Lost the Battle, Won the War

Scott Walker is still governor of Wisconsin. He won last night and credit can be given to the millions of dollars his campaign pumped into mass media and the other millions of dollars that came in from out of state from Teabagger SuperPACs.

Proof positive that money can buy ignorant voters. The US Supreme Court majority made sure of that.

But while everyone was concentrating on the governor’s race, the eye was taken off the ball that was a State Senator recall election where State Senator Wangaard was narrowly defeated by Democrat John Lehman, who formerly held the office.

This restores a Democratic democracy in the Wisconsin state senate and no more are we going to have to witness attempts at passage of voter suppression and successful attempts to wrench away from public employees the right to organize under unions.

I call that a victory.

Now I don’t know what the infatuation Wisconsonites have with a guy whose eyes are set so dangerously close together, I may never figure it out. But by anyone’s scale this renders Walker into a paper tiger.

Down to the Wire in Wisconsin

Tomorrow we are going to witness an historic recall election in Wisconsin. Scott Walker’s job as that state’s governor is on the line as well as that of his lieutenant governor. All of this comes as a result to the governor’s attack on public employee unions, a purported first step towards total eradication of the union movement in Wisconsin, a state known for its pro-union inclination.

None of this was an agenda item when the governor was running for that office. Walker just kind of thought all of this up by himself, with perhaps the help of TEA Party billionaires.

And now as we close in on the election polls show that the election is tightening up. In a recent poll by Public Policy Polling, they show that Walker leads his opponent, Milwaukee mayor Tom  Barrett, by 3%. That’s down from a poll conducted by the same group 3 weeks ago, which had Walker leading by 5%. That’s right, millions of dollars of Koch brothers and TEA Party money are being thrown at this election and there is a slip in the polls.

But not enough of one.

Enthusiasm seems to be a factor here. The activism we all witnessed in the winter of 2011 has fallen by the wayside. You don’t hear the drums beating on cold crisp mornings in Madison anymore. A grassroots get out the vote movement is not a sexy as rocking and rolling in the capitol rotunda.

But this is where the rubber meets the road. An election. This is when it counts. Time to drum up some enthusiasm, Wisconsin; time to send the Koch brothers back under the rocks that they crawled out from.

Run Scott Walker, Run Like a Rabbit

What I saw today coming out of the Public Policy Polling website, found here, is that Wisconsin’s governor Scott Walker is standing at the edge of a cliff with Democrats poised to toss him over it.

Not only have Democrats been wildly successful in getting a gubernatorial recall petition qualified for a recall election, it now seems likely that he would go down to defeat if a vote were held today.

Yep, the darling of the Tea Party and the Koch brothers, Scott Walker is about to be skewered and turned on a spit over hot coals.

Scott Walker’s overreach has come home to roost, it seems. His anti-union, pro-fat cat tax cuts for the rich political stance has uncovered him as anti middle class, and a supporter of the 1%. A 1% that he perhaps would like to join someday.

But the numbers don’t lie. The state seems evenly split on dethroning Walker 49% to 49%. It could go either way. But given the fact that he gets the axe, the numbers are even more telling. In a race against his 2010 opponent, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett, Walker will lose by 49% to 46%.  Former Senator Russ Feingold, if he should decide to enter the race, would beat down Walker by 52% to 45%.

In short, this is an election for Democrats to lose.

And given the primary results in Michigan and Arizona yesterday, it should be painfully clear to anyone that the Tea Party is in full retreat. Run and hide, Tea Party, run and hide, Scott Walker.

Run like a rabbit.

Total Recall: Wisconsin Votes

So I’m wearing my red T-shirt today in solidarity with the voters in Wisconsin who are, by all accounts, flocking to the polls in numbers on the order of how many show up in a presidential election. For a recall vote. For an odd-year recall vote.

I wore it when I journeyed to Austin last February when there was a fairly decent crowd arrayed on the capitol building south steps, were protesting not only the anti-labor overreach of Wisconsin’s newly elected Republican majority, but also the expected budget cuts to education.

Nothing much good came of the education budget, but now we have a real show going up in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a poster child, it seems, for all that is bad in American politics today.

Out of state TEA Party PACs are flooding the state with record funds. Democrats are being outspent by their Republican opponents who are responding by launching a massive grassroots effort. Hundreds of Democrats are calling into the state to get out the vote. Something that very much aided in getting voters to the polls in 2008.

Republicans even packed the Democratic Primary with non-Democrats in order to dilute the vote and throw some chaos into the process.

Then there’s the measures passed to make it harder for people to vote in Wisconsin.

It just goes on and on.

The only thing that keeps this country from resembling a banana republic is the fact that there isn’t rioting in the streets.

Not yet anyway.

The UK may have one up on us on that one.

Anyway, there are no indicators yet showing how this is going to go. A high turnout is always good for Democrats as evidenced by the 2010 elections in many states that went red that year. But I am not going to make any predictions. If it goes well for Democrats tonight it could bode very well for turning the tide going into next year. It could take the wind out of the sails of Republicans nationwide.

If it doesn’t though, we might as well pack it in and watch Rick Perry become the next president of the US.

