Nation's eyes on Wisconsin; Scott Walker stays in seclusion

Update: If you are in Wisconsin, go door-to-door with We Are Wisconsin. Everywhere else, you can make phone calls with either the Democratic Party of Wisconsin or DFA and the PCCC.

Wisconsin is ground zero as the great 2011 counter-offensive against corporate extremists culminates in recall elections against six Republican state senators.

Gov. Scott Walker still avoids public appearences on the campaign trail as any mention of Walker is effectively a get-out-the-vote (GOTV) call for betrayed working families.

"The other thing is I’ve got layoff notices ready. We put out the at-risk notices. ... And we’ll probably get 5 to 6,000 state workers will get at-risk notices for layoffs. We might ratchet that up a little bit, you know. ... We’d already kinda built plans up, but it was kind of the last hurrah before we dropped the bomb."
- Scheming and conniving, Scott Walker caught unawares on tape in February, bragging about his ambush against Wisconsin workers

No matter how much the Koch brothers and other anti-family outfits spend and lie, the recall election and protests of 2011 have made American history.

March 10, Wisconsin state capitol

As the rightwing American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) jammed its extremist agenda down the throats of states all over the nation, Wisconsin has led the way in fighting back.

The stakes could not be higher: Wisconsin workers and families against a cynical governor and his Amen corner in the legislature.

August 9, Tuesday; Wisconsin families say: We Are Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Obama Rout a Decisive Blow to Clinton

Update: From Larry Eichel of the Philadelphia Inquirer

(Clinton's) 17-point loss in Wisconsin was a huge development, said Dante Scala, a political scientist from the University of New Hampshire.

Until Wisconsin, he said, Clinton had won primaries wherever her base of working-class women, seniors and Hispanics was inherently stronger than Obama's coalition of young people, blacks and upscale progressives.

"To use a tennis analogy, both candidates had been holding serve," Scala said during a talk at Villanova University last week. "Wisconsin was a breaking of serve." …

There's also the generational factor. "Maybe people don't want another baby boomer, another Clinton or Bush," said Doug Hansmann, a Clinton supporter from Madison, Wis. "The irony is that of the two Clintons and two Bushes, I think she's the best of the bunch."

Despite denials from the Clinton campaign and increasingly desperate shots aimed at Obama, Wisconsin voters can take pride that they have dealt Hillary a near-fatal political blow last Tuesday.

From the Post:

One adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely, said Obama's 17-point Wisconsin victory on Tuesday had started to sink in as a decisive blow, given that the state had been viewed weeks earlier as a level playing field.

"The mathematical reality at that point became impossible to ignore," the adviser said. "There's not a lot of denial left at this point."

Despite Clinton's public pronouncements of optimism, this adviser said: "She knows where things are going. It's pretty clear she has a big decision. But it's daunting. It's still hard to accept."

National Review: Obama could be a communist Jew

Update: See also Obammunists.

While still beaming from the historic win, Wisconsin Obama voters may not know that Joe McCarthy is alive and well in the National Review Online, and digging up Obama dirt (he's not fooling anyone).

Obama's parents of different ethnicities fell in love in the late 1950's, so they must be communist and, gasp!!, Jewish, argues Lisa Schiffren.

Right. No wonder Obama did so well at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with all those Jews and communists there (though this does not explain how he took Fond du Lac county).

Maybe he caught a Harvey Goldberg lecture echoing down to Illinois in his youth. We didn't really think raising the out-state-tuition in the early 1970s was going to stop them, did we?

Well, we'll let the National Review Online's Lisa Schiffren explain it for us:

... And yet, all of my mixed race, black/white classmates throughout my youth, some of whom I am still in contact with, were the product of very culturally specific unions. They were always the offspring of a white mother, (in my circles, she was usually Jewish, but elsewhere not necessarily) and usually a highly educated black father. And how had these two come together at a time when it was neither natural nor easy for such relationships to flourish? Always through politics. No, not the young Republicans. Usually the Communist Youth League. Or maybe a different arm of the CPUSA. But, for a white woman to marry a black man in 1958, or 60, there was almost inevitably a connection to explicit Communist politics. ...

... It was, of course, an explicit tactic of the Communist party to stir up discontent among American blacks, with an eye toward using them as the leading edge of the revolution. To be sure, there was much to be discontented about, for black Americans, prior to the civil-rights revolution. To their credit, of course, most black Americans didn't buy the commie line — and showed more faith in the possibilities of democratic change than in radical politics, and the results on display in Moscow.

Time for some investigative journalism about the Obama family's background, now that his chances of being president have increased so much.

- National Review Online

###

The Turning Point: Clinton Betrays Her Own

'Setting the stage, poised for a knockout ... a fading, faltering, broken Hillary Clinton campaign': Everyone has read the ledes reporting on Barack Obama’s landslide win in Wisconsin Tuesday.

One aspect has been overlooked: In a critical dimension, it’s not Clinton or Obama who won or lost.

