Posted on 04/01/2008 10:12:27 PM PDT by LdSentinal
MADISON, Wis. -- Michael Gableman had 51 percent of Tuesday's vote compared with 49 percent for Butler with 93 percent of precincts reporting. Butler is the first incumbent justice to lose a re-election bid since 1967.
He joined the court in 2004 after being appointed by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.
He built his campaign around the charge that Butler was a judicial activist. Gableman claims to be a judicial conservative.
While the race was officially nonpartisan, Democrats including Gov. Jim Doyle and liberal special interest groups campaigned heavily for Butler while Republicans and conservative outside groups worked for Gableman.
The state teachers union ran an attack ad against Gableman, while the state's largest business group went after Butler with an onslaught of ads branding him "Loophole Louie."
The election was viewed as critical since Butler is generally seen as siding with three other more liberal justices to create a 4-3 majority.
Steve Atwell, 50, development director for a Milwaukee-area nonprofit, said the television ads turned him off so much he didn't vote in the race.
"For me, it was a lot of mudslinging and back and forth, and I didn't feel informed," he said.
Robert Wiessinger, a 39-year-old water consultant in Wausau, voted for Gableman in part because the negative campaigning put him in an "anti-incumbent mood."
"Both sides threw a lot of mud. That's a place where dirty politics really doesn't need to be," Wiessinger said. "It really impedes what I think the judicial process is."
But Sandy Schumacher, 47, of Sun Prairie, said she voted for Butler because she particularly disliked Gableman's ads.
"They're awful. They're absolutely reprehensible," she said. "It demeans the integrity of the judicial system."
Liberals hate to lose judicial elections. It’s what they use to thwart the will of the people. So since they lost, the process had to be absolutely horrible.
And remember the process the libs used against Bork and Thomas? That wasn’t ugly to them. It was fun.
Gableman is still no Diane Sykes.
This is important, given the number of RKBA cases in Wisconsin. (Imagine, until a supreme court ruling, it was illegal to carry a concealed weapon in one’s own home.)
Works for me. Dane County must have not turned out. For once.
Couple this with a decisive Scott Walker victory for Milwaukee County Exec and April 1st was a promising day for our state!
Good news in WI, albeit uncomfortably close.
Que?
Yes it is good news.
I see they got rid of the “Frankenstien Veto” too. That’s good although it was loads of fun.
Well said, fellow freeper, well said. Libs don’t know how to be gracious in any way, shape, or form, especially when they lose.
Good for Wisconsin> Now go elect a couple of conservative GOP Senators.
Doyle is a Hilleresc type liberal, he is radically anti-gun.
Good news bump, for a change.
A win is a win! And WI Republicans won on some VERY important matters yesterday.
Wa-Hoo! **Happy Dance** **Happy Dance** **Happy Dance**
Watch for all of the ‘Rat “Editorials” stating how we “stole” these elections, blah, blah, blah, before the end of the morning. But for now? Celebrate!
You know, I’m really becoming CONVINCED that State Level politics is where it’s at.
We can’t get the Feds to move off of First Base in our favor on ANY issue (personal & property rights, gun rights, closing our borders & booting out the illegals, religious freedom, high court issues, etc.) but if we all work on our local and state elections, we just might turn this ship around! :)
This was the first time an Incumbent on the WISC was bumped off in FORTY YEARS! Now THAT’S a VICTORY! :)
Hats off to Mark Walker, too. He’s my choice for Governor come 2010! (I wanted him last time around; we went with a weak-tit like Mark Green...now “State Ambassador to Third World Bumpkinville,” LOL!
Oops! SCOTT Walker, Duh! ;)
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