Will Wisconsin Have The Ugliest Senate Race Of 2018? If David Clarke Is The GOP Candidate, Bet On It

A few weeks ago, PPP polled Milwaukee County voters. Keep in mind that Wisconsin went very narrowly for Trump in November (after their primary choices-- Bernie for normal people and Cruz for Republicans-- were eliminated. Bernie beat Hillary in the Wisconsin primary 567,936 (56.6%) to 432,767 (43.1%) and Cruz beat Trump 531,129 (48.2%) to 386,370 (35.1%). In November Trump won Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes 1,409,467 (47.9%) to 1,382,210 (46.9%)-- on percentage point. Even more surprising, right-wing extremist Ron Johnson was reelected to the Senate over Russ Feingold 50.2% to 46.8%, almost 100,000 votes separating them.

Nonetheless, Milwaukee County was a big Clinton bastion. She blew Trump away-- 288,822 to 126,069 and Feingold did similarly well in Milwaukee County, beating Johnson 276,751 to 147,929.

The PPP survey, though, wasn't about the presidential race. It was all about the deranged crackpot sheriff of Milwaukee County, David Clarke, a badly unbalanced Trump fan boy, who originally sneaked into office by running as a Democrat. The PPP press release headline said it all: Sheriff Clarke Headed For Defeat. "Clarke," they wrote, "is very unpopular, and has almost no chance at being reelected next year."

Only 31% of voters in the county approve of the job Clarke is doing, to 62% who disapprove. Beyond that, voters consider him to be somewhat of a national embarrassment. 65% say that he's had a negative impact on Milwaukee County's image nationally, to only 29% who think he's had a positive impact. White voters (34/59 approval for Clarke) and black voters (22/72 approval for Clarke) are united in their negative feelings toward him.

Among Democratic primary voters, just 13% say they would support Clarke in a Democratic primary today to 82% who say they would prefer someone else. Clarke basically has no path to reelection as a Democrat at this point. He probably could be the Republican candidate for Sheriff- he gets a 72/23 approval rating from them- but then he would have virtually no chance of winning the general election either way.

“Milwaukee voters think David Clarke is embarrassing their county on the national level,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “Democratic voters are open to replacing him with just about anyone at this point.”

Donald Trump has a 30/63 approval rating in Milwaukee County, but Scott Walker's actually even worse off at 30/66. Walker trails a generic Democratic opponent in the county by 35 points at 64/29. To put that in perspective, Walker lost Milwaukee County by 27 points while winning by 5 statewide in 2014. But looking at it from another angle, Hillary Clinton won Milwaukee County by 37 points in November and still managed to narrowly lose statewide, so it's hard to say exactly what Walker's poor position in Milwaukee means for his overall prospects next year.

OK, Milwaukee will have a new sheriff next year. But what's next for Clarke? He's eager to have his department start rounding up undocumented immigrants. There were rumors that Trump had a job for him in the Regime but nothing's come that so far. And yesterday I got an e-mail from a shady right-wing operation in Denver, Restore American Freedom and Liberty, asking for money that they say they will use to help Clarke beat progressive champion Tammy Baldwin in her 2018 Senate reelection effort. And what a doozy of a letter it is!

Liberal Lesbian Senator Tammy Baldwin Hates Straight Families! It Is Crucial That Sheriff David Clarke Defeats Her!

Sheriff David Clarke

Leftist lesbian Senator Tammy Baldwin hates straight families. She wants to force all Americans to be subjected to LGBT sensitivity training! She even wants to require 5 year old children to learn about gay sex! It is crucial that Sheriff David Clarke defeats her!

Will you help Sheriff David Clarke win? Please contribute $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000, or more to help Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke win!

Leftist lesbian Tammy Baldwin is extreme and a threat to American values. She even supports importing millions of terrorist refugees from Syria! She is wrong for America!

Please contribute $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000, or more to help Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke defeat liberal lesbian Tammy Baldwin!

MIlwaukee Sheriff David Clarke isn't afraid of the PC police. He wants to ban Islamic immigration and build a wall on the border. Sheriff David Clarke also supports deporting illegal aliens, and ending welfare payments to immigrants. If elected to the Senate, Sheriff David Clarke will also work to defend the Second Amendment, balance the budget, and stop abortion.

Will you help Sheriff David Clarke defeat Tammy Baldwin? Your contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000, or more, is crucial for voter outreach and advertising!

The race will be very close! Your support is crucial! Sheriff David Clarke has not yet officially declared himself as a candidate, but all signs indicate that he will announce. In the unlikely event that he doesn't run, funds will be used to support the most conservative candidate.

These grifters aren't even asking you to send money to the crackpot candidate; they"re asking you to send money to them, some portion of which-- at least in theory-- will be spent on Clarke. So you can send the, $100 and their cut could be $90 and Clarke's could be $10. Or their cut could be $99.99 and Clarke's could be $0.01. The e-mail subject line-- always sure to get a good open-rate from right-wing imbeciles, was "Lesbian Senator Hates Your Family."

Among the Republicans who are considered potential opponents to Tammy Baldwin, besides Clarke, are far right congressmen Sean Duffy, Mike Gallagher and Glenn Grothman, State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and a gaggle of pretty crazy state legislators.

Blue America has only endorsed 5 proven progressive incumbents up for reelection in 2018 and Tammy Baldwin was one of them. You often hear people excusing cowardly Democrats like Claire McCaskill (MO), Bob Casey (PA), Joe Manchin (WV), Joe Donnelly (IN), Heidi Heitkamp (ND) and Jon Tester (MT) for voting with the Republicans by saying that Trump won their states. But Tammy is never on that list. Wisconsin voters know who she is and what she stands for and how hard she works for their interests. She votes according to the values and principles that made her one of the best members of the House and have made her one of the best members of the Senate. So far this cycle her ProgressivePunch crucial vote score is 100%-- not just an A, but a perfect A... and in a swing state. If you'd like to make sure Tammy stays in the Senate-- and that David Clarke doesn't bring his aggressive extremism anywhere near it, please consider tapping on the ActBlue thermometer on the right and giving to her campaign as generously as you can... to her... directly.