Jim Hightower Speaks to Union Supporters in Austin

Jim Hightower, former Texas Agricultural Commissioner and now a progressive populist columnist and radio commentator, spoke to a crowd of supporters of the public sector union workers in Wisconsin whose cause and plight have riveted the country’s attention for 2 weeks now. I captured the entire six or so minute speech on video.

I was well back in the crowd and getting a clear shot of him as he spoke was challenged by the many hand-lettered signs that people brought to the rally. But at least you get to hear what he said.

Yes, he did. He said “Let’s get nekkid.”

Austin Texas In Solidarity with Wisconsinites

My friends lead me where I would not myself trod. Austin is a long, long way from where I live, but Move-On.org organized the rally in Austin, Texas' capitol, and my friends, Don and Susan, were going come H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks or high water, and they offered me a seat in their American-manufactured vehicle.

Couldn't resist.

The rally was in support and in solidarity with the Wisconsin 14, the 14 Wisconsin state senators who have fled their state, their homes and their families so that the hated bill that would strip public sector employees of their right to collective bargaining would not pass. Not pass without a quorum. A quorum that they lack by one lone senator.

The rally was also in solidarity with the public sector union employees, of which I count myself in their number. The cheeseheads that won the 2011 Superbowl are now leading the nation in a rebirth movement to restore the middle class.

Imagine that.

I loved it that the union rally followed, and therefore included a rally in support of Planned Parenthood. Pink T-shirts blended with red ones. We were one. We are one and the same in mind, I think. Young women proudly sporting amazingly colored tatoos mingled with we unionist old farts.

It was heaven.

Fotos follow, naturally.

My favorite. Notice the sea of red. This was the entertainment before the speeches. This was taken from the south steps of the Texas capitol building. They played a lot of Woody Guthrie songs.

A sign I liked. One thing we all noticed was that not one of these hand-lettered signs had mis-spellings. We progressives, if anything, know how to spell. We even know how to turn a phrase. As one sign read, "If you can read this sign, thank a teacher."

And this seems to have been a family effort. Husband, wife, daughter all carrying umbrellas, and all bringing up the fact that Texas has a 9 billion dollar "rainy day fund" for when we can't pay our bills . . . like now. The day threatened to rain and these three were the only ones in the crowd to have a pretext to bring umbrellas.

Progressive Texans, I think, have a corner on the market in sheer smart signage.

As opposed to our opposition.

The Resurgent Reasbeck Returns

I started writing this blog four years ago this month. I started it partly because I was becoming politically active again after a hiatus of over 30 years, and partly because I was looking for something new to do.

And then there was Texas CD-22 and the memorable 2006 congressional race that featured more reversals of fortune than you see in a game of Texas Hold “Em.

I loved writing about all things CD-22.

What truly captured my fascination was how former Congressman Tom DeLay and the GOP machine here thought that they would game the system after the primary, and DeLay, who was convinced he wouldn’t be re-elected that year divined a way for him to be replaced on the ballot by someone anointed by the GOP.

All of that crashed and burned beginning with a memorable decision by Sam Sparks that found that because Tom DeLay would not guarantee where he would be living on Election Day – he was being cute – he could not take himself off the ballot. The seminal idea behind the TDP lawyers’ argument, as it turns out, came from a law student.

The GOP, then, had no one on the ballot to oppose Democrat Nick Lampson. Their only alternative was to run a write-in candidate. But there was a large field and if they all ran they would only split the Republican vote. So they then went to great lengths to settle on one write-in candidate and get everyone else to agree not to run.

And that was another idea that went over like a lead balloon.

Because just as soon as Shelley Sekula Gibbs, the crazy-daisy dermatologist that kicked up such a fuss in DC for 2 memorable weeks – she ran for DeLay’s unexpired term – was anointed, two more candidates jumped in. And that was something that I wrote about here.

I had completely forgotten about the posting until I noticed that something I wrote on August 30, 2006 was getting read again. Getting read by the DC crowd and a bunch of people in Wisconsin.

So I became curious and re-read the article. It was all about candidate number 3, Joe Reasbeck. Some completely unknown guy had filed to run as a write-in candidate against Lampson.

“Why is everybody reading this old article,” I asked myself.

And with one click of the mouse I had my answer. Joe Reasbeck is back. Back in the news, back in a race for congress, back opposing anointed ones, and back home.

Back in Wisconsin.

This weekend, Joe Reasbeck announced at a Memorial weekend ceremony in his hometown of Superior, Wisconsin that he was running in the primary, as a Democrat, in the 7th congressional district of Wisconsin. A seat currently occupied by retiring Congressman David Obey.

And it appears that history is repeating itself.

Reasbeck will oppose Democratic State Senator Julie Lassa, the Democrats’ favored candidate. An anointed one, as it were.

Anointed, by my interpretation of a comment attributed to “a party source” by the author of this WSAU website article posted on May 10th:

“Julie Lassa will be the only Democrat to run for the seat that Representative Dave Obey is giving up after 41 years, a party source said.”

I have just a few comments to make on all of this and then I will shut up.

First, what is it about women in politics that drives Reasbeck to run against women now for the second time? Is it the whole anointment thing?

Second, Reasbeck is now a Democrat? Has that always been the case or do we just change parties depending on who is in the majority in the given area that we move to?

Third and finally, if the above is not the case, then the comment by the “party source” is still dead-on accurate, and Julie Lassa actually is the only Democrat to run for Obey’s seat.