The people spoke and thus won. And one fact that bears noting is that Hillary Clinton supporters are more idealistic than she is.

In speaking to Clinton supporters the last week, the take-away is that Hillary has the requisite mettle and wisdom to successfully lead this country to social justice.

But Hillary did not speak for these people in her relentlessly negative (and false) ads and mailers that sought merely to stave off the 17-point defeat that she suffered here.

Hillary found out just how repugnant the politics of fear and distortion is among voters, including many of her supporters, who see the democratic process as a means of their deciding their government's policies.

Does Hillary believe that her supporters wish her campaign to assassinate Obama’s character, abilities and commitment? Noone I know was consulted.

Wisconsin has seen the Joe McCarthys, Bob Kastens (and Roger Ailes), and has seen good men journey the low road, like Jim Moody and Joe Checota. And Wisconsin has, often enough, challenged these politicians to take the high, democratic road.

Not all Wisconsin citizens dislike negative politics like what Hillary employed this last week.

But enough people do, so politicians ought to consider the betrayal that he or she is committing against citizens ranging from casual voters to their own supporters.

Wisconsin is a turning point in the 2008 presidential campaign, and is pointing the way towards a new future in American politics.

Obama for America, America for Obama

Facing days of attacks made by Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign, voters in Wisconsin today delivered a rebuke to the politics of negativity and distortion, in favor of Sen. Barack Obama’s politics of hope and change.

This was the people winning; Obama realizes this, and that's why we - all over the nation - have pride in what we have done here.

MSNBC Calls It for Obama

Obama takes Wisconsin! See: MSNBC

Updated - Early Exit Polling and Trends Suggest Obama Win

- Other breaking Wisconsin election sites at left column of this page -

- 8:07 - Live CNN Election Results

- 7:50 - State voter turnout high

- 7:30 - Clinton Will Make Early Speech Tonight Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign released exceprts from a speech she will give at 7:30 pm CT -- half an hour before the polls even close in Wisconsin, an indication she doesn't expect to win.

- 7:17 - Milwaukee neighborhood of Endries Park (upper-middle income), huge turn-out; lots of young professionals. Obamathon!

- 7:06 - Buzz of a big Obama win. from The Politico:
Mike Allen e-mails:
Democratic officials with access to exit polls say Sen. Obama looks like he’s headed for a huge win in today’s Wisconsin primary. The polls could turn out to be off, as they have in the past. But the officials’ revelation reflects the chatter in the campaigns in advance of the 9 p.m. Eastern poll closing.The party officials said that if the trends reflect in the interviews with hundreds of Badger State voters, the news out of the primary will be: Obama encroached deeply into three of Clinton’s core groups of voters — women, those with no college degree and those with lower incomes — while giving up none of his own. However, Clinton looked to be winning senior citizens, the officials said.Stay tuned for real numbers.

- 6:32 - Time exit poll: Women: Obama 51%, Clinton 49% - Wow!

- 5:47 - Milwaukee polling sites ask for more ballots

- 5:06 - Dane Co (Madison) reports 33 percent turnout at 5:00 pm, and rising fast; predicted 50 percent turnout. Very good for Obama.

- 4:48 - Early Exit Poll: 'For about one in seven Democratic voters, Tuesday was the first time they were voting in a primary.' Good for Obama.

- 4:03: Milwaukee student turnout big

- 4:00: Madison Campus turnout now swift and steady

Update 3:10: Sporadic reports of GOP voting for Hillary in Dem primary because she is perceived as a weak candiate (just got another one from Fond du Lac (Wisconsin). Still do not believe that this will add up to much.

Update 3:04: Is there anywhere in Madison where Obama is not kicking ass? From David Callender
Southwest side voters like Obama

One of the heaviest polling places for voter turnout this afternoon was the Heritage Congregational Church on Madison's southwest side, where election officials estimated more than 800 ballots had been cast by 2:30 p.m.
A steady stream of new voters filled out registration forms as already registerd voters waited for ballots.
An informal survey of voters leaving the polling place showed overwhelming support for Barack Obama.

Update 2:40: From WiscPolitics: For the Democrats, 48 delegates are awarded based on votes in the congressional districts. The eight districts have between five and eight delegates each based on Dem turnout in past elections, and the district delegates are divided up proportionally according to the vote in each district.
Sixteen are considered "super delegates" that are uncommitted. They include Gov. Jim Doyle, Dem Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, the five Dem members of the House and the eight DNC members living in Wisconsin.
Obama has the backing of four super delegates.

Update 2:25 pm: Obama supporters can relax, because the Obama volunteers are not. They are mad men/women. Just off the phone with Obama HQ in Madison. Some facts:

- Entire City of Madison was hit with lit Saturday
- They're doing it again today; F&^* the cold, hitting the Isthmus and campus.
- Students do not vote early; they vote when they want, between classes and beers.
- Obama HQ on Gilman St. on UW Campus, ran out of phones (too many volunteers), and people used their cell phones to call lists of people.
- Cold out (five degrees), but staff is manning an outside tent in Library mall until they drop or the polls close.
- Staff is more hyper than I
- Obama has been through their phone lists, so they have begun calling them again

This may be Madison-centric, but from here nothing can stop the Obama train; because there is not quit in these people. Wow. I'm 40-something; was I that freaking nuts when I was 20?

