Live Blog: Wisconsin Recall
Posted: June 5, 2012 Filed under: Labor unions, Live | Tags: Scott Walker, Tom Barrett, Wisconson Recall 71 Comments
The polls are still open until 8 pm in Wisconsin but exit polls and extraordinary turnout show the race is very close. We’ll be updating this thread as the evening progresses so stay tuned.
Early exit polling of voters in the Wisconsin recall election showed a close contest, with a clear majority of voters having made up their minds well before the final weeks which saw intense campaigning on both sides of the aisle. The CNN exit polls showed that nearly nine of ten voters made their decisions prior to May, when Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett won the Democratic primary to challenge Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican. Petitions for the recall election circulated after Walker signed a bill last spring which cut collective bargaining rights for many state employees, prompting massive protests at the state house.
Voters in line before 8 pm must be allowed to vote. This could be a late night in precincts where turn out is at historic levels.
From Josh Marshall at TPM on the Exit polls.
First, exits show President Obama with a 6 point margin over Romney among this special election electorate. Big deal? Not necessarily. Most polls with showed Walker with a margin over Barrett showed Obama with an even bigger margin over Romney. Judged in partisan terms, voters were inconsistent, which they often are. No surprise there. So we shouldn’t be surprised by this finding.
Second and more significant, the percentage of union households in the electorate jumped 6 points since 2010. That’s significant and very welcome news for the Dems and for the Barrett campaign. Whether it’s enough is a whole different questions. But that’s significant.
Voters in this electorate also have a very narrowly positive take on unions. Again, encouraging for the Dems. But you need to see big numbers to think there’s a good chance of overcoming the advantage Walker had in the polls.
Next, absentee ballots. Chuck Todd says between 10% and 12% of the electorate voted absentee. What does that tell us? No idea. Only another big unpredictable and wild card.
Exit Poll Highlights from the NYT.
Preliminary exit poll results indicate an uptick in turnout among voters from union households – something Democrats were hoping for in their effort to oust Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday.
But whether that holds as voters continue to head to the polls, and whether it is enough to give Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee the edge, are open questions at this point.
About a third of voters in preliminary exit poll results say they or someone in their household belong to a labor union. That is an increase from 2010 and 2008, when 26 percent of voters in each of those elections were from a union household.
High union turnout is crucial for the Democrats. In 2010, 63 percent of voters in union households supported Mr. Barrett, compared with 37 percent for Mr. Walker.
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Ed Klein: Hillary Clinton Is “Not Looking Good These Days. She’s Looking Overweight, And She’s Looking Very Tired”
Kilmeade Replies: “Looks Like She’s Not Trying, To Be Honest”
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201206050007
No one ever says why Joe Biden has that same look or is it stare on his face. I was most saddened by John Huntsman’s daughter making the comment about Hillary needed years to look better or some such nonsense. Arghhh
Oh lord, I love the comments. “Attacking women who support Obama for their looks equals conservative desperation!!!!” Irony was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 7:48 PM. A small, exclusive momorial service is planned. In lieu of flowers please send donations to the Fund For Better Living Through Self-Awareness.
Who TF cares what Klein or Kilmeade think? Hillary’s not trying, she’s working. Her statescraft looks damn good. WTF else matters?
And Kilmeade and Klein need to go wax their privy parts, the snools. How can we ship ’em back to the 18th century?
Who is Ed Klein?
He wrote that hatchet job on Hillaryc The Real Hillary, How Far She’ll Go to Become President (dun dun duuuuuh). Or whatever it was called. And the new book about O, The Amateur. He’s also related somehow to Ruth Shalit. 😉
… meanwhile, Ed Klein, who looked like shit to begin with, has lost even more hair, and gained a few pounds. His eyes are always kind of crazy looking – like a meth addict. There you have it, the opinion of at least one person on the declining appearance of Ed Klein, who has the poor judgement to publicly criticize the looks of the SOS – which would be disrespectful and sexist enough in and of itself. But, Ed slams SOS Clinton’s looks while his own looks, never great in the first place, have drastically worsened, leaving him with an appearance so ghastly that small children turn their faces from him in horror, and his neighbors close their blinds at night – so as not to catch a chance glimpse of him. Ed should have learned the lesson of the ugly – when you are, don’t talk about how other people look.
He is definitely not looking good, but honestly he should be embarassed to leave the house without a paper bag over his head on the basis of writing that column in Parade alone, never mind the rest of his body of work. I’m sure if his parents knew he was going to grow up and make up shit like Chelsea is the product of marital rape and answer questions like Dear Parade, rate Brad Pitt’s hygiene on a scale of 1 to 10 they could have found lots better uses for their money than his Columbia J school degree.
Interesting story via Erin Burnett, apparent Tom Barrett endorsed Obama in 2008 over Hillary R. Clinton and Bill Clinton went out to Wisconsin to stop for Tom Barrett for Governor. WOW!
Were there absentee ballots for this election? Seen any news about the numbers sent out, if there were?
Not only hoping for Barrett’s win, but interested in hearing the turnout percentages.
Connie, take a look at this shit:
Wisconsin recall: Reports: Robo-calls lying to Wisconsin voters – POLITICO.com
Remember that fake absentee voter ballot sent last year by the Koch brothers pac? The also sent notices to primarily dem areas with the wrong election date…
I remember during the last prez election stories of people being called and told the wrong date to vote, or that the polling/caucus locations had been changed. However, this bulls**t isn’t the type of voter fraud that Repugs are trying to stop. They, instead, prefer to stop non-existant, fake voter fraud instead of the real fraud they continue to perpetuate. All they’re peddling are LIES – LIES & MORE LIES. I think I ratcheted up the dial too high & am stuck in Permanently Pissed mode.
Those robocalls sound like something the Koch Bros would do – just like their climate change lies, among other things. If any of the cop shows on TV are right, the phone records can be checked to determine the number of the originating calls.
And I also see the GOP filibustered the Fair Pay Act in the Senate: BREAKING: Senate GOP Blocks Pay Equity Bill | ThinkProgress
Yeah, ’cause according to quote I heard on NPR, “it’s just another case of the Dems “war on free enterprise” & “it would be responsible for more frivolous lawsuits.” Yes, suing for pay equity is frivolous. Dare I say it? Repugs suck.
Question: I cancelled my cable. Can anyone recommend a link where I can watch the returns live online?
Pretty sure wisconsinvotes.org is simulcasting Wisconsin Public Radio coverage, they may have video feeds as well, not sure though.
Thanks.
You can watch this too:
NASA @NASA
#NASATV is showing special #VenusTransit coverage tonight. Watch online on our social media & TV special coverage: http://go.nasa.gov/LjrI5q
Thanks, Kat. I’m watching it and I sent the link to my mom.
Huffpo is tweeting this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/wisconsin-recall-election-results-2012_n_1571730.html?1338941352&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008
May I interrupt this program momentarily to add this link: http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/mon-june-4-2012-thomas-mann—norman-ornstein? Jon Stewart is the best interviewer on the planet, as far as I’m concerned. Mann/Ornstein + Jon – fanf***ingtastic interview last night.
chucktodd “We are officially saying WI is ‘too close to call’; Precinct exit data indicates total coin flip.” #wirecall
Josh Marshall @joshtpm
Holy Crap. Exits show 50% – 50%. Long night. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/06/running_results_more.php via @TPM
The wingers are fearmongering about voter fraud and moaning and tearing their hair over the meanness and unfairness of recall elections, except for people named “Davis.” If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect they were a skosh nervous.
Yeah, I read the Dems in WI were busing in supporters from MN and MI to vote 🙂
The 101st Chairborne doofus brigade is skosh nervous.
No, no, not the land of Minnesota nice, Chicago of course. Scores of fraudulent voters were being bussed in from Chicago. 😉
Breitbart posted this nonsense about 120% turnout in Madison, and even though that wasn’t the figure being cited, it was actually 96% (and even that was just guesswork extrapolated from turnout at 4 p.m.), the wingers have a hard time grasping the concept of same-day registration.
Damn, it sure will be a long night!
NBC just called the race for Scott Walker.
TPM thinks it will go that way too ;;
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/06/05/495665/wisconsin-recall-election-live-blog/
Damn, money won.
That sucks. We’ll see what happens with the Senate.
Nooooo!
First, I cannot believe that everyone is calling this based on exit polls, primarily. Second, if they are correct, I’m, frankly, shocked. It just makes no sense to me. What are voters basing their decisions on? I see no redeeming values in Walker. Is public dislike of unions really that strong? This may go down in history as the poster child for Divide & Conquer.
Hell if I see any RECOVERY in this country.
The exit polls showed that Obama is far ahead of Romney in the Wis. Yet a lot of those people voted for Scott Walker.
The Lt. Gov. survived.
That’s bad because if the Dem lt. gov. won, he or she would take office in Walker’s legal troubles took him out of office.
