Dirge: How appropriate for WFTD. I cannot bear to tune into the news. My husband just learned that Wisconsin is sending Tammy Baldwin to the US Senate. His screams of anguish were no dirge — more a battle cry.
Two notes: Yesterday when I was sorking at the polls, a 60ish voter came in about 2 pm. As he signed the poll book, he looked at us and announced, “It’s all settled. The stock market is diving. It’s all status quo for the next 4 years.”
My co-worker and I looked at each other open-mouthed. Then she said, “It’s just like the media. they can say anything they want. Pay no attention.”
But that was the first harbinger of doom.
Then my husband stopped by at about 8:15 PM, 15 minutes after the polls closed. He said “Fox News Channel has vcalled the Wisconsin for Obama.”
“How is that possible,” I responded. “We still have 900 absentee ballots to count. I’ll be home very late. Go to the Victory Party by yourself.”
“I’m not going,” he said. “FNC called Wisconsin with only 1% of the vote in. What is going on?”
FWIW — The poll where I worked turned out 80% voter participation and the vote for Romney and Tommy Thompson was 3 to 1. We had 2400 registered voters already on the books. We registered another 110 on election day. Romeny and Thompson each got more than 2000 votes at the end of the night. Both the Touch Screen and the Optical Scanner registered the same portions — 3 to 1 Romney. I have no doubt that the poll where I vote was the same, or even better totals for Romney.
We had 3 poll watchers fro the Romney campaign who stayed 14 hours at my poll, taking names and caling them in. I had to admire their tenacity. Hopefully they’ll use that info to build a stronger campaign in the future.
It’s very tough to win with the media against you and an undereducated public. Abortion has been settled law since Roe v. Wade, 4 decades ago. Contraception has been available even longer than that. Yet, the Obama campaign, fueled by the media, was able to make those things the issue, while skirting 8% unemployment, 16 trillion in national debt, no budgets, huge deficits, Solyndra, Fast & Furious, Benghazi, dumping on Israel and all the rest. If we can’t beat a fatally-flawed candidate like Obama, I have almost no hope for the future. A future which, by the way, will have Sonia Sotomayor as the swing vote on the Court.