The number that was most remarkable to me was that 36% of union folks voted for Walker? Paul Begalla said it best last night, Union folks or families voting for Walker is like Chickens voting for Colonel Sanders (of KFC Fame).
It is my understanding that Walker outspent his Dem opponent 36 million to 4 million. Conclusion criminal corporations used money to remove a core American value from WI workers, their right to organize and negotiate their working conditions, benefits etc.
There are about 5,712,000 people in Wisconsin 86% of them are European American, most are high school educated. There is a very low percentage of people below the poverty line. In Short, a very middle class state that has mostly voted democratic in the National elections.
One of the interesting aspects of the race is that ethnicity was not a big part of the equation like in the national election. So we were mostly looking at political a philosophy battle, that is Citizen Rights (workers)/vs. Corporation's Rights.
One of the questions this raises for me is, why do states like Wisconsin and New Jersey vote Democratic Nationally and Republican locally? are local politics truly local?
I think our President understands the separation between National and Local politics and wisely maintained his policy of mostly staying out of local politics except for making a comment or gesture that tells you where he stands. Before you Repubs start, Mr. Romney did the same.
What do these numbers tell me? Well there were 900,000 certified recall signatures if each person only got one other person to go to the polls then the Dems and Workers would have won by a land slide. My conclusion, baring Republican dirty tricks, is that WI Dems did not turn out as required to protect their rights as workers and the corporations used Doublespeck Ads to dupe many low information voters, also workers, to vote against their own interest.
How do the local and National numbers compare? Turnout was off the charts with more than 2.5 million people,57 percent of voting-age adults, While better then the 2.17 million in 2010 Governance election it was far short of the 3 million votes cast in the 2008 presidential election. The good news is the legislature is split 16 to 16. One Dem has declared a win and if that holds Dems will have power in the upper house.
What does this tell us regarding winning in November? We Dems better bring our A Ground Game. The numbers tell us that each Dem voter needs to bring at least one new dem vote to the polls with them. This can be a new voter or a Repub or independent that voted for the opposition in 2008/10. I call it the 1+1 Ground game.
I have been working on my new voter for the last four years and I have him almost nailed down, How about you?
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