Posted on 04/06/2011 6:52:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In one of the most politically charged judicial elections since Rose Bird lost her seat in California, Wisconsin voters marched to the polls and delivered … a dead heat. Fewer than 600 votes separate incumbent Justice David Prosser and his labor-backed opponent, JoAnne Kloppenburg, with Prosser barely in front. Almost 1.5 million voters cast ballots in this race, not far from the 2.1 million who voted in November’s Senate race, an indication of the stakes involved in this election:
Justice David Prosser clung to a narrow lead over Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg in the state Supreme Court race early Wednesday, after a hard-fought campaign dominated by political forces and outside interest groups.
But even with 99% of the vote counted, fewer than 600 votes – about 0.04% of ballots – separated the candidates. And The Associated Press said early Wednesday that the race was too close to call and that it would take hours or most of the day to get a final tally.
That close margin had political insiders from both sides talking about the possibility of a recount, which Wisconsin has avoided in statewide races in recent decades. Any recount could be followed by lawsuits – litigation that potentially would be decided by the high court.
The razor-thin result was the latest twist in Wisconsin’s ongoing political turmoil. The state has drawn the attention of the nation in recent weeks because of the fight over a controversial law sharply restricting public employee unions, which caused massive weeks-long protests in the Capitol, a boycott of the Senate by Democrats and attempts to recall senators from both parties.
The recount process may take weeks or even months, depending on who wins the official tally and how hard the other fights. In Minnesota, we have some experience with recounts, of course, and the one that finally settled the 2008 Senate campaign between Al Franken and Norm Coleman took until the following summer to conclude. It’s an easy bet that the unions have already begun to flood the zone with lawyers to assist in the recount and cash for operations supporting Kloppenburg. If anyone in Prosser’s camp wants to heed the lessons of the Minnesota recall, calls should be going out today for a similar effort — and probably should have started a week ago or more.
But the unions have a bigger problem. Many gave Prosser little chance of holding his seat in this off-year, otherwise sleepy election, as unions organized fiercely to unseat him before the state Supreme Court could hear the challenge to Scott Walker’s law. Given the usual lack of turnout for April elections in off years, the organizing power of the unions should have been overwhelming, and Prosser should have been toast even in less-progressive areas of the state. Instead, Wisconsin voters thundered to the polls to support Prosser, and Kloppenburg turned out to do poorly outside of Dane and Milwaukee counties — and even in Milwaukee, Kloppenburg led by just a 57/43 margin.
What should have been a slam-dunk if Walker’s proposal was really as extreme and disaffecting as unions claim turned out to be an even split. Given their power and the investment of time and money by the unions, this is an eye-opening stumble.
Update: There are still a few precincts left to count, but the number shifted significantly in Prosser’s direction this morning:
As of 7:35 this morning, the Associated Press had results for all but 24 of the state’s 3,630 precincts and Prosser’s overnight lead had grown slightly from fewer than 600 votes to 835 votes.
I think we’re heading into a recount either way, but let’s compare the Minnesota recount numbers. Norm Coleman went into the recount with a lead of 215 votes out of nearly 3 million cast, and the recount and challenge resulted in a Franken victory of 312 votes. Assuming Prosser maintains an 835-vote lead before a recount, it’s a significant number with a smaller pool of challenges than we saw in Minnesota.
I like the slope. Norm Coleman’s surrender was going in the other direction.
The outstanding votes are from communist controlled zones. They are either holding back Prosser Precincts or saving commie votes
Perhaps, but there's a closet somewhere with a box of ballots all neatly marked for Kloppenburg just waiting to be discovered.
I couldn’t go to bed last night watching the WI vote thread. I don’t even live there but feel it is so important for us to win this one.
The way to deal with recounts is to announce in advance that vote fraud will be investigated and fully prosecuted.
Bump
When it comes to Democrats and close elections, I subscribe to the "Magic Ballot Theory".
If roughly 50% of the voters, or even 45% of the voters STILL want the leftists in control then to hell with the whole place. It's unrecoverable.
Wisconsin’s Secretary of State is a raving moonbat who managed to survive the election of 2010.
This is ripe for stealing.
Pray!
Or better yet: VOTE! Next tiem.
Just look at the impact only a handful of votes in each precinct around the state for our guy would have had. The Lord helps those who help themselves.
They will simply outsource the fraud to illegal aliens. They are never prosecuted for anything, be it identity theft, forgery, tax evasion; you name it illegals are not prosecuted for it.
Surely there has to be some “teachers” union knuckledragger driving around out there with a suitcase full of “completed” ballots in it in the trunk. What the hell are the commie union thugs waiting for? Let’s get this phonyass “recount” overwith. Like the old commies used to say, “Those who cast the vote decide nothing, those who count the votes decide everything.”
If a repub doesn’t win by 7-8% it goes in the books as a dem landslide.
Any hour now a Democrat Operative will “discover” a bag of “missing” ballots. Then someone else will find another if they need it.
Prosser already said “the integrity of the ballots must be protected’. He is sending his people out to the 72 counties to make sure that happens. The fact it is a judicial race makes the fraud ascpect all the more interesting.
Yep. A margin in the few hundreds is easily overcome by the union machine. You need at least an actual 2% margin to avoid Democrat manipulation. Prosser’s done.
I agree with the Weekly Standard assessment of this race, it portends badly for the Dems next year. With all the hyperventilating on the left and nationwide focus on Wisconsin they will most likely lose this race. Even if they steal it, this is a loss for the Dem’s as it will energize the GOP in Wisconsin like never before. I thought this would be a Democrat rout and it’s 60/40% right now we hang a “L” on them. I saw a great bumper sticker yesterday on an SUV, “Save American jobs fire a Democrat”. I am sure your Prius driving, government working ,Jamba Juice drinking, effiminate liberal girly man sess that sticker and shudders, casue he knows it’s all coming down for him, all of it.
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