The results of yesterday’s three special elections to fill vacant State Assembly seats are in, and with 54% of the vote, Democrat Steve Doyle defeated Republican John Lautz in the 94th Assembly district. Doyle’s win means Democrats gain a seat in the State Assembly, as the 94th district had previously been represented by Mike Huebsch, who was promoted to a high-ranking position within Gov. Scott Walker’s administration.
While Republicans did prevail in the two other Assembly special elections, each of those seats had previously been held by Republicans (not to mention the fact that the districts are deep red), so neither result should be surprising.
This was a huge win and clear message for the Republicans. I wonder if Kapanke was paying attention?
Yep, just like Kloppenburg’s win was a huge message for Republicans.
So, how many seats are in the Assembly? Held by Republicans? By Democrats? Oh, right.
Considering I know many people who hate Walker and the Republicans who actually voted for Prosser on the issue of Gun Rights, you would hold a better argument. Shocking, I know. But they often don’t have time for television and often just read what they get in the mail. Gun rights? Hell yeah!
Why else do you think that Outagamie County went for Prosser yet at the sametime made a Democrat a County Executive?
But considering you live in Waukesha County, in your own bubble of reality — I’m not sure if you’re aware of that. But hey, you’re the land of a thousand excuses, I’m sure you can pull one out.
I can admit that Kloppenburg lost. There’s frankly no way she won it in my personal opinion. I’m just waiting to see the ‘real’ number– and I’m just absolutely amazed at the incompetence of Waukesha County compared to the rest of the state. How many broken seals, how many misprinted numbers, and how many have problems with Chain of Custody?
Wouldn’t it just be something that Prosser won in the end, but the people in Waukesha were so paranoid and partisan that they ended up do something to absolutely tarnish their County – either through crooked methods or incompetence?
One less for Republicans, one more for Democrats. One Democrat goes in, one Republican goes out. You can’t explain that! /O’Reilly
Kloppenburg coming within 2 votes a ward and causing a statewide recount (which has yet to be decided)was a huge win, against a sitting justice who had name recognition and beat her by over 30 points in the primary. He also outspent kloppenburg in the MILLIONS.
Then we go to LaCrosse, where doyle not only took over a seat held by republicans since the early 90’s, he also had to overcome the slime of Scooter “the felon” Jensen and Karl Rove’s misleading and outright lying ad campaign where they massively outspent Doyle. Doyle won handily!
Cindy admit it, the wave is coming…..when you are ready to jump on the bandwagon we have plenty of room.
I do love that “near win” optimism you guys can’t let go. *giggle*
“Near win” optimism?
Democrats winning a seat that had been occupied for 16 years by a Republican isn’t a “near win;” it’s an outright win.
one could say a clear and decisive win
The problem is many people thought they were “conservative” and voted for people that they also thought were “conservative”. then they had a taste of republican governance and did not like it at all. Hence the wave thats coming….
I like you Cindy, even with your turn to the far right recently, so I will save a seat for you!
No it was a wave that was totally hyped up by a minority in this state and has since settled down. Most people wouldn’t even support a recall of Scott Walker unless it was Russ Feingold or something. Give that at least another year and I don’t see him in trouble if that’s your final goal. Everyday that goes by this collective bargining thing keeps fading into the distance because nobody really cares but liberals. It’s not relavent in a moderates life. You guys had all the momentum in the supreme court race. Even conservatives thought you were and should have won that race but you didn’t.
I’ll leave most of what you had to say to Jeff, who responded to it just below.
I did want to address one particular thing that you said, though:
“You guys had all the momentum in the supreme court race. Even conservatives thought you were and should have won that race but you didn’t.”
Well, in the first place, Pete, with the recount under way, the outcome is still undetermined.
In the second, you’re right, Kloppenburg did have an astounding amount of momentum. That it hasn’t yet manifested itself in a victory for her, and even if it doesn’t ever do so, however, doesn’t change the fact that, because of “the wave”, she came from 30 percentage points behind and evened the playing field in the space of two short months.
Conservatives like you can crow all you want to about Kloppenburg’s failure to have won outright, but you’re setting yourself up for a pretty big fall. The real news is that she completely erased Prosser’s 30 point lead in the space of two months, coextensive with Snotty Scotty Walker’s grand overreach. Whether Kloppenburg ultimately wins or not is academic. If you want evidence of “the wave”. There it is. For that matter, take a look at the 6 to 3 advantage that Democrats ended up with in connection with the recall elections, further evidence that “the wave” is real.
Why not just sit back, and, instead of anxiously posting such comments in a fairly transparent effort to tamp down the fear that you actually feel that “the wave” is real, just wait and see how everything turns out.
Anyway, and as Jeff indicates below, “the wave” is most certainly real, and your fear, whether you are willing to admit to it or not, is justified.
I just don’t think that you’re going to be very happy with how everything does, in fact, turn out.
You just might want to leave the beach and try to find higher ground, Rich.
Daily Kos article by contributer Chris Bowers entitled, “Wisconsin Democrats pick up State Assembly sear in key recall district”:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2001/05/04/-Wisconsin-Democrats-pickup-state-Assembly-seat-in-key-recall-district
Read it and weep, Pete. . .Oh, AND get to higher ground. (*wink*)
Just so you don’t have to read between the lines, Pete, it means that Kapanke is probably going to go down. THAT is why this Democratic Party pick-up is SO significant.
Boy Pete you have NOT been paying attention have you?
http://www.forwardlookout.com/2011/04/we-are-winning/10212
I get what you’re saying Zach with it not being surprising that the Republicans held serve, and why it’s notable thay the Democrats gained a seat…but the post also came across a little funny, like:
Dems win one race anr it’s a big deal, Republicans win the other two races & it’s meaningless.
I don’t recall saying it was a “big deal;” I was simply pointing out that Democrats gained a seat in the Assembly as a result of last night’s elections. Certainly I’m encouraged by a gain, no matter how small, but you might not be.
To be honest, I don’t know that I really cared either way about any of those races. Didn’t know any of the candidates, so the results don’t really mean much to me.
Like I said, I get why it’s meaningful to you. Just thought it was kinda funny.
It’s a big deal because it’s a loss for the Republicans no matter how you spin it. Yes you can say that Republicans won the other two races, but that is also in the reddest counties. If the Republicans kept all seats, that would be big news and a victory for Republicans. Instead, what happened was boom – a Republican expected to win fell.
There is no double standard about it.
http://uppitywis.org/blogarticle/doyle-wins-dems-pick-assembly-seat-get-quorum-busting-numbers
H/T to Jud @ UppityWI….looks like this win was even bigger than I thought!
It also gives Dems the votes necessary to prevent a quorum on fiscal matters, which was a HUGE unstated fear by Republicans. As Rep. Litjens said recently, it was “imperative” that Republicans not lose the Huebsch seat:
One is imperative that we win… If we lose that seat, we might not be able to vote on the budget… so its imperative that win that.
This adds another dimension of difficulty for Republicans, who are threatening to insert the collective bargaining death sentence in the budget bill.