightist Republican governors have pilloried public employees and portrayed them as benefitting from the economic misery of ordinary taxpayers.
“Wisconsin will have developed a template to fight back against the Citizens United decision and big money,” said Ed Schultz, host of MSNBC’s The Ed Show, who chose to broadcast live from Madison because of the recalls' signficance.
Surveying the effort displayed by labor, Democratic, and progressive forces, John Nichols told Schultz, “In all my years of observing politics, I’ve never seen this level of grass-roots energy.”
On, Wisconsin! And let this serve as an example for the rest of us. It's great to post your thoughts and discuss the issues, but the only real voice you have is at the ballot box. Don't ever forget that, and don't ever give it up!!
That assumes that you live somewhere other than the nation's capitol where we don't have representation in either chamber of congress.
Sorry to go slightly off topic, but as a native Washingtonian, it always rankles when I read statements about voting and/or representation.
in what is all too un-historical, conservatives are engaging in SOTV* efforts
* - scare out the vote
also, if you didn't get this ad on the above article page, you were deprived. hilarious! :)
While these recall elections are important, the real take-away is an empowered populous determined to stop their own disenfranchisement by their "supposed representatives"!! Maybe this is the "spark" that will galvanize the rest of the American populous to stop the fragga-nackle nonsense that's been going on in American politics on the state and local along with the feds!!!
Go Wisconsin, we are all Wisconsin right now!!
They have the money! WE have the VOTE!!
They have AstroTurf! WE have REAL GRASSROOTS!!
They have lies and mis-truths! WE have Facts and WE THE PEOPLE!!
Americas behind you WI.
your post reminded me of this Doors song
The old get old
And the young get stronger
May take a week
And it may take longer
They got the guns
But we got the numbers
Gonna win, yeah
We're takin' over
Come on!
Yeah!
Five to One, Waiting for the Sun. Good song, great album.
but,
....dead.
OT but maybe there is a crack in the anti-american window of insanity.
August 09, 2011 02:00 PM
Will This Become A Trend? Republican Congressman Recants Anti-Tax Pledge To Grover
By Susie Madrak
So far, there's only one, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE). But I suspect this desire to distance themselves from Grover will only grow. So at least for the time being, while the chaos in the wake of the S&P downgrade is fresh in the public mind, Norquist is not such ashoo-in for GOP prom king:
well not sure if he is a decent guy but have to give him a SHOUT OUT for at lease standing up and being a American.
Fortenberry's statements make him sound like a Dem. If Republicans believe that the TP is toxic, it is going to be an elephant stampede to disavow the anti-tax pledge.
One can hope! This article is grounds for hope that there will be a return to sanity and a disavowal of the fringe in the republican party. I think the corporations and Coc- I mean Cok- Oh, you know, the brothers who earned their money the old fashioned way, by inheriting it - were trying to use the tea baggers to their advantage, and lost control of the bus! Looks like the rats are bailing the ship, to switch metaphors midstream...
If the Republicans lose these Wisconsin elections, then they will have to figure out how to win despite their best efforts to buy the elections. The Koch brothers and Dick Armey are going to run away from their mess. If the Republicans get buried in 2012, Grover Norquist will be crucified. And the blame game in the Republican party begins.
it is pathetic that WISN (Channel 12) in Milwaukee has chosen to give walker air time at the 5pm newscast TODAY in the middle of the recall elections to respond to protesters who want to recall him. Is this not interfering with the election/recall process? this is not newsworthy nor appropriate for such airing in the middle of the recall elections. Walker had weeks to respond to the recall efforts but chose not to respond and continued turning a deaf ear toward we the people and our opinions. This man has divided this state and this "news" has NO place on the newscast in the middle of the recall election. Now walker wants to "work together"--what????? walker has never listened to the will of the people--he must be worried about the recalls. i pray that all 6 repubs are recalled today!
The Nation is watching! I'm in California, glued to my TV, and watching! We also hope you succeed in recalling all six. And yes, it's pathetic that WISN is giving Walker air time in the middle of this. Who owns them?
I wish we had recall elections here in Ohio.
Then why don't Ohio citizens unite to put a recall mechanism into the state Constitution? I would think you would have lots of support for that initiative.
You would think all states would. Or have some mechanism for no-confidence votes with teeth. What would be good is if all state started putting in such devices in their governance.
Ed Shultz has got some major sun burn going on.
