Wednesday, August 10, 2011
1:15 AM: GOP, Dems react to results
Both sides are reacting to Tuesday’s results, with Republicans saying voters validated the first months of the Walker administration and Dems saying it’s just the beginning.
“Voters made a clear choice to continue down the path of economic progress that Wisconsin has been on for the past seven months,” said state GOP Executive Director Stephan Thompson. “The assault that was unleashed on our state by national unions and special interest groups has been defeated by the will of the taxpayers to move our state forward, and put the needs of Wisconsin families above union demands.”
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said his caucus will “continue doing what we promised the people of Wisconsin.”
“It looks like the special interests were able to defeat senators Hopper and Kapanke, two exceptional senators,” Fitzgerald said. “They took a bullet for the taxpayers, and the people of Wisconsin owe them a debt of gratitude for putting the interests of the state before their own.”
Senate Dem Leader Mark Miller of Monona said that while his party didn’t win the majority “we have not lost.”
“We pushed the Republicans and their special interest allies to the limit in strongly Republican districts,” Miller said. “The middle class and working families stood up to the special interests and the right-wing extremists and won.”
State Dem Party Chairman Mike Tate said his party has “begun the work of stopping the Scott Walker agenda” on GOP turf.
“On Tuesday night, Wisconsin spoke loud and clear with the recall of two entrenched Republicans,” Tate said. “This is an accomplishment of historic proportions that I do not wish to be overshadowed by statements regarding results in the 8th Senate District.”
Tate said the party would not pursue questions of irrelgularities in the 8th, where Republican Sen. Alberta Darling fended off a challenge from Dem Rep. Sandy Pasch.
Meanwhile, Gov. Scott Walker said that while voters sought fiscal responsibility and a focus on jobs last year, they “also want us to work together to grow jobs and improve our state.”
“With that in mind, earlier this evening I reached out to the leadership of both the Republicans and Democrats in the Assembly and State Senate,” Walker said. “I shared with them that I believe we can work together to grow jobs and improve our state.”
— By Andy Szal
12:56 AM: Darling: ‘We did what you wanted us to do’
“We did it!” Alberta Darling exclaimed at 12:21 a.m.
“Listen to this. The taxpayers, the voters, said ‘Do something different’ in November; they said in April, ‘Come on, we’re with you’ and this election they said, ‘We’re with you,’ so let’s have an end to this division in Wisconsin. Let’s grow jobs and this economy.”
“It was about my leadership to work for the people of this state. I’m very proud to say we stood up against the special interest groups, we stood up against the unions and we said, the voters count.”
“I’m so excited, because this is a microcosm of the whole nation,” Darling continued. “We did what you wanted us to do. We got control of the spending and the debt and the deficit ... without raising taxes on you. We stood up for you! We’re going to keep doing that. We’re going to grow jobs. We’re going to make this state vital. We’re going to have prosperity and opportunity for all.”
Darling called up John Yingling, her campaign strategist since 1990, for a thank-you hug at the podium.
Afterward, Yingling said Darling’s victory was a referendum on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget and showed that voters believe it’s working.
He also said the events of the past week, during which the United States saw its credit rating downgraded and the stock market plunged 600 points in one day, might have swayed voters at the last minute. “It convinced people we’ve got to get spending under control,” said Yingling.
“On, Wisconsin!” Darling exclaimed.
— By Kay Nolan
1:01 AM: Pasch party ends in confusion
Rep. Sandy Pasch’s campaign gathering in Brown Deer ended in confusion after an upbeat atmosphere earlier in the night.
Shortly before 11:30 p.m., Pasch made a brief two-minute statement to her supporters. She asked them to remain at the election night party and enjoy themselves.
Before Pasch’s speech, Graeme Zielinski of the state Democratic Party gave a statement to reporters alleging votes in Waukesha Co. had been “tampered” with and he said County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus was “sitting on votes.”
After Pasch’s speech, the situation at the party became confusing. The candidate was not seen or heard from after the brief speech and she left the party without giving a concession speech.
Representatives from her campaign said at first there would be no more statements from the Pasch campaign.
Those representatives said the campaign was reviewing numbers, particularly those from Waukesha County. At the time there appeared to be no intention by the campaign to concede this evening.
However, WisPolitics has confirmed Pasch did call Sen. Alberta Darling to concede and the campaign later released a statement from Pasch saying the campaign “fell short” of its desired result.
— By Arthur W. Thomas
I knew the Dems first words out of there mouths, sickoids that they are hyper-rationalizing, would be a) to declare fraud (Diebold!!), or b) to declare a victory out of a total defeat. That’s fine. Let them go on and live in Carlos Casteneda’s “A Separate Reality”, while we continue to rack up victory after victory and their lead shrinks in the Congress and in the local statehouses.