Turnout in the Wisconsin recalls has been "wild" across the state, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. This morning John Nichols tweeted that there were "lines out the door, 20-minute waits" at polling places on the north side of Milwaukee, way up from recent elections.
That scene in Milwaukee, in particular, is not great news for Governor Walker and company. Last year a group supporting the recall drive held block parties there to help people get registered and vote in the recalls happening then.
For their efforts, the union-affiliated Wisconsin Jobs Now got accused on the right of bribing voters with free BBQ. Prosecutors in Milwaukee cleared Wisconsin Jobs Now. And today election officials in Milwaukee had to call in extra workers to accommodate demand at the polls.
(Image below from 2011 block party, by Peter Rickman.)
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On Wisconsin!
Go Wis. Voters ! Take back the state from the rethugs. I am cheering for you from So.Car. , another rethug state. Our gov. too busy touring other states promoting her faux book and fighting her own ethics inquiry to do the work of this state. Go Voters . We are all watching and sending support for Dems and the middle class.
Go unions! Go labor! Go workers! Go dems! Go true blue!
My prayers are with you and yours today. If you can pull this off, you will have done it without Obama's leadership and assistance. The leader of our party is AWOL. Next step should be to recall Obama and install a REAL democrat.
Sigh... If only there was a legitimate legal avenue to pursue his eviction... then we could have a real progressive leader like Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, or Bernie Sanders. Heck, even Anthony Weiner or Eliot Spitzer would be better than the compromise-happy empty suit we've got now.
well in a way i am glad he didn't show up cause its not about HIM and the right would do just that make it about him and not about the PEOPLE!!!!
Go Wisconsin!!!
Kiev, what are you smoking?
Obama has most certainly not been AWOL--not on the issue of union-busting, or any other progressive issue. He has been supportive of Tom Barrett in WI as well. It would not be appropriate for him to insert himself further into state politics.
RE: "Obama has most certainly not been AWOL..." With kindest respects, B.U.L.L>S.H.I.T.
You think the republicans haven't sent EVERY single heavyweight they can muster? Look at the list of who they sent. It's longer than your leg. Obama polls significantly better than Tom Barrett in Wisconsin, up by a relative margin of over 8 points. There's no reason he shouldn't have been able to confer some of that popularity to a faithful soldier of the party who needs it in this pivotal battle.
Consider: Barack Obama was campaigning in an adjacent state over the weekend, but did not bother to stop in WI to help. This is inexplicable, unless you consider the possibility that Obama is not a democrat, but a republican operative posing as a democrat.
Think it can't happen? Remember that republicans ran more than one of their agents as democrats on the ballot in the recall primary. -But did they ever actually get a republican agent elected in a democrat primary? Look no further than South Carolina, where Alvin Greene unexpectedly won the democratic nomination to run for the senate seat held by republican Jim Demint. Greene, an unemployed veteran with no political experience, could not explain where he got the $10, 400 required to register with the state and get on the ballot. Greene refused a request from party leaders to resign the nomination after court records were revealed showing he was arrested for showing a college student obscene photographs. With Greene locked safely into the alternative slot, DeMint won the general election easily. Most pundits believe Greene was elected in the democratic primary with republican crossover votes in the state's open primary.
Look, if it can happen for a senate seat, it can happen at the national level during a presidential primary. Enter Barack Obama, the democratic nominee who has done more for republicans than he has done for his own party.
Think. About. It.
Go Wisconsin! Show your might! They have the money, but only people can cast a ballot!
Google: Scott Walker- Marquette- see why he never recieved his degree.
GO WISCONSIN!Lets REALLY get this country back,VOTE Democratic across the board!Enough of the 1% Big Money republican party who is looking out for their 1% interest and TRYING to throw the 99% under the bus!VOTE!
I live in Wisco. I just voted around 2PM CST, and was voted #1044.
What did Barrett run on??? Only that he is not Walker! Absolutely no plans for the state. We don't want the state to follow the path he took Milwaukee down!
Barrett may not be your favorite, but apparently running on a position that he is not Walker seems to be working in his favor. Besides, it's not like Walker was doing anything good for the state.
There is lots of good that Walker has done for the state. For example I live in a very small school district. Prior to Walker, the admin attempted to change insurance policies (same coverage, same cost to the employees) at a savings of 400K to the school district. The union turned it down, since it was not the teachers union insurance. I am all for saving tax money. The extra money saved on insurance after Walker saved the school district from laying off teachers. Before, the school district would have laid off teachers, since the insurance could not have been change. This is only one small district in WI. Multiply that by the number of school districts in the state, and now we are talking real money. Even Barrett used act 10 in Milwaukee to help him balance the city budget, so Walker's reforms must be working. Barrett has not plans for the state.
