The left leaning Cheddarsphere and social media in Wisconsin are all a twitter after Mike Tate released his statement that Wisconsin voters don’t care about the allegations of a Walker controlled ” criminal scheme “contained in the John Doe II document dump. People are outraged that Tate would say such a thing, but the real outrage in Tate’s statement isn’t a seeming indifference to the allegations against Walker, but rather his remarks that the Burke campaign knocked on 3,000 doors. What’s outrageous about that?
In this particular instance Burke and Tate got it right. Last Saturday was supposed to be a statewide canvass reaching out to the drop-off voters Burke will need to win in November. We know there are plenty enough of them to defeat Walker, as evidenced by the Obama/Baldwin win in 2012. We also know that the single most effective method of persuading voters to come out is through face to face contact, hence the attempt by the Burke campaign to organize a canvass to find and talk to them.
The outrage here is that, relatively speaking, almost no one showed up to do the work. 3,000 doors? That’s it? Across the entire state? After 3 1/2 years of Scott Walker in office we can’t find enough canvassers to cover more than 3,000 doors across the entire state of Wisconsin? Now that’s outrageous.
We’ve got all kinds of people who are willing to sing songs in the rotunda, camp and pow wow in the Penokee Hills, stand on bridges with signs, post damning articles on facebook and the blogs, attend monthly party meetings, go to see a left leaning documentary film or hear a left leaning speaker at the local library, but no one wants to grab some flyers and talk to their neighbors about why it’s so very, very important to the future of Wisconsin that we defeat Scott Walker in November?
Forget about Tate, the DPW, Mary Burke, John Doe, whomever or whatever, for now. There’s nothing more important to the future of this state than defeating Scott Walker in November. Nothing. And if you’re too tired, too demoralized ( poor thing ) too busy, or just plain too squeamish to do the work necessary to defeat him, then we deserve him for another four years.
John Doe isn’t going to ride to our rescue in November. It’s going to be up to you and me. So I suggest we all get off of our asses and get at it. And after we’ve defeated Walker we can start talking about what to do with Mike Tate and Mary Burke.
I volunteered to help campaign for the person running as a D in my state congressional district when that candidate first announced, several months ago. Not a party member, so I’m not wanted, so I’m not privy to party business, activities or needs, not a party member and there are no public announcements seeking campaign support or even a schedule of the candidate’s upcoming appearances to schmooze with friends and mostly politically like minded people and the candidate, until yesterday an invitation to attend a $50 a plate function, during normal blue-collar working hours.
Not disputing anything you said about the importance of ousting Walker. But I’m still questioning whether or not the state or national D leadership really cares either way and I wonder who is pulling what strings. Walker is messaging Rove. Who is messaging state Dems? Who would Hillary most love to run against? Where did O put those walking shoes? Just saying, outside influence is not coming exclusively from right wing big money.
Not much talk about the financial manipulations exposed by Wikileaks not quite a week ago:
http://my.firedoglake.com/wendydavis/2014/06/19/breaking-wikileaks-publishes-19-pages-of-the-mega-tisa-secret-trade-agreement/
As a matter of personal environmental principles, I have not purchased any aluminum foil for over 15 years.
An addendum to my prior mention of potential Dem influence coming from outside the state, how could I have forgotten to mention the resume’ of Tanya Bjork? There is a search engine here just in case you may have missed prior links and discussions, dear readers.
Another example of how little influence the party has, perhaps? All the examples you cite are not affiliated with “the party” or “the campaign” so maybe a re-evaluation is in order. Issues are important to people and they’re willing to put effort into them. Wonder what ideas could come from that knowledge if anyone cared to diverge from the political status quo?
Steve, thanks. There’s much to like about your post and as always, I appreciate your loyalty to Dems and working people.
Prior to the 2012 Presidential, I had a Chicago teacher knock on my door here in Milwaukee. We had a good discussion.
IMHO, this goes back to the days when there were “precinct captains.” Under those “captains” Dems had someone on every block, who was getting the message out to working people. They knew who voted in each precinct and they knew what what the vote totals were in each precinct. That gave them some data about how effective those precinct captains were. People will open their door for a neighbor, someone they know. In 2014, asking someone to ring the doorbell of a stranger, even to do a literature drop is dangerous.
I have zero sympathy for Wisconsin Dems in 2014 w/r/t fundraising and GOTV (get-out-the-vote). All they have to do is come out in support for legalizing marijuana. That’s a media-friendly message that could deliver the state Senate and the Governor’s mansion. It would certainly help in the Assembly. It’s such a powerful message, the GOP might fold on it, just as they suddenly have on marriage equality.
I would never encourage anyone, who did not already have a serious illness, to use marijuana, but the prohibition against alcohol didn’t work either. The Milwaukee Police union, who will publicly endorse Walker will be very upset. 🙁
It’s easier to pay law enforcement’s wages and benefits, as well as those of the rest of the public sector workers, with the tax revenue from pot. That’s currently going to the drug cartels.
There are plenty of other reasons to work for Dems and vote for Dems, besides marijuana, but I don’t know of any other state issue that has such traction on right and left.
My guess is that the Wisconsin tourism industry is losing big dollars to Colorado. I think pot legalization could also jump start urban agriculture.
OK, I hogged a lot of this thread, a work at home day, today.
Steve, I remembered your last sentence above when I opened my mail and got the latest from PU PAC (my bold):
Your suggestion to decide what to do with Burke/Tate later, might just be a bit premature. Time enough to get a few more details of what it is exactly that she will strive to do if elected, in no uncertain terms. The least we should be asking? We’ve lived and learned or not?
Thanks for the post.
Check out John Oliver’s net neutrality rave from a couple of weeks ago – you should be able to access it from Salon. Classic. President Obama is at fault and so is Scotus. With effective campaign finance laws in place the President wouldn’t have to cave in to big business and preserve funding for Democratic candidates. In a perfect world, I’d love to understand in-depth Burke’s positions on any number of issues. In Fitzwalkerstan, I realize it’s better for the campaign to present a more impenetrable surface for now. I doubt very much she will be an across the board Progressive champion but she may turn the tide and pave the way for such a candidate after her administration. And that is will be a critical step forward.
Lois Lerner lost her emails because Bush treated the Internet like cable TV. Hahaha you guys eat this stuff up.
I cannot understand what Tate could be thinking. Do we want federally funded elections? What Walker might be charged with (if justice allows) is a crime resulting in “tax payer” funded elections if they aren’t charged and punished. If donors are allowed anonymity as well as tax write-offs then they have some simple rules they must follow. To do otherwise without penalties means WE pick up the slack from their ill begotten tax deductions.
I cannot understand what Tate could be thinking. Do we want federally funded elections? What Walker might be charged with (if justice allows) is a crime resulting in “tax payer” funded elections if they aren’t charged and punished. If donors are allowed anonymity as well as tax write-offs then they have some simple rules they must follow. To do otherwise without penalties means WE pick up the slack from their ill begotten tax deductions.