Everyone seems to have forgotten the #1 factor in the outcome of the Wisconsin elections. It is being tallied by voting machines designed and manufactured by extreme right wing Christian Reconstructionists who have been caught over and over fixing elections, and whose avowed goal is the replacement of American democracy with a Christian theocracy. The machines are designed to make them tamper friendly.
Google voting machine fraud or check out my somewhat out-of-date introduction at http://mindprod.com/politics/election.html
So long as voters sit home and watch their TVs, it is fairly easy for those with money to mislead them and trick them into voting against their own interests. The key to defeating money has to be getting people out of their homes for all-candidates meetings to grill the candidates, and debate with fellow citizens. Have a look at how Canada does it. None of these tame pre-vetted questions. It is more akin to bear baiting, a chance to rip shreds off the politicians, and to roundly boo them when they try to pass off BS as answers.
I can't BELIEVE it's going to come down to KATHY NICKOLAUS - AGAIN??? REALLY??
Waukesha "being delayed"....
The signature of voting machine fraud is a squeaker election when the crook wins in a statistical tie. The game is to produce as few crooked votes as possible and still get the job done.
As I watch the Wisconsin returns, and I see how much the people of Wisconsin love youfor championing their cause like you have, something always bothers me.
It isn't possible that you, or any of the commentators on MSNBC, don't know about the massive Republican election theft machine. It simply isn't possible. You're all far too well-informed. Yet none of you ever say a word about it. You all seem to fully embrace the idea that election results in this country accurately reflect the vote. But -- it's just not possible. The entire beautifully planned & implemented election heist machinery has been far too well covered for smart, informed people such as yourselves to not know about it.
I see it in action right now, there in Wisconsin. It should have been a sweep. They worked so hard. They got triple, or quadruple the signatures they needed. They got a spectacular vote turnout. They never gave up. And the Republican vote theft machinery swung into action, and it is clearly working as well as ever. What should have been a sweep might net them two seats. It's heartbreaking.
What bothers me, as I watch, is this: why, oh why, don't you, or any of the wonderful MSNBC commentators, raise the hell that only you can raise about it?
Kathy Nickolaus needs to be investigated, her PC confiscated TONIGHT, before she leaves, and serious tech forensics done on the HDD
Something very shady is happening in District 8. No updates for a long time and now rumor has it that Darling is ahead 1800+ votes? Tell me the Republicans didn't steal this.
<sarcasm>You can't steal what's yours by divine right.</sarcasm>
This MUST NOT HAPPEN in a civilized country with the rule of law.
WHY was she ever allowed to stay in her position, or anywhere NEAR an election?
If I had remembered the Nickolaus/Prosser thing I could have TOLD you this race was NEVER "too close to call."
EVERY Republican voter remaining in WI, after this,
is automatically and permanently self-defined and branded a CROOK.
...and they made Anthony Weiner resign...
This isn't the fault of the voters. It's the fault of a couple criminals that stole this election. I really hope that this time something is done about it.
Yes... but the results will stand, just like Prosser. So what does it (or anything) matter? ALL is window dressing, only money wins.
Things are not even remotely as they are carefully constructed to appear.
If something could be done, it would have. Country after country in this world is seeing that no systems of law actually exist (just look for the fires on TV news)
- it's ALL a mirage, government, law, politics, finance - EVERYTHING. It's ALL a scam to control us. The movie "The Matrix" was absolute truth. Only money - really BIG money - matters and only money WINS. All else is PREY.
Any election now that appears to threaten Republican lickspittles and Corporate Masters is a foregone conclusion. It worked in FL to give us Bush (proof? What he DID! And the fact that that EVEN "DEMS" allowed and supported it in congress.)
ALL a joke. Some APPEAR to vote one way, some another, but the outcome is all predecided and agreed - or they don't get ANYWHERE NEAR there. I now have no doubt even Bernie Sanders is in on it.
It worked in WI when the people appear to get uppity and excited about the mirage of "Democracy", and THE EXACT SAME WILL HAPPEN IN THE WINDOW DRESSING "ELECTION" of 2012 and beyond.
WATCH.
Just Watch.
One wonders how long they will even bother with the elaborate trappings. Why don't they just foment the revolution, kill millions quickly, directly, (and from the POV of a senior already trying to survive on a fixed income; comparatively humanely,) quashing it like they did this election, and be done with all this pretense? They enjoy the torture? WHEN DO WE EXPLODE AND SAY NO?