Just called the GAB to report potential voter fraud happening in Milwaukee...a student of mine just told me that she went with her 20 year old sister to vote at North Division HS and was told that she needed to be 21 to vote today!!!!!
That is a damn shame. Hmmmm. Now which side would have a reason to do such a thing?
Would be interested to know how many WI "wards" were split (in "this" election, for the first-time, and "always voting at the old-site), to "a new voting location" other than the one where residents had "always voted." If what happened, in this case, at one site, also happened at other-sites, then in the future "signage" out-front of the site, indicating where those wards "no longer included" should vote. Became aware of this prob. when the door-guards at one site were telling how persons "waited for 15-20 min., only have to drive (& park) ((about 5min.)), to the "new site" for their ward, "then" wait another 15-20min. to vote! The prob., of course, would be if a person only "took 30min." scheduled to vote. If the person did not have time, would they even "bother to return to vote, later in the day?"
Go Wisconsin! This is still a country, "of the people for, the people, by the people. Vote him OUT! Send a msg. to the rest of the country. Stand for what is right for all people. I wish you well today.
We stand with the union workers and not with the TEA-Republican goons.
I only wish I could vote in Wisconsin.
Finally, you talk about the turnout!
Generally, on almost any election night, I can be found watching you guys and shouting at the TV, "What about the turnout??"
Oh, about the lines: Are they using the same number of machines as they did in 2008? One less machine per polling place could explain a lot of the waiting. Elementary queuing theory.
Well done Walker!
WTF?
WTF?
MSNBC has just projected Walker the winner at 9:56 PM EST, -with only 22 percent of the vote in.
Rachel, what the F.U.C.K. is going on up there?
Are you AWOL too, or are you "in the bag" with that republican son-of-a-bitch Obama?
10:08 PM EST. Rachel Maddow laughing as a guest commentator on Last Word.
Not funny, Rachel.
Folks, it is all over. Congratulations, Wisconsin!! You did what you needed to do. This has, from the beginning, all been about a bunch of white, upper middle-class government workers in Wisconsin trying to hold on to an earlier era. These folks balked at paying something towards their health insurance when the rest of us have to pay 21% of our insurance costs. Similarly, almost all of us privated sector folks have ZERO for pensions. The public union workers were asked to contribute a mere 5% and they balked! If you are serious about retirement and contributing to a 401(K), how much are you contributing? This argument from the coddled unions is absolutely ridiculous.
A correction for Mike. All news reports indicate that Wisconsin unions conceeded to every financial demand made by the Walker administration, and Walker said that was not enough. Walker did what republicans always intended to do: -eliminate unions and union PAC money in future elections.
With union money largely out of future elections, the remaining 6 PACS (at last count) will all be well-funded conservative groups, including Crossroads GPS and the US Chamber of Commerce. So the future will be all Koch brothers money and there will be no equal time for facts and logical rebuttal. FACISM.
Unfortunately, it looks like a clean-sweep for Mussolini...I mean, Scott Walker and the Republicans...in Wisconsin. And, given the polling for Walker, by an oddly wide margin of victory. America is so @!$%#ed.
Do you know a republican anywhere who voted to lower their own pay? I mean, seriously, the entire basis for this "thing" the GOP did to unions in Wisconsin was a supposed inability to meet financial state budget obligations. Of course, that was after Walker and the republicans created an artificial budget crises by cutting taxes for the rich. So... did any republican suggest that cuts to congressional and senate pay might be an appropriate method to lead by example before applying the axe to unions or other progressive organizing arms of the democratic party?
Can you name one republican who stood for cutting their own paycheck first? Just one who is not a hypocrite?
No?
How about you, Rachel? What wonky words of snarky wisdom can you add between fits of laughter? You and Obama are presiding over the end of the democratic party. The end of worker's rights. The end of the American dream. Enjoy your fat paycheck. You earned it.
Looks like its cocktail hour.
So Rach, what can we make with a half gallon of cheap vodka? What's good for the sick feeling of immeasurable loss? What would you suggest? A gimlet? Maybe a screwdriver? Hows about you mix us a nice drink so we can forget the giant letdown you built us up for over the last 3 weeks. You've helped make this a very memorable night. Now I just wanna forget it. Anyone got an olive and a toothpick?