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.
800 votes is decent....Prosser can pull this out!
Just a random thought, musing out loud. Let’s suppose that the “results” of a recount are appealed. Do the remaining, sitting Justices on the Wisonsin Supreme Court make the decision? Or, do they all recuse because of the relationship with Mr. Prosser, and it goes to the Republican legislature? Or, perhaps something else?
Gwjack
Will Judge Prosser continue on the bench during any lengthy delay for legal / recount purposes? Will Judge Prosser be able to rule on the Walker Collective Bargaining bill challenge?
I also agree. They spent a fortune. They got their comrades in the “media” fired up enough to lie and misreport what was happening there. They mobilized their “useful idiots” students AND THIS WAS THE BEST THEY COULD DO? Regardless of what the “vote counters” or some dumbass “judge” on some “court” decides, the union has already lost this argument. BIGTIME!
Relax!
There are trunks full of Kloppenburg ballots in a parking lot near you......
Voting in a Democrat monopoly union owned state like Maryland wont help the battle in WI. In Maryland they just raise taxes on the poor and middle class to pay for illegal alien's college tuition,and they still get re-elected to do it again.
Here is a way to help get the message out no matter where you live:
Xtranormal video: A Liberal Teacher explains Union Busting
I feel ill at this outcome. What are Wisconsins thinking? Prosser should have won 60-40% or more.
RESULTS as of Wednesday, Apr 06, 2011 at 09:37 am CDT
Election Home
Supreme Court REPORTING 99%
Joanne Kloppenburg 738,368
50%
David Prosser (inc) 738,228
50%
140
I agree with you. With all of the union money and organization, they surely had the advantage in getting out the vote. The fact that they could only achieve a draw seems to bode well for 2012 and the recall efforts now directed against Reps.
Prosser better have some hard nosed SOBs in every county elections office in the state, but he is not done.
The Dems may be able to manufacture 2% of the votes, maybe even more in a modest turnout election, but they do so during early voting, and on election day. Prosser has already overcome that 2%.
Making new votes after election day is several orders of magnitude harder. In Minnesota, Franken was down 200, in an electorate about twice as large as this. So the Wisconsin Dems will have to manufacture enough votes to overcome a lead that is nearly eight times as large, as a proportion of the votes cast. In a state with a Republican Governor, Attorney General, and Legislature.
I'm not say they can't. Prosser better be ready, this morning, for an all out, months long, assault on the ballots, but he should prevail.
I agree with you. With all of the union money and organization, they surely had the advantage in getting out the vote. The fact that they could only achieve a draw seems to bode well for 2012 and the recall efforts now directed against Reps.
I agree, from looking at it in another state I though it would not be close.
“Will Judge Prosser continue on the bench during any lengthy delay for legal / recount purposes? Will Judge Prosser be able to rule on the Walker Collective Bargaining bill challenge?”
Sure, why not? It took a Liberal justice whose son is in the SEIU to overturn Walker and the legislature.
Of course I could be wrong.
Uh oh. A FAIR recount in Illinois...for a REPUBLICAN???? Might as well welcome the Marxist Dem to the court now.
The unions here in Wisconsin have made no secret that this was a referendum on Walker and the union bill that just passed. If Prosser gets reelected, and it looks like he will, it will be a severe blow to the Unions plans for revoking the bill. As usual, the Unions/Dems were counting on legislating from the bench to overturn the will of the people.
Prosser now (10:47AM ET) trails by 140 votes with 7 precinycs left out of 3630. Doesn’t look good.
Prosser now trails by 369 with five precincts to go.
I suspect that more Dem votes will be found deficient...
Just curious..what’s “jamba juice” and what’s wrong with it?
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