The Wisconsin Democrats dropped off 1.5 tons of signatures at the state Government Accountability Board’s office today. They collected over a million names calling for the recall of Governor Scott Walker.
Democrats said they would be submitting almost as many signatures as the votes that Walker received. According to official election results, Walker got 1,128,941 votes (52.25%), while Barrett got 1,004,303 votes (46.48%).
They only needed about 600,000, so it looks like the recall election is going to go through. And it’s not the only recall election Wisconsin will be seeing.
Organizers Tuesday also handed in 845,000 signatures against Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch as well as petitions against four GOP state senators including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau.
First of all, we all must stand in awe of the organizing effort in Wisconsin. These are amazing numbers. Now the Democrats need candidates. I hope that goes well.
As for Scott Walker, where was he today?
Walker is scheduled to hold a New York City fundraiser in the afternoon hosted by Maurice Greenberg, the founder of financial services corporation American International Group, according to a copy of the fundraising solicitation posted on the website of the New York Daily News.
A spokeswoman for Walker had no comment, but a spokesman for the state Democratic Party criticized Walker for leaving the state.
“It’s typical of Scott Walker to avoid the people of Wisconsin and report to his East Coast masters,” Graeme Zielinski said.
Yeah, I remember when AIG went broke and destroyed the global economy. Good to know they’ve got Scott Walker’s back.
At the (very real) risk of over-analogizing things…
Wisconsin : American Autumn :: Tunisia: Arab Spring.
“American Autumn” is Van Jones’ term. Congrats to all those currently involved in WI.
Walker openly turning to Greenberg, one of the primary perps in the Greatest Bank Fraud in the World, is breathtaking. Republicans don’t even bother to try and hide their criminal alliances anymore. And yet this self-admitted gangster crony will get several hundred thousand votes when election time comes. Are we ashamed enough yet?
Do the Koch brothers know that he has another
masterbenefactor?Amazing indeed!!
GO WISCONSIN!!!
I thought the news about Walker was fabulous…but that they collected enough sigs to recall the rest of those GOP Clowns makes me smile.
How many million is it worth to them to re-elect Walker? Rachel Maddow is saying $100 Million. All this before we even talk about the Presidential race!! If the “independent voter” can’t see the handwriting on the wall now, God help this country.
Great job! On Wisconsin!
Until the WI electorate actually demonstrates the ability to behave responsibly, it’s nothing but pre-game hoopla.
Show me the election results, or you’ve shown me nothing.
Electorates deserve, what electorates vote for. Want to vote like a southern state? Fine. Then be treated like a southern state.
Until the WI electorate actually demonstrates the ability to behave responsibly, it’s nothing but pre-game hoopla.
They did pretty darn well in the last round of recalls.
Give Wisconsin a break. They had one bad year in 2010, but they’ve been solidly-blue for years. Hell, Massachusetts elected Scott Brown in 2010! It was a strange year.
From my standpoint, it doesn’t look good. It would have been nice to have all this activism when it mattered, like in October 2010.
Walker is likely to survive the recall. I think he’ll do better than he did in 2010. For one thing, he’s building a crushing war chest for the campaign, on which he may spend $100 million. The Democrats won’t come close to matching that.
Then, Wisconsin has had two opportunities to voice its displeasure with Walker, and it has supported Walker both times, once in the statewide Supreme Court race last spring, and the other in the recall races for the state Senate. In fact, in the crucial race for control of the Senate, the incumbent Anita Darling crushed her challenger, winning by a stronger margin than when she won the seat in 2008.
A lot of voters, especially independent voters, are just tired of the endless elections. They don’t necessarily like Walker, they may have voted against him in 2010, but they don’t like being subjected to extra elections, and the annoying political ads and phone calls that come with it. They blame the Democrats for this, and think, let Walker have his term, and then we’ll decide on him.
The election will be run with the new rules, meaning thousands of Democrats will be disenfranchised by the voter ID rules.
And even if Walker goes, his work will remain in place. The Democrats have no hope of ever reversing the legislation, since the redistricting that has occurred since 2010 makes it almost impossible for the Democrats ever to control the legislature.
So color Wisconsin red, and leave it that way.
The one good thing is that this gives Scott Walker a national platform, and he isn’t all that bright. I’d much rather have him articulating (I use the term loosely) the Republican platform than someone like Mitch Daniels.
” It would have been nice to have all this activism when it mattered, like in October 2010.”
I understand your frustration, but there’s no such thing (in my experience) as a time in which activism doesn’t matter.
Folks in Wisconsin can speak to this far better than I, but “color Wisconsin red, and leave it that way” hardly seems like a useful strategy for Wisconsin progressives and Democrats. Or for national progressives and Democrats.
Democrats benefited in the 2006 congressional election by having a “50 state strategy”. The Obama campaign fought for, and won, states (e.g., IN, NC, VA) that many “experts” said would be a waste of time, money and people.
We all do what we can. Whether Walker is recalled or not, it’s still an impressive accomplishment—and hopefully won that can be built upon.
You sound like a concern troll.
In 2010, Scott Walker received 1.21 million votes. The activist just handed in 1.04 million signatures to recall him. That’s not votes, that’s just signatures.
Then, Wisconsin has had two opportunities to voice its displeasure with Walker, and it has supported Walker both times, once in the statewide Supreme Court race last spring, and the other in the recall races for the state Senate.
This is really bad political analysis. For one thing, Scott Walker wasn’t on the ballot in either of those races. Secondly, the Supreme Court race was to replace an incumbent justice, and they almost never lose their elections. The tightness of the results in that extremely uphill battle should be very encouraging. Third, the State Senate recalls went strongly in the Democrats’ favor. Zero Democrats were recalled, while several Republicans were.
The real question is, why does Greenberg still have two dimes to rub together, much less a million to dump on Walker? The only asset he should have left is a couple of quarters for the vendo at the federal penitentiary.