The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Wisconsin-not quite enough

    By Flavius on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 1:43am |

    Best case the dems will only pick up two seats. They needed 3.

    Worst case there could be no change

     

    As of 1 40 edt the democrats were only able to unseat two of the 6 republican senators they were challenging. A third repub was in a tight race but will probably survive..

     

    Next week two democrats will undergo a recall vote.so it's possible that the apparent gain of two seats tonight could be offset.  

    Comments

    More money was dumped into this election than any state election.  As one person commented - if someone in Wisconsin had a tv set, they knew there was an election today.  The fact that these recalls occurred at all is historic, given the number of recalls in our nations history.  That it was over an issue rather than bad behavior of a politician makes it even more historic.

    But we have to face the music.  Rarely does a citizen have the opportunity to send a clear message with their vote.  If there was ever a time for the liberal to get up off the couch and cast their vote to tell the power that are what is truly important, it was this one in Wisconsin.  And yet...

    For all those who rail against those polls that show that liberals are a distant third to the moderates and conservatives, one only has to look at this election.  There are victories to be had, but there are plenty of folks who are not exactly aligned with the liberal vision.


    by Elusive Trope on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 2:00am

    If Wisc dems could not pull this out, no other dems can.

    I give up on this country.

    I really do.

    A plurality of Americans and a majority of voters are just ready to bow  down to the corporate oligarchy and the Murdoch propaganda empire!

    I just don't care anymore.


    by Richard Day on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 2:22am

    You have to keep on keep'en on.


    by Flavius on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 2:59am

    Richard, I don't even live in Wis. and I contributed to the recall. Two seats is better than where we were Monday. Plus it shows we should never give up, particularly in other states. If the income inequality keeps widening, young people don't have opportunity and Pastor and the Sheriff keep getting up in peoples' bedrooms, there will be a turning point. I don't know when, but people will get fed up. Maybe we're not there yet, but we will be. My daughter votes for these thugs but my grandchildren see right through it. I have hope.


    by Oxy Mora on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 7:13am

    Depression is not an option. The GOP has corporate money and the visible face of the Tea Party. There was a gain of two seats, that's progress. Even a one seat gain is progress. The same vigor that went into  gaining two seats needs to be put into keeping the two Democratic seats up for recall. Given the amount of money the opposition put into the campaign, it is amazing that any seat was gained. The good people of Wisconsin did their best. We move on from this victory to fight another day.

     


    by rmrd0000 on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 9:05am

    May an atheist give an "Amen"?


    by Verified Atheist on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 10:02am

    So they gained two seats.  That is progress.  They need one more.  So they focus on recalling Walker and some other senators that were not able to be recalled yet.  It can still be done just might take a little longer than hoped for.


    by synchronicity on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 3:12am

    Advice for Democrats, not only in Wisconsin ...


    by MrSmith1 on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 8:26am

    Thanks for that bit of inspiration. The only problem is that a tenor is unelectable. Only baritones are taken seriously. The deeper registers are assumed to add weight to what they say. Tenors are flighty and I am told that they..... 


    by Oxy Mora on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 9:10am

    I tried to find John Cullum's version from the original Broadway production. He's a baritone.

    I agree, no tenor could get elected President.  But I bet Eric Cantor is a tenor.  LOL


    by MrSmith1 on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 10:00am

    He's a cantortenor.


    by Donal on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 10:08am

    Ha! A music lover.


    by Oxy Mora on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 11:07pm

    From what I am reading, recall elections have about a 62-65% chance of flipping the seat. Two seats out of six is rather disappointing and makes me wonder if the whole nation is gripped in a massive display of self-flagellation.

    The results in Wisconsin give me pause in gaging the situation in Michigan where the effort to recall Gov. Snyder, who's approval numbers fell 28% in mere months of his taking office, failed to accumulate the required number of signatures to mount a recall election. I mean, what happened to that anger we felt after being lied to about "Jobs, jobs, jobs!"? It's like we're victims of abuse that forgive our abusers for beating the crap out of us. Just promise not to do it again and we'll call it good and oh, by the way, is that a baseball bat you're hiding behind your back?

    Things are just not adding up to anything sensible anymore.


    by wabby on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 9:18am

    I understand that only a handful of recalls ever succeeded in the last century. Getting two is therefore extremely significant. Please persevere in Michigan.


    by Oxy Mora on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 9:33am

    It was nothing more than drawing a card from a deck and hoping to pull an ace. The GOPer's have their based trained so I had serious doubts the recall effort would amount to much ... the more seats you needed to win, the harder the effort becomes. A couple of seat would have been possible, but the number was too high so resources were stretched thin ... the GOPer's had the home court advantage.

    This also sends a clear message the GOPer's are entrenched and public anger over what they do is the least of their worries ... that goes for all state legislatures the GOPer's control.

    While the Democrats have the number and can easily defeat GOPer's, they have an inconsistent message that some just give up hope and find other things to occupy themselves with on election day. Obama and this group of Democrats in both House and Senate are lackluster at best and are elected to office by those looking for a Hail Mary end run around the GOPer's ... not gonna happen.

    All I can say is when I hear a GOPer gloating over their political partys' prowness, I casually ask them if they understand why the riots in England all of a sudden erupted.

    Contrary to their understanding of the Constitution, 2nd amendment remedies apply to across Party line's.


    by Beetlejuice on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 10:58am

    Nate Silver says that yesterday's swing was enough to (narrowly)defeat Walker in a recall.


    by Flavius on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 10:44pm