Update 1:51 pm : Obama picks up votes in Brookfield (Milwaukee suburb)
In the Republican stronghold of Brookfield, Barack Obama was picking up some support among voters who cast their votes against rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and the war in Iraq.

Update 1:46 pm : Consider this, relatively few Republicans are coming out because the nominee is known to be John McCain. Would that not dampen turn-out somewhat? Point being Obama folks who look at the uneven turn-out and think "bad," can relax a bit. Cold, ice and lack of Republicans will hold down turn-out in some places, for a while.

Update: 1:38 PM: CW is voters have been waiting for it to warm up a tad. Sunny out and five degrees fahrenheit, look for turn-out to increase now. Dane County (Madison) had 10 percent turn-out some two hours ago.

Update: 1:19 PM: Deborah Ziff writes Where are the Republicans? for the Wisconsin State Journal Election Blog:
- West side of Madison -
OK, so we all know Madison is a bastion for liberalism. And this primary is a much tighter race on the Democratic side, drawing more attention and excitement. But c'mon, where are all the Republicans? After five straight people exiting the polls here said they voted for Obama, Neil Kosterman, 61, emerged to say that he voted for McCain. "I think he's the best candidate," he said. There has been some talk that Republicans might vote for Clinton here because it's an open primary, and she is thought by some to be easier to beat in the general election than Obama. But so far, no one is owning up to actually doing it.

Update: 1:12 PM: While the Dems have a tent out in the UW-Madison Memorial Libary mall all day (you have to be an idiot to not know an election is going on), student voters use the net outlets (YouTube, Facebook and so on), cell phones to reach voters. Not many are shy about hitting doors, but it's not the best way to GOTV today.

Update: 12:47 PM: Newest report from Gordon's Commons polling place in the heart of the undergraduate UW-Madison dorm country. Pace is picking up, observer reports as of 12:30ish, with the new voter table having a line of six or seven, and about 20 others at the voting table.

Students are hitting the polls in between classes.

A large turn-out here means an intense interest, which translates into a positive sign for Obama.

Update: 12:43 PM: Students lean toward Obama

Update 12:39 PM: Capital Times Election Blog reports "Frigid temperatures and slick roads are keeping voters at home so far this primary election day," waiting for traffic to die down and the sun to warm things up a little (like to 10 degrees-the high). ... "Up to 35 percent of the state's eligible voters had been predicted to turn out statewide, mainly because of the close Democratic primary race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, ... highest presidential primary turnout in 20 years."

Update 12: 20 PM: February 18, 2008 Clinton urged crowd to treat primary like job interview.
Fine. An interview question: Have you ever voted for a war for politcal reasons, resulting in the death of 100,000s?

Update 11:24 AM: Democratic delegates today:

Wisconsin: 74
Hawaii: 20

Update 11:01 AM: Germantown, Wisconsin, (pop. 18,260, some 60 miles northwest of Milwaukee) gets "much higher turnout than election officials said they had experienced in the past." (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel staff) Speculating, these folks are not lining up to vote for Hillary. BTW, watch out for Huckabee, could be close with R's.

Update: Madison, Wisconsin - From the Gilman street Obama HQ (one of three HQs in Madison, pop. 208,054) on UW-Madison campus: "Controlled chaos," "People using their own cell phones;" "getting phone #s from the net;" "knocking on dorm doors". Mood is extremely "optimistic" and "energetic," "chaotic but good".

Update: Report from Gordy's (Gordon's Commons polling place) in the heart of the undergraduate UW-Madison dorm country (mostly 18 to 20-year-olds, and smarter than I was at that age). A large turn-out here means an intense interest, which translates into a positive sign for Obama.

Via Joe staffing the front desk at Witte Hall dorm. At 9:30 AM (central time), Joe took a walk over to Gordon's, about 40 yards over the bridge, reporting: "Not many people around. Just three or four people. But a lot of classes begin at 9:55, so I expect everything to pick up after 11:00 (AM) and also tonight." - check back at 1:00 PM central -

Update: "Wisconsin will be an important sign of things to come in what is likely to be a make or break day in the campaign" on March 4, said Democratic pollster Geoffrey Garin, who is not working for either candidate. - Alan Fram, AP.

The line from Obama's office is that the campaign is very close.

No one wants to dash the energy of volunteers or have people get complacent.

From Michelle Obama's mass e-mail this AM: "America is watching Wisconsin. We're heading into today's primary after winning the last eight straight contests, but this race is still extremely close."

My prediction: Obama by nine points.

Temperature now: Zero degrees. High 11. That will not prevent anyone from getting out.