25 thoughts on “September 15 post-primary open thread”

  1. Yay for Chris Larson! Once in awhile things like this give you hope that the grassroots can indeed take on the establishment and win.

      1. Oh I get it, when it is far leftists they are “dedicated and passionate activists” but if they are on the right and/or tea party and are making change happen, you call them nothing but a bunch of fringe nutjob teabaggers.

  2. Didn’t surprise me that much, Barrett/Walker was somewhat expected, but it was almost Barrett/Neumann. However the one that surprised me the most was Rebecca Kleefisch being the (R) Lieutenant Governor Nominee. Honestly thought she didn’t stand a chance.

  3. I’m not surprised with anything, not even Rebecca Kleefisch. She has a folksy demeanor that appeals to many of residents of Wisconsin. She’s cute. She’s charming. She’s an upstanding woman with Christian morals teaching children in Sunday School. By saying with a smile of all she stands for. ‘A mom with some kitchen table common sense’ as it says on her site. Sound familiar? It’s the similar Mama Grizzly types of politicians who are coming out of the woodwork similar to Palin.

    Once I saw her on the television I knew instantly she’d get the Lieutenant Governor Nomination.

    This is going to be an extremely hard election for the Democrats to keep but at the same time, an extremely tenacious one for the Republicans to grasp due to the tensions within this state. The republican candidates are not acknowledging the northern portion of the state as the democrats are. And it’s best not to underestimate Green Bay and the Fox Cities or the Wausau Metropolitan area.

  4. Both the Lt Gov races were surprises to me, and pretty interesting.

    With, Kleefisch, she was not the party establishment candidate. Davis had money & party support & yet he got trounced. I think it says a lot about Republican party & it’s leadership and their connection with Wisconsin Republican voters. My guess is having a woman run as Lt. on the Republican ticket will help Walker significantly.

    Nelson, on the other hand was just the opposite. I don’t think he’s terribly well liked even (or maybe especially) in his own district. But I think he had the support from his party insiders & also won big.

      1. Why? What did he do that you thought warranted a better showing? Honestly asking because I don’t know.

        1. Let me clarify:

          I thought Henry Sanders would at the very least finish ahead of James Schneider. The fact that he finished last in the race is what’s most surprising to me.

  5. Locke,

    You don’t win a district like that with 60% of the vote in two of the last 3 elections without being well liked in your district.

    I’m unsurprised really by both LG races. I thought that the bashing that Brett Davis took from the Conservative Elites would take it’s toll, granted I didn’t think by THAT much.

    On the other hand, the bashing of Nelson by the liberal elites in Madison and on the internet goes to show that in a year when no one is going to vote you still need to be able to put your name out there. Nelson did that on a wide scale with a mass paid and earned media push, the others for the most part couldn’t.

    1. I’ve only been in Nelson’s district for about a year. Without question, he puts on miles, knocks on doors with the best of them. Before our most recent move, I was in a neighboring district to Nelson’s – and my impression was always of a guy who has no life outside of state government, which on one hand, certainly shows dedication. But it also struck me more as being rather sad & pathetic. Actually kinda reminded me of a Democratic John Gard. I’m not sure he’s ever faced an challenger with any money, experience or charisma.

      1. Though I wasn’t backing Nelson in the primary, he has impressed me with his work ethic. That guy just won’t be outworked by anyone.

  6. To be fair, the Dem LG Race may be a bit different if there was a medium for liberals like Talk Radio, but there isn’t.

  7. Nelson though works his ass off, he was all over the state talking to anyone anywhere. He definitely knows how to campaign and was rewarded for it.

  9. Zach – I don’t remember if I commented back when you had Neumann winning it by one or two, but that was never going to happen.

    I feel bad for Westlake, because for him to continue to insist that he was going to win it, was ignoring reality. How could he have not known that his message was not getting to the masses?

    1. I didn’t expect Westlake to win but did expect him to pull twice the votes he ended up with.

      And I thought Neumann would pull out state better than he did. I want Walker out of Milwaukee County to the extreme, but not at the expense of the State of Wisconsin.

      1. Yeah, I’ll agree with Ed. I didn’t expect Westlake to win, despite his optimism, but I figured he’d have a better showing than he did.

    2. His whole campaign was mystifying. It had no organization, no coherence. All this from a “West Pointer”. One theory I have was that he was hoping against hope to catch a magic bullet from Palin or DeMint. My other theory is not so kind and is related to his business. Disclaimer: I have no evidence of anything, just pure speculation. Just trying to figure out what makes somebody like that tick.

  10. The races up in the NW part of the state played out as expected for the most part. I was a little surprised to see the GOPers actually have the smarts to nominate Tom Larson in the 67th. The guy is smart, personable and sane. He is the preseumptive favortie to winthe race now. I was really hoping that Shiite Catholic Don Moga would pull it out and give CW King a chance.

    I hope Dan Mielke got his moneys worth out of his autodialer. Now we get to watch the Chosen One go against Tracy Flick to replace Dave Obey. Can’t wait to see the high profile loons the Duffy Campaign brings into the 7th. With any luck there will be a Mama Grizzly sighting.

    Let’s also see if Walker has enough brains to start showing up to overcome the fact that Nuemann beat him up here and that Barret beat Doyle in this part of the state in 2002.

  11. My biggest disappoint was Chris Moews not being able to put away Sheriff Clarke. His department is becoming a disfunctional as the rest of the county support services. If it weren’t for the St. Francis Police Dept there wouldn’t be any police presence in the county park across from my home and for the record I live in the city of Milwaukee…

    1. Yeah, the outcome of the Sheriff’s race was disappointing, but I’ll give David Clarke credit; he’s a political survivor.

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