Posts Tagged ‘Wisconsin Recall’

How Wisconsin Went Red

Wednesday, December 21st, 2016

There’s a nice piece in the Washington Examiner by Salena Zito on how Wisconsin went from a Democratic to a Republican state:

Eight years ago, Wisconsin Democrats were in the catbird seat; they held the Governor’s office, the majority in both chambers of the state legislature, two U.S. Senate seats, five of the state’s eight congressional seats and handed Barack Obama a rousing victory in the presidential election.

So it’s no wonder that Wisconsin’s winning election night results for Republican president-elect Trump and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson were a bit of a jolt to most pundits’ sensibilities; for years they have believed that Wisconsin was a deeply blue state, powered by the public sector unions, that traditionally supports Democrat candidates in a big way.

It isn’t.

For the past seven years, beginning with Reince Priebus taking over Wisconsin’s Republican Party in 2009, the state has been anything but trending blue.

A quick tally shows Republican Gov. Scott Walker has won his seat three times (there was a recall election in between his two outright wins) and Republicans have twice taken the state attorney general’s office, won control of both state legislative chambers (and retained them twice) and won a bruising state Supreme Court race.

Snip.

While some experts have chalked up Trump’s win as part of the populist movement that has swept across the country in this cycle, that is only partly true. There is also a deep grassroots conservative movement located in this state. One with a solid infrastructure that has been slowly winning over blue-collar Democrats and independent voters who are at odds with the rigid, radicalized progressives who run the Democratic Party in Wisconsin.

If you were following this blog back when I was covering the Wisconsin recall, you may recall how I noted that the Wisconsin left’s infantile tantrum tactics were turning off more voters than they attracted, and 2016 saw working class voters defecting to Republicans in droves across the entire Midwest.

Read the whole thing.

(Hat tip: Director Blue.)

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Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans | 1 Comment »

Scott Walker Joins the 2016 Presidential Race

Tuesday, July 14th, 2015

Just in case you hadn’t heard, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker officially joined the 2016 Presidential race.

I would say that Walker is the real frontrunner, no matter what some polls might indicate. Facing down unions in the Wisconsin recall election made Walker a hero among conservatives. National Democrats and unions went after Walker with everything they had and Walker built a throne out of their skulls. And the Republican establishment is more likely to acquiesce to his candidacy than that of, say, Ted Cruz.

It’s a crowded field, but Walker will be a formidable candidate.

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Posted in Elections, Republicans, unions | No Comments »

Wisconsin Unions Double Down On Stupid

Tuesday, February 24th, 2015

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then Wisconsin union leaders may be clinically insane.

Their suicidal idée fixe is on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and his labor law reforms. You may remember how the rude, narcissistic, and counterproductive intimidation tactics employed during the Walker’s recall election backfired on them.

Indeed, it was the recall election that made Scott Walker what he is today:

The ferocity of the anti-Walker attacks during the recall attempt cannot be understated: no stone was left unturned, no “scandal” or slip of the tongue left unmentioned, and this may only help candidate Walker going into 2016. The Democrats spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours digging, scooping, ad-cutting, and hammering. They threw the kitchen sink at the guy in 2012, threw their neighbor’s sink at him in 2014, and now nobody on the block will let them inside to pee. Out of useful topsoil, what do they do now?

Had the Democrats not targeted Walker with a recall, that massive fundraiser network, the national profile, the party unity, and his highly developed get-out-the-vote team almost certainly wouldn’t exist. He may have still won re-election, but he would be just another Midwestern Republican governor who enacted reforms and faced push-back, not the conservative folk hero of a party longing for a win. He would most likely resemble Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a reformer but hardly a man with a cult following. There would still be plenty of new problems with the governor his opposition could cite, instead of leaving him mostly vetted for 2016.

They shot the king and missed, making a balding, sleepy-eyed executive into a god among a growing horde of followers. That’s bad enough for the Progressive set. In the unlikely event he wins the Republican nomination and the presidency? They struck the match that ignited their own national hell.

And what happened after Walker’s reforms went through and public employee unions could no longer force people to join? Union membership plummeted. Over 100,000 workers availed themselves of the opportunity to escape union clutches when they were finally allowed to. That’s why unions will never forgive Scott Walker: his reforms proved that workers hated the unions that supposedly represented them.

And Walker’s success has emboldened Republicans in other states to take on unions, which has the Democratic Party terrified. “Public-employee unions are a mechanism for the involuntary transfer of taxpayers’ money to the Democratic party.”

Now Walker and the Republican legislature aim to make Wisconsin a full right to work state. Naturally, Democrats and unions (the latter being an extension of the former) are gearing up to fight it.

Strategically, I understand why Democrats and unions have to fight this fight. What I don’t understand is why the anti-Walker crowd continues to employ the same “stuck on stupid” tactics against Walker that have lost them the last three elections.

Loud, annoying protest in the capitol rotunda guaranteed to alienate swing voters? Check.

Marches? Chants? Check.

Clenched fist Socialist Realism iconography? Check.

About the only thing they’re missing from the recall circus is the drum circle.

They even sent union goons to harass Walkers’ parents at their home. Because that’s such a sure fire way to win over people.

Now word comes that Wisconsin Unions are contemplating a general strike. Presumably because they couldn’t think of anything else so likely to: A.) Fail, and B.) Lose the supporting of those few remaining independents their previous tactics hadn’t already turned off.

It’s like Wisconsin unions are doing everything they can to get Scott Walker elected President in 2016…

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Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans, unions | 1 Comment »