I think….
HuffPo live is saying that WI people are still voting because they were in line at 8PM.
I’m not surprised. If the polls aren’t all closed, the media shouldn’t be calling the races. But they don’t care about voters….
And now they just said that the Repugs are leading all 4 Senate races. America isn’t f***ed, it is doomed.
This doesn’t look good at all: http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/05/12068303-tax-cut-ahead-if-high-court-voids-health-care-law?lite
Six of one, half-dozen of another, it’s still six ways for them to screw us over.
How fast do they count absentee ballots? In WA state, voters have through Election Day to mail their absentee ballot. Which means it can take days to get the correct tally if the race is tight.
We had a governor’s race that went down to about 200 votes, or was it 40? more for the Dem back in ’04 from absentee ballot counting. A hand recount was done.
I envision Gov Walker getting admitted to a state university hospital. “We practice Lean principles, sir, and with Just-In-Time staffing, your nurses are double-booked with other patients. Surgeon’s triple-booked; Best Practices learned from the financial industry, sir, but they’ll be right with you.”
70% of Milwaukee still hasn’t been counted/reported. It’s actually early.
Still possible, then.
According to some of the public sector union leaders, between 25-40% of their members have stopped paying dues since Walker made it legal. Dear god, how stupid are these people? If you hate having a decent standard of living that much, please just quit and go live in a cardboard box, freeing up those jobs for people with two functioning brain cells.
Some people just can’t see beyond the lure of “something for nothing”. Too bad it doesn’t really exist, sort of like free lunches.
Freeloaders.
A friend of mine’s parents are teachers, and they’re always complaining about having to join the union. We’re always like, doesn’t the union negotiate your contracts, which include your wages, benefits, working conditions, etc.? Her mom’s direct quote is, “So what? I can negotiate my own contract.” Of course. How silly of us to be so detached from reality.
And the 40-hour week, and sick leave, and vacation pay, and overtime pay, and every other benefit that any worker has.
“I can always negotiate my own contract.”
Riiiiiight. A group of one working-class person has no power. How can a teacher not understand that? {facepalm}
And it’s not like they didn’t have the experience of working non-union jobs before the good union teaching jobs! Who hasn’t worked at least one non-union job in her life? Remember how you didn’t really get much opportunity to negotiate anything, unless you count “These are our unreasonable, unfair terms–take them or leave them” as negotiation?
Is it done? Scott Walker wins Wisconsin recall election – Political Hotsheet – CBS News
My daughter is just now getting some sleep, so I thought I would check in…I see that the Koch shit really hit the fan…money.
Barrett conceded
One Senate race has yet to be called.
Thanks Seriously.
Well my daughter got a few minutes, now she is back with me and in a lot of pain, night all!
I’m so sorry, I hope she feels better. As of now, the Dems are declaring victory for Lehman, Wanggaard hasn’t conceded yet.
What percentage of the total state budget can go towards paying state pensions and other related benefits without harming the state’s ability to provide services. So far this conversation has been avoided by the media.
I’m guessing the percentage is around 10%, Any amount over 10% going towards pension and benefits for state workers will disrupt the ability of a state to properly offer all the services everybody wants.
On the west coast, the percentage of the yearly budget apportioned to city pensions is 20% and climbing towards 30% and the results have been pretty awful and getting worse.
Then it would probably be a good idea to cancel the pensions of the Governor and state legislature, right? They probably get a lot higher pensions and don’t need them as badly as teachers or firefighters.
Alrighty then … I can tell you don’t have a background in finance. First, most pensions are in trouble because of the recent financial crisis. They relied on rating agencies to honestly rate things like swaps and their funds have taken major hits as a result of bad investments and bad markets. Unfortunately, that tends to compound. There is a double whammy right now in that interest rates have been held to historical–almost negligible lows–which means their overall growth plans have been challenged.
They had to change the financing formulas for state employees here in Louisiana. They basically increased the amount that those of us that had opted into an ORP had to give to the system to cover those employees in the fixed plan to make up the difference. It didn’t come from the tax payer. The shortages came from us.
California is especially bad because they’ve had so many ballot initiatives that have basically cut off the ability of the state to finance operations. It’s an example of greedy property owners avoiding responsibility for their services.
You can compare the pay of public employees to private employees. When you compare jobs one-to-one you find that the public employees are paid much less in terms of salary dollars. The pensions, good insurance, and ‘job security’ is the compensation for getting less than a market wage. For example, finance professors make between $130,000 to $250,000 a year on average at the bigger public universities. However, those positions on Wall Street are million dollar + bonus jobs. The benefits and less stress are the compensating factors.
