Free Republic

MADISON — Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced today that they will file a “Petition to Bypass Court of Appeals” and “Motion for Consolidation” with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in each of two legal actions originally commenced in Dane County Circuit Court challenging the state's “Voter ID” law, 2011 Wis. Act 23. The Attorney General will further ask the Supreme Court to immediately stay each of the Circuit Court injunctions against the Voter ID law in a determined effort to ensure the law will be in place for the November 6, 2012, general election.

Didn't see an actual thread we could use for a central point for election information today. Lets do this Wisconsin!!!

Those surprising results would project at a 56-44 final win for Walker. HOWEVER, while Walker continues to lead Barrett, we once again caution readers that this is an extremely difficult election to predict. Turnout is king in all elections, and it may be even more important in this one.

Union leaders are asking Democratic candidates for governor to veto the next state budget if it doesn't restore collective bargaining for public workers and at least one leading candidate - Kathleen Falk - has agreed, participants in the private meetings say.

On Thursday, Media Trackers reported the plight of Jeff Demet, a Racine native who found his name forged four times on petitions to recall Republican State Senator Van Wanggaard. The story was followed up by TMJ4 who interviewed two more individuals who’s names were on recall petitions when they never signed, including Jeff’s mother Mary who’s name appears twice. Ken Brown of CRG Racine first noticed that Jeff Demet’s brother Mark Demet was a circulator for one of the pages that features both Jeff and Mary Demet’s names.

On Wednesday, Citizens for Responsible Government in Racine reported that Racine native Jeff Demet’s name was found four times on the petition to recall Republican Senator Van Wanggaard. Finding the same signature four times is bad enough, but when Demet was contacted about the four signatures, he claims he never signed the Wanggaard recall petition at all!

Gov. Scott Walker holds single-digit leads over several potential Democratic opponents in hypothetical recall matchups, according to a new statewide poll. The poll was conducted Jan. 19-22 for the Marquette Law School by Charles Franklin, co-founder of pollster.com and a visiting professor at Marquette, on leave from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The law school plans to poll throughout the year. In the survey of 701 registered voters, Walker leads his 2010 opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, 50% to 44%. He leads former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk 49% to 42%. He also leads two other Democrats, former congressman Dave Obey...

Yesterday, Media Trackers reported that an initial naked eye look at a sampling of recall petitions turned in for Senator Pam Galloway showed numerous duplicates, invalid signatures, and circulator mistakes. Below is a brief accounting of the errors with screenshots of just a few pages that could throw out 24 of 37 signatures:

A Democratic source said Friday that U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) has decided not to run for re-election after serving in the U.S. Senate since 1989...

Just reported on Sykes radio show. Just freaking great...

Currently being discussed on the radio

A little background: My stepson is 5 years old and is stuck in the middle of a very testy custody battle between his father and my wife. His father has psychological issues he refuses to have treated and there is a complete lack of communication between him and my wife...won't bore you with the details. My stepson came home the other day after overnighting with his Dad and excitedly exclaimed that he is learning how to kill squirrels with a blow dart gun. Currently he is practicing against a tree, but as soon as he's ready they are going to...

<p>Minnesota's budget deficit claimed its first victims today -- students.</p> <p>When Gov. Tim Pawlenty made his emergency budget cuts this morning to resolve the state's immediate $356 million deficit, schools were at the top of the list. K-12 schools will take a $27 million hit, while state colleges and universities will be cut $50 million.</p>