The Left Place at the Left Time
For an obscure Assistant Attorney General in a flyover state in a race no one would have noticed three months ago, there is no doubt the being in the right place at the right time made all the difference.
Joanne Kloppenburg, running for the Wisconin Supreme Court, beat the incumbent, Dave Prosser, by 204 votes out of approximately 1.6 million cast. (There will be a recount, and it is possible that Prosser could end up winning, but with all the votes unofficially tallied that's the way it is.)
Two months ago she lost to Prosser in a non-partisan primary by the impressive figure of 55% - 25%, earning the right to contest the runoff election by coming in a very distant second.
The win had almost nothing to do with Kloppenburg. While she has a completely plausible resume, defeating a two-term incumbent Supreme Court judge is almost unthinkable. This had everything to do with Scott Walker, the Governor of Wisconsin, Prosser himself, who made, shall we say politely, some really, really stupid comments about his relationship with other Supreme Court Justices and with Walker, and with the State Legislature, which rammed through Walker's union-busting legislation in apparent procedural violation of Wisconsin's Constitution.
In short, people were mad as hell, and instead of taking it any more they did something about it. Actists realized that this election could be turned into a referendum on Walker and the Legislature. From phone calls to canvassing to demonstrations to media ads, the doers drove participation in the election up from the usual 20% of registered voters to approximately 40% of registered voters. One ward in Madison voted 97% - 3% against Walker Prosser (and, incidently, for Kloppenburg).
Now the battle for Wisconsin moves to recall drives and subsequent recall elections for State Senators. Democrats are trying to recall up to eight Republican Senators (although only six are in danger). It would take the defeat of three of them to swing the State Senate from Republican control back to Democratic control, at which point, given the intensity of the political battle, Walker's agenda would effectively be rendered impotent.
One such recall petition has already been submitted, in a State Senate district which Kloppenburg won by 20%. In the next few weeks most people expect (especially in light of today's results) that recall petitions will be filed in most of the other districts. (To force a recall, you need to collect signatures totally 25% of the previous gubernatorial vote in the Senate district, which means somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 valid signatures of registered voters in the district; not a trivial feat).
The Left believes that in the snows of Wisconsin they have found the antidote to the Tea Party. Whether this will prove wishful thinking or astute observation we're probably not going to know until election night, 2012.
Joanne Kloppenburg, running for the Wisconin Supreme Court, beat the incumbent, Dave Prosser, by 204 votes out of approximately 1.6 million cast. (There will be a recount, and it is possible that Prosser could end up winning, but with all the votes unofficially tallied that's the way it is.)
Two months ago she lost to Prosser in a non-partisan primary by the impressive figure of 55% - 25%, earning the right to contest the runoff election by coming in a very distant second.
The win had almost nothing to do with Kloppenburg. While she has a completely plausible resume, defeating a two-term incumbent Supreme Court judge is almost unthinkable. This had everything to do with Scott Walker, the Governor of Wisconsin, Prosser himself, who made, shall we say politely, some really, really stupid comments about his relationship with other Supreme Court Justices and with Walker, and with the State Legislature, which rammed through Walker's union-busting legislation in apparent procedural violation of Wisconsin's Constitution.
In short, people were mad as hell, and instead of taking it any more they did something about it. Actists realized that this election could be turned into a referendum on Walker and the Legislature. From phone calls to canvassing to demonstrations to media ads, the doers drove participation in the election up from the usual 20% of registered voters to approximately 40% of registered voters. One ward in Madison voted 97% - 3% against Walker Prosser (and, incidently, for Kloppenburg).
Now the battle for Wisconsin moves to recall drives and subsequent recall elections for State Senators. Democrats are trying to recall up to eight Republican Senators (although only six are in danger). It would take the defeat of three of them to swing the State Senate from Republican control back to Democratic control, at which point, given the intensity of the political battle, Walker's agenda would effectively be rendered impotent.
One such recall petition has already been submitted, in a State Senate district which Kloppenburg won by 20%. In the next few weeks most people expect (especially in light of today's results) that recall petitions will be filed in most of the other districts. (To force a recall, you need to collect signatures totally 25% of the previous gubernatorial vote in the Senate district, which means somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 valid signatures of registered voters in the district; not a trivial feat).
The Left believes that in the snows of Wisconsin they have found the antidote to the Tea Party. Whether this will prove wishful thinking or astute observation we're probably not going to know until election night, 2012.