There is no fixed percentage for any commitment a public entity makes to anything. It’s also silly to suggest such a thing because the time might arise when situations change. Nobody planned for the 2007 financial market crash to tank pension plans and retirement accounts and real estate prices.
Public finance is basically the idea that you pay for what you get. California used to have the best schools any where. That’s definitely not the case any more because a group of people decided they weren’t going to pay for that any more. You can compare that to Minnesota with relatively high taxes but high quality life styles, public health and safety, and education still and you catch my drift. I never once complained about the high taxes there because I could see the benefits in good roads, excellent parks, wonderful schools, and a great overall lifestyle. I complain about the low taxes here. I can’t believe how little I actually pay. It shows in the quality of life big time and I hate it. So, the deal is, if you don’t want public services just go ahead and let your state not meet it’s legal obligations and short change its programs. You too, can live in a bottom tier state and then complain about crime rates, bad roads, bad schools, and other nasty things. Public pensions are part of what attracts good workers to state jobs. There’s no formula on how much to spend. There’s only a formula on how bad your community can get when the public is not committed to making it a good place to live and work. I’m tired of watching the Republicans play blame and resent your neighborhood state employee. It’s not my fault that businesses are dumping all over their serfs. It is, however, my fault if my kids don’t live in a decent community. The serfs need to organize instead of resenting public workers hard won benefits. If you had higher salaries for working people, you’d have a much better tax base to pay for community goods and services.
Thanks, Dak. Your words will probably fall on deaf ears–but at least I read them and found them helpful!
Wi Democrats now hold majority in the state senate. Yes, by one vote, but it is a consolation. See this story at DKos — it was really hard to find the senate recall election results!
Walker will be governor (unless he’s indicted and leaves office or resigns), but he will not have the same heavy free hand he had before the protests and initial recall elections; he won’t have a rubber stamp senate any longer.
As of now, he will have to weedle, bribe, or threaten at least one Dem senator to his side for a tie or get two of them. Not saying he can’t do that — or that Koch won’t come up with the money to do it–, but it will be much, much, much more difficult. And Fitzgerald will no longer be in charge of the senate schedule.
So Walker will have to appear at least more “bipartisan,” or just go whole hog into “official misconduct.”
ALL the Dems will have to stand strong as well.
That’s some good news anyway. Thanks! I was hoping Fitzgerald would lose, but this is the second best thing that could happen to the senate.
Correction: Walker was unable to get the special favors for Koch Bros, part of the law passed, so the sales did not take place. Sorry. But, it failed only because the public had been awakened by the Dem senators fleeing to IL to prevent a quorum. However, Fitzgerald went on to play lots of legislative games and shenanigans with time frames, etc.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal has a 3 AM piece up about the Lehman victory in the 21st District and makes the point that the margin of victory will surely lead to a recount.
So the silver lining may still turn into lead.
Fitgerald won handily — his opponent was a photographer who had never run for office previously. Probably a solid red district.
I also think the massive nationally directed campaign to get mayors to clear out Occupy sites played a role in the loss of attention to the real issues in the recall. And some evidence has come out that implicates Obama in that, especially where Dem mayors were involved.
Sorry! Fogot to close embed tag.
I fixed it for you.
Actually, in November, the 21st District is changed so much it essentially disappears.
When the R’s still had leadership control of the state senate they got their redistricting plan through, and the 21st District essentially disappears. Instead of a block-shaped blend of rural, surburban, and Racine city, it now is just Racine and Kenosha cities as the 22nd, with the 21st made up of all the non-urban areas from the previous two districts. So much for bringing Wisconsinites together — they just split the rural, suburban away and set them against the urban.
Scroll down to the the third set of maps, but also note how the R’s worked to protect two other Republican senators.
Ah, the power of redistricting, which carries on for a good 10 years. Unless Dems win big and want to break tradition….
I’m trying to figure out when Democrats became wimps. I guess it must have been after the Clinton impeachment. They learned the wrong lessons from that, because Clinton’s approval numbers ended up sky high–proving that Americans didn’t give a sh&t about Monica Lewinsky. But Gore was afraid to let Clinton campaign for him, he lost his home state. Then we got Dubya, followed by wimpy Nancy “impeachment is off the table” Pelosi and wimpy Barack “look foward, not backward” Obama.