As he’s been traveling across the state, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave Westlake has been touting the fact that he’s converting Democrats to his cause (he’s probably had more luck converting “Democrats” than he’s had raising money), and I can’t help but wonder why any true Democrat would consider casting a vote to send Dave Westlake to the United States Senate.
Having met Dave, I know he’s a nice enough guy, but when all is said and done, he’s still a conservative, and I can’t understand why any liberal would vote for someone who’s likely to vote with conservatives nine (if not ten) times out of ten. I can think of only one issue (PATRIOT Act) on which I’d expect to see Dave Westlake vote with Democrats, but on every other issue I care about, Dave Westlake would vote against my self-interests and the interests of liberals across Wisconsin.
How is Mr. Westlake doing overall?
Hard to tell really. Last I remember, his poll numbers weren’t great, but Ron Johnson doesn’t seem to be able to pull away from him.
Zach what are you talking about? PPP has Johnson at 49% and Westlake at 11%. Rasmussen has Johnson at 47% – Feingold 46% and with Feingold at 51% – Westlake 38%. Dave is wonderful but with lack of funding, his message will not reach enough voters. His Q2 numbers were either $16K or $18K.
I’ve theorized that millionaires can’t beat Feingold. I’ll refine that to say that people who are identified as, or identify themselves as millionaires, can’t beat Feingold. Westlake hasn’t explicitly identified himself as a millionaire, although given that he’s taken months off his work to drive around the state in his giant Chevy Suburban means he’s got some cash on hand. I haven’t looked at his financial disclosure papers to see if they provide any insight as to his relative wealth.
This isn’t to say that Westlake can necessarily beat Feingold. if he got enough truly grassroots support and swayed enough liberals, he could have a substantial impact, and we’ll see how it looks come the September primary. Obviously the Feingold campaign is working on hammering Johnson as hard as they can. They know he (ROJO) hired Gabelman’s main sleaze man, hence they came out shooting.
I don’t know how successful Dave will be in the primary. But I do believe he will do much better than Ron Johnson thinks he will. Dave is working the areas where he can do the most good for his campaign. We don’t see him much in SE Wisconsin or the confines of Milwaukee county.
Dave is meeting a few people a day. Ron Johnson is reaching thousands…
Yes, I said I don’t know how well Dave Westlake will do…but I do think everyone is underestimating him. Don’t knock grass roots campaigning. It seems that hte ‘few people’ he meets everyday are far more committed than the masses that Ron Johnson is reaching. And keep in mind that Dave Westlake actually has policies and positions that he is talking about instead of talking points and platitudes.
Like Westlake as a person but don’t be so sure of Johnsons supporters being any less committed. The momentum is behind Ron all the way, from people to the press! People are really caught up in the excitement surrounding Johnson. He is an equally great guy to Westlake!
The press has been focused first on Johnson’s alleged vote-buying at the GOP convention, and second on his flip-flopping on selling his BP stock. No one is talking about how he’s “exciting.”
Wrong. The press including the national have been focusing on how Feingold is in trouble when it comes to Johnson. That bogus Wall story is old. Johnson DID NOTHING nefarious at convention. That is some conspiracy theory cooked up by sore losers. Give it a rest with the BP stock issue, OK? Do you realize how many people own it as a result of mutual funds?
Ahhh…the articles about Feingold being in trouble are about Feingold being in trouble, not about singing Ron Johnson’s praises.
And I certainly think the BP stock issue can be laid to rest…but I don’t think you can compare owning BP stock via a mutual fund to thousands of dollars worth of BP stock in a self directed portfolio. Most of those mutual fund owners probably don’t even know how their fund is actually invested. Mr. Johnson knows exactly what he’s got and made a conscious decision to buy or sell. Or maybe he didn’t as evidenced by his delay in filing his disclosure? LOL!
Heck, nobody answered the question. Why would any liberal vote for Westlake? I would still like to know. Dave is as far right as you can get!
The answer is that no liberal should vote for Westlake.
Obviously it was a rhetorical question posed to highlight Mr. Westlake’s converting Democrats to his cause…sorta like the Jesuits converting the indingenous population to Christianity?
Obviously it was a rhetorical question.
“Ahhh…the articles about Feingold being in trouble are about Feingold being in trouble, not about singing Ron Johnson’s praises.”
And those articles are based on:
1. Polls that absurdly oversample old white people with landlines in the suburbs, AND
2. The Journal-Sentinel trying to gin up interest for both readership and the talk show hosts that they pay and get ad revenue from.
Neither have to do much with reality. The only suspense in this race will be whether the GOP nominee (probably Johnson since GOPs are such toolbags who do what they’re told to do) will reach Tim Michels’ 44%. If it’s Westlake, maybe. If it’s Johnson, probably not.
Then again, if these one-sided news stories drive up Dem turnout and propel Barrett and state Dems to wins…please, keep saying it’s close.
I know of nobody who is being told what to do Jake, formerly of the LP. Is that Libertarian Party? Public Policy Polling is not what you described to my knowledge…
Whatever. Nobody has ever been ahead of Feingold in last elections. RoJo is pulling out ahead of Russ. Westlake is not moving. Out today:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/wisconsin/election_2010_wisconsin_senate