Two Good Tuesdays In A Row In Wisconsin... And New England

Last night's 2 biggest losers weren't on the ballot in Wisconsin or Maine

Last week Wisconsin Democrats climbed a very steep hill by defeating incumbent state Senators Randy Hopper and Dan Kapanke, two right-wing zombies-- both well Koch-financed, dedicated fascist supporters of Scott Walker's virulently anti-family agenda. The same night, with less national clamor, progressive Democrat Bob Perry won a special election in New Hampshire, winning a Republican legislative seat by beating Honey Puterbaugh, 58- 42%. Similar story this week.

Two Democratic incumbents, Bob Wirch and Jim Holperin, beat back right-wing retaliatory recalls in Wisconsin Tuesday night. Right in the heart of Paul Ryan's house district, Wirch stunned the heavy-spending fascist forces with a powerful 58-42% win, a slap in the face to rightists in Kenosha County, which went heavily for both Walker and Ryan last year. The final count, district-wide, was 25,541 for Wirch to 18,838 for Walker's very flawed GOP candidate Jonathan Steitz. Up in the north country, incumbent Democrat Jim Holperin won 55% of the vote against Kim Simac, a deranged teabagger widely considered Wisconsin's own Sharron Angle or Michele Bachmann. Turnout was heavy and Holperin took 30,321 votes to Simac's 24,813, with landslides in the two biggest counties, Oneida (58%) and Lincoln (60%).

Wisconsin Senate Democratic Leader Mark Miller was jubilant: "Senate Democrats have fought for the rights and priorities of middle class and working families. In historic recall elections across the state the people of Wisconsin have clearly spoken out against the radical, divisive agenda Governor Walker and legislative Republicans have pursued to date." And state Democratic party chairman Mike Tate issued this statement ti summarize what had been accomplished:

“The victories tonight of Senators Wirch and Holperin cap off successful recall elections this summer for Democrats, progressives, moderates and independents. Democrats won more races, recalled two Republican senators, protected every Democratic incumbent, shifted the balance of power in the state Senate away from conservatives, and forced Walker and the GOP to pay public lip service to moderation and bipartisanship for the first time since they took power in January. All of these facts show that voters gave Democrats the overall victory in this summer’s historic senate recall elections.”
 
Facts: 

• Democrats won 5 of 9 recall contests-- an obvious majority.

• Recalls against all three Democrat incumbents failed. No Democrat was recalled for taking bold steps to stand up to the extreme, divisive Walker agenda.

• Two GOP senators were recalled for rubberstamping the radical Walker agenda-- a critical achievement that equals the total number of lawmakers ever recalled in Wisconsin history.

• As a result of these elections, the balance of power in the Wisconsin State Senate has shifted away from the Walker-Fitzgerald agenda. The state Senate as now constituted would NOT have approved Walker’s extreme, divisive assault on the middle class and working people.

• Democratic successes in the recalls have forced Walker and the GOP to change public posture. Only now is Walker-- who has acted unilaterally to advance a staunchly conservative agenda throughout his Administration-- talking about ‘bipartisanship.’ It is no coincidence that Walker’s shift in tone came the day after the Aug. 9th recalls. Overall Democratic successes have forced Walker to moderate his public stance.

And mirroring the big win in New Hampshire last week, Tuesday night saw a special election win for Democrats in Maine against a rightist handpicked by Tea Party Governor Paul LePage. New-comer Kim Monaghan-Derrig defeated Republican Nancy Thompson in the Cape Elizabeth open district, 1,340- 1,164. LePage had rushed to set the election for August 16, before a special legislative session that's set for Sept. 27 to deal with proposed changes to Maine's congressional districts. The state House now has 78 Republicans, 72 Democrats and an independent. Monaghan-Derrig will be a new progressive voice in Maine politics and will help hold back LePage's reactionary lurches into bizarre and demented extremism.