Wisconsin Voters Express Their Disdain For Republican Overreach On GOP Candidates

No reader of DWT could have possibly been taken by surprise when a compendium of Ayn Rand's tawdry novels came to life as a Republican action plan to disembowel the New Deal, courtesy of her top congressional acolyte, the very light Paul Ryan. There are good reasons Paul Krugman has accused him of peacockery and dubbed him the Flim Flam Man, and christened him Ryan The Ridiculous yesterday but, in truth, these are the same reasons Wall Street loves Paul Ryan above all its other willing and eager shills in both parties. The nonsense and fantasy he presented yesterday cuts Medicare and other vital programs in order to finance a huge tax cut for people who don't really need it. Don't expect to hear the corporate media echoing that point; they're paid very handsomely not to.

Ryan wasn't on the ballot in Wisconsin yesterday. Neither was his pal, Scott Walker. But unless they're kidding themselves, the two class warriors for the ruling elite must have gotten loud, clear messages from Wisconsin voters as they watched the race for Walker's old job as Milwaukee County Executive end in an absolute rout for the GOP. With 99% of the votes counted little known Democrat Chris Abele beat Walker crony Jeff Stone 130,063 (60%) to 86,100. That's a pure anti-Walker landslide, especially because Abele stumbled his way through the campaign. Stone is best known for having introduced-- twice-- a Voter ID bill that is meant to hold down minority voting. Minorities turned out big time last night-- not so much for Abele as against Stone and Walker.

Before Walker and the GOP went off the deep end and declared war on working Wisconsin families, there was a non-partisan, open primary to elect a Supreme Court judge. That was Just 2 months ago, February 15, and the well-known Republican incumbent, David Prosser, was way out ahead with 55%. A little known Assistant Attorney General JoAnn Kloppenburg came in second with 25%. It looked like Prosser would glide to victory in the runoff. Last night he didn't glide anywhere but to a 50-50 stalemate. A judicial doppelganger of Walker and Ryan he, like Stone, is a victim of Walker's over reach and the fact that for many Wiconsinites the Republican brand has been turned to shit. Prosser had bragged that "This election is about a 4-3 commonsense conservative majority vs. a 3-4 liberal majority, and nothing more.” Two days ago he ran to Greta Van Susteren on Fox to beg Fox viewers to turn out, asking even them to not think about Scott Walker when they were in the voting booth. That's a real 180 from when he was braying that he would "serve as a complement to Scott Walker" just a few short months ago. There has been heavy spending from third-party groups and the Koch Bros have funneled a fortune into a media blitz on behalf of Prosser who was badly wounded when it came out he actively participated in covering up for a serial rapist in the Catholic Church, who was shunted off to rape more young boys after Prosser refused to prosecute him.


Prosser's 180 notwithstanding, on the eve of the election Walker's chief counsel, Brian Hagedorn, sent a vicious e-mail to Republicans urging them to vote for Prosser, saying keeping him on the court is essential to advancing Walker's agenda.

Here are the results in the 10 biggest counties. The first number is Obama's 2008 percentage, followed by Walker's 2010 percentage, followed by Kloppenberg's percentage last night:

Dane (Madison)- Obama- 73%; Walker- 31%; Klopperburg- 73%

Fond du Lac- Obama 45%; Walker- 64%; Klopperburg- 39%

Kenosha- Obama- 59%; Walker- 51%; Klopperburg- 53%

Marathon (Wausau)- Obama- 54%; Walker- 58%; Klopperburg- 46%

Milwaukee- Obama- 67%; Walker- 38%; Klopperburg- 57%

Outagamie (Appleton)- Obama- 55%; Walker- 54%; Klopperburg- 43%

Racine- Obama- 53%; Walker- 56%; Klopperburg- 44%

Rock (Janesville)- Obama- 64%; Walker- 46%; Klopperburg- 60%

Waukesha- Obama- 37%; Walker- 72%; Klopperburg- 27%

Winnebago (Oshkosh)- Obama- 55%; Walker- 54%; Klopperburg- 48%

Statewide- Obama- 56%; Walker- 52%; Klopperburg- 50%
This morning AP reports Prosser with 736,878 to Kloppenburg's 736,043, too close to call. Absentee ballots will have to be counted and there will be a recount. Meanwhile, Wisconsin voters in Ryan's district came out strongly for Kloppenburg-- and starting today they're seeing this:



Moments before publication of this post: