The lesson from tonight is that the GOP here needs to run good candidates that are squeaky clean and can appeal to a middle of the road voter. This doesn’t mean RINO’s but it does mean people who don’t scare off a portion of the independents.
In our district up north we nominated a Sharon Angle/Christine O’Donnell type in Kim Simac. I give Kim credit for running and putting up a fight. But at the end of the day, Simac was involved in a bizzare spouse swapping situation years ago and didn’t pay her taxes. Nor could she articulate anything in hostile environments outside her one talking point. The GOP and Tea Party are not going to win running candidates like that.
The other district was a pretty solid Dem working class district. The GOP candidate Steitz was a pretty good guy. But he’s from Illinois, works in Illinois and is a corporate attorney who has an office in London. That type of guy is not going to win in a democratic/Archie Bunker type traditional Dem district. Just not going to happen.
This is why it is so crucial we get the Presidential nominee right in 2012. That’s why I’m agnostic on Rick Perry at the moment. Can he win the middle of the road voter in Ohio, PA, WI, MI, MN, Iowa, Colorado? Maybe he can. Not sure yet.
The episode about Simac and her taxes could have been dismissed by drawing a comparison with Isenstat the CEO of GE and his taxes..
In fact both campaigns should have been natioalized because it was an executive decision by Obama to pour money into these recalls in the first place and he should have been tied to the union activity. Particularly with his poll numbers dropping
Also the behavior of the “paid protesters”, the cost to the state for repairs to the capitol. All of this should have been brought up and made an integral part of their presentatons but wasn’t.
The state legislature had already reduced the cost of car insurance by knocking half off that high premium coverage that Doyle gave to his trial lawyer buddies and the opportuinity to re-establish that connection to Doyle could have been used.
Then there is the smoking ban in taverns. You have voters pissed off because they completely inconvienienced with another useless feel good behavior modification that won’t save any lives and reduces tax support for Badgercare. But in Simac’s case she supported.
As far as I’m concerned the whole Wisconsin GOP senate recall campaign lacked direction and was a missed opportunity
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