Wisconsin Dems Need 3 Seats To Take Back State Senate. They Have 2... But Vote Thief Kathy Nickolaus Is Holding Back 10 Precincts In Waukesha Co.

Today was supposed to be an accountability day for native fascists who have infiltrated and taken over the Wisconsin Republican Party-- as well as Republican Parties all over the country. Scott Walker's unrelenting class warfare against working families and against democracy itself was responded to by massive grassroots organizing and an unprecedented get out the vote effort. Before the polls closed in Wisconsin, another special election in New Hampshire was won by a Democrat:

"Bob Perry's victory tonight is a complete and total rejection of Republican House Speaker Bill O'Brien's reckless job killing agenda. In a historically Republican district, New Hampshire voters turned out in the middle of summer to send a loud and clear message to the out of control Republican majority. Its relentless attempts to make cigarettes cheaper but college more expensive, slash women's health care, and kill jobs by taxing hospitals must stop immediately.



"New Hampshire voters have seen enough of the radical Free State agenda this year with bills that would allow guns in schools and courts, would remove support for our United States' Constitution out of the oath of office, and would eliminate public kindergarten."

At 8pm local time the polls closed in the 6 Republican Wisconsin senate district seats. AP called it for Republican incumbents in the 2 reddest districts right off the bat: Cowles and Harsdorf, and Fred Clark ran strong against Luther Olsen but missed out. So to win back the state Senate Democrats Sandy Pasch, Jennifer Shilling and Jessica King all needed victories. Shilling was the first Democrat to win, with a 55-45% victory, with big wins in La Crosse and Richland. Soon after, Jessica King beat Randy Hopper thanks to voters in Winnebago who gave victories to Ron Johnson and Scott Walker last year coming to their senses this year. Early on I saw that the uber-corrupt Republican machine in Waukesha-- where stealing elections is what they do as a matter of course-- was holding back 10 precincts there in case Alberta Darling needed them in her close race with Sandy Pasch. Pasch is way ahead and I'll update that race as soon as the results are in. Why Kathy Nickolaus isn't in prison is an affront to democracy.



This morning Greg Sargent started the day by telling Wisconsin activists what they had already achieved. "Dems and labor," he wrote "have already succeeded in one sense: They reminded us that it’s possible to build a grass roots movement by effectively utilizing the sort of unabashed and bare-knuckled class-based populism that makes many of today’s national Dems queasy."



As Chris Bowers pointed out yesterday at Kos, the path the pushback against fascism took in Wisconsin was an especially steep one. These 6 districts are not exactly Democratic-friendly territory.

1. Despite narrowly winning Wisconsin in 2004, John Kerry lost five of these districts. In our top two target districts, currently held by Luther Olsen and Randy Hopper, Kerry lost by 13 percent and 15 percent, respectively.



2. Obama won Wisconsin by 14 percent, but only won one of these six districts by more than 4 percent. Outside of Kapanke's district, even during a landslide, the best Obama could do was 50-52 percent.



3. In addition to these being difficult districts, recalls themselves are extremely difficult. In the entire history of the United States, only 13 state legislators have been ever recalled. Nationwide. Ever. We are trying to pull off three or more in a few months.



4. Finally, while Democrats had a monetary advantage when Obama edged McCain in these districts three years ago, thanks to Citizens United now we are getting outspent. Daily Kos commenter Korkenzieher, who lives in one of the recall districts, explains what the monetary advantage buys for the other side:

Anyway, you wouldn't believe the shitstorm of blatant lies they're hurling at Pasch. She hates veterans. She hates children. She hates the whole community, except, of course, for illegal aliens. These are ads being run on every media outlet in Milwaukee, and this is just for one race in the Milwaukee suburbs. Now consider how much cheaper it'd be to run those same ads in small-town, northwoods or dairy farm Wisconsin. Honestly, Wisconsin is always a battleground state in presidential elections, and the stuff being thrown at Pasch alone exceeds anything the wingnuts threw at Clