Thank You Wisconsin Trailblazers!

[Pistarkle]

You made history. You recalled 2 anti-American worker Republican Legislators in a state which is a CORPORATE-GOVERNED, TEA PARTIED REPUBLICAN stronghold. You were out-financed by Governor Scott Walker’s anti-American worker corporate puppet masters by a 2-1 ratio. You came out in RECORD-BREAKING numbers to challenge Walker and his Tea Partied Legislators’ malicious actions to suppress your votes with ‘Jim Crow’ ID laws and the closure of NINE voter ID-generating DMV sites.

Despite all of the odds, Wisconsin workers never gave up. They organized for their rights, fought for their rights, and voted as was their right. Let’s follow their lead on the TEA PARTIED REPUBLICAN LIBERATION TRAIL to 2012.

VOTEMOUT!

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Not enough recs allowed for this.

They are going DOWN. Only a question of time.

I sent some $$$ this time. I'm sending more in the next round.

They are going DOWN.

*ALL* of 'em.

[mahina]

2. For real!

[Imajika]

3. Sorry, but this is feel-good BS...

We made huge investments in Wisconsin with a goal of winning 3 seats and flipping the state Senate - and failed. We won the seat in the district that was tending Democratic (Shilling) and beat the guy, Randy Hopper, who cheated on his wife by a whopping 2 points. Basically a 2 point win over Hopper is what separated this from a bad night and a downright awful night.

No, sorry, this isn't any kind of victory. There are still 2 Democratic seats up for recall next week and one of them is vulnerable.

Don't kid yourself either. Outside bagger money flowed into this effort, but our unions spend massive amounts of money as well (we may have even spent considerably more) - money they will have much less of in Wisconsin for the next election due to Walkers union busting legislation.

[Scuba]

5. No, this is a win. We took two seats held by Republicans....

...and narrowed the Senate margin to the slimmest of majorities. All it takes is one sane Republican - Dale Schultz- to stop the worst of Walker. Remember, these are Republican districts, with R incumbents who won the same year Obama took the White House.

Other Republican Senators who weren't eligible to be recalled are next on the hot seat, along with Walker.

This is much more than a moral victory.

[Imajika]

6. It's not even a moral victory...

You don't invest millions upon millions of dollars to remove 2 state senators. You invest that kind of money for a real result - taking back the Wisconsin state senate.

There were really only 3 districts which were actually competitive (Darling, Olsen, King) and the Republicans won 2 of them - including the big prize which was Darling's district. We already knew Kapanke was gone and we'd win that since that district is trending Democratic. King only won by 2 points and that was against a terribly flawed candidate (Hopper) who cheated on his wife.

And we have to defend 2 more seats next week, one of which is vulnerable. Worse, with the excitement largely over we now have to worry about the Republicans being more energized next week and taking out one of our Democratic senators.

Sorry, but you don't generate energy and enthusiasm and go all in with unions throwing everything they had at this to win 2 measly state senate seats which don't effect the balance of power in the state senate.

[sybylla]

11. Feel free to bury your head in the toilet, if that's your wish.

Everyone of these districts was gerrymandered last go-round. We won in heavily republicon districts where Dems failed to make even the smallest inroad in 2008 (their last election) and came closer in others than any Dem has against these idiots. You remember 2008, don't you - the year Barack Obama was elected and Dems swept into office around the country.

These six seats were a long shot from the beginning. The two we won are heavily labor districts - chock full of prisons and union manufacturers.

If you think this doesn't change the balance of power in the state, then you definitely have your head buried in something.

Every puke legislator in this state is probably filling their depends as we speak. They didn't think, when they started this BS, that we'd even get close to taking one of them from their nicely gerrymandered seats. We won 2 and came close on two others. Those we couldn't recall this year (law says they have to be in office for at least one year) are on the chopping block in January. And these seats are much more tenuous.

We've got the system down, now, for taking them out. If their voting habits don't change, they'll be gone and they know it. In fact, there's one moderate who is already reaching out to Dems. I'm guessing we'll see a big change in how things are done in this state from here on.

And the Governor is on notice, too. The fact that we didn't win means he'll continue to try to crank out his Koch-fuelled bills and yank out his line-item veto pen to fuck with the legislation that does get passed.

That will only feed the recall machine.

But don't let that interrupt what is promising to be a masterful parade-pissing event.

[Doctor_J]

9. Agreed, Imajika

see reply 8 below

[Broderick]

22. + 1. One seat though?

I hear one is most certainly lost and the other is vulnerable.

NET GAIN could be zero.

Even if it's a split next week, the net gain is one guy's loss that cheated on his wife.


Meanwhile the diversion and distraction allowed other states to proceed without the glare of the spotlight.

I am a bit demoralized at this point.

[cascadiance]

4. Upgrade your governor in December... We'll do the same for our congressman in Oregon!

... to replace David Wu then. Your efforts inspire us with the accomplishments and the challenges you face also warn us to be prepared for all of the fights we'll have to deal with too! Hopefully we can get decent progressives like Russ Feingold for both replacements!

Get rid of the Kochaine Koolaid Klan!!!!

[OneGrassRoot]

7. Huge K&R n/t

[Doctor_J]

8. Actually this accomplished nothing

I think that one thing that Dems need to do, to get back to relevance, is stop celebrating losses.

1. We didn't flip the Senate
2. We spent a lot of money
3. The voting in Waukesha was once again tainted, but we're doing nothing about it

The people of WI were basically having a referendum on an extreme right-wing takeover of schools, unions, voting, social services, and on and on. And they failed to overturn the fascist government. this is not a win, and as I already mentioned we shouldn't be celebrating it as one.

[TheMightyFavog]

10. Not Really...

There is a moderate GOP state senator, Dale Schulz, who has not been happy with the direction Scott Walker and the Teahadists have taken his party and the state.

Assuming that Holperin holds his seat next week, this moderate GOP senator could make things very interesting.

[Doctor_J]

17. "Could make things interesting" Well in that case

:fistbump:

:banghead:

[N7Shepard]

21. Schultz is not going to vote for any Koch bills. Moreover,

If the Union Stripping Bill gets struck down in federal court (there are two lawsuits against it right now), it won't repass the Senate unless Holperin also gets recalled. Even then, iffy.

[sybylla]

12. You're insane if you think we'd let the Waukesha Hag off.

There is no better way to become the hero of Democrats nation-wide than to get that incompetent tool out of office.

And there's no one more motivated than the DPW to do it. But they had observers on the ground in Waukesha county. They had lawyers on the ground in Waukesha county. All to make sure everything was done properly. And apparently it was or they'd be all over this today.

Yes, we spent a lot of money. But they still outspent us big time. Which always happens. As a Dem you should be used to that and understand it will always happen, no matter how much money we spend. They and their gazillionaire followers always have more money to spend.

And no, we didn't flip the senate, but if anyone thought that was a sure thing, they weren't paying attention. During the big Obama wave in 2008 which put Dems in seats all over the country that they hadn't held for a very long time - if ever, these idiot neocons still retained their seats - in a state Obama won. IIRC it was either Luther Olson or Randy Hopper who won their seat with 80% of the vote in 2008.

If you don't think this is a win, you're either not looking at the big picture or your incapable of feeling the slightest amount of happiness.

[Doctor_J]

13. Actually most of the posts over the last few weeks said that retaking

the Senate was a "must". Now, after not taking the Senate, we're told that this is indeed a win.

I'm for whatever gets you through the day. If you want to think of this as a win, good for you, but this means that Walker and the Cock Bros' march to fascism will carry on unabated. that's why I consider it a crushing defeat.

[sybylla]

15. You set your bar too high.

If stopping the kochs was your goal, it was a crushing defeat. That wasn't going to happen and anyone who claimed it would was clueless.

Walker has a very powerful line-item veto pen. Unless the Senate blocked everything the Assembly put out (not possible unless you want to shut the government down), Walker was just going to revise every piece of legislation to hit his desk.

This is a victory because it is a step in the right direction. We took back two red districts. We threatened in two more. These are must-haves for Walker if he's going to win a recall battle.

If we can time it right, get all our ducks in a row (which this recall has given us practice in doing), Walker will also be in for the fight of his hapless career in politics.

[Doctor_J]

16. So there is nothing that can be done to stop the Cock Brothers?

in a reliably Blue state? and you call me a Debby Downer! :rofl:

[N7Shepard]

25. Even if we retook the Senate, we'd have to retake the governorship and Assembly anyway. Two or more

seats = not much difference, other than it means we have to win more later (concurrent with or after Walker's recall and an assembly flip). Right now, we have 1 squishy republican so very little (if any) extreme legislation is going to get through.

We stopped the bleeding. We can't repair the damage yet though.

[milwaukeelib33]

18. I agree

I was under the impression we would take three seats. The two we got plus either Pasch or Clark. I thought that was a realistic expectation. Just days ago posters were talking "total recall". I knew that was unrealistic because of the pugnaciousness of the districts. Three was all we needed, and even after spending ~$20 million we wound up only getting two. That's a lot of money spent for just two STATE Senate seats and not closing the door on the dickwad dropout. If there is any upside it's that I can't fathom him doing anything as destructive to the state then he's already done. He came out hard and whacked us hard in the knees without wasting a second. The middle class has already been devastated.

[Doctor_J]

29. Walker and the teabaggers will ramp things up now

The teabaggers will send the fascism into full gallop, in Wi and across the nation. He'll probably go ahead with the plans to close the DMV offices in poor/minority areas, and the attacks on unions and teachers will be merciless. What last night's results showed was that they can enact a far right-wing agenda and remain untouchable at the polls. Anyone who thinks last night was a "victory" is really in fantasy land. And, as I said up thread, as long as we celebrate crushing losses as "victories", things will not improve.

[PeaceNikki]

14. Yup

[Broderick]

23. Hindsight is 20/20 and this was all a waste

After next week, it might be devastating. One probably gets tossed, but the other might not win either. Meanwhile this distraction allowed other states to move forward.

[N7Shepard]

26. Wirch is not going to lose. Holperin = who knows, but he is leading.

[Broderick]

27. Did it turn out like it was predicted yesterday?

Nope. They are either more galvanized then the left, or we are misleading ourselves. All this did was create a much more polarized political climate. Elections have consequences and when we didn't get our way, we vowed to change the elections. After next week, did we? NOPE. This will embolden other states beyond those that didn't have the spotlight. This is going to be a huge mistake. My pessimistic side is taking over, and I think we shot ourselves in the foot.

[N7Shepard]

28. That's EXACTLY how it turned out according to the PPP. In fact, slightly better for us

[Zax2me]

19. Fist bump.

And hats off!

[Broderick]

20. And next week what?

What did it accomplish? In hindsight, if two seats are lost next week, what is the net gain?

Trailblazers? The work was tough and I understand the anger.

Meanwhile behind the curtain, other states took the opportunity to move more agenda.

One guy was outed as a cheater to his spouse that lost. If the net gain is just one seat after next week, what was the point?


Frustrated and demoralized here.

All those assets and all that money, for basically naught. It provided cover to other states in my humble opinion.

[pissed in WI]

24. yes thank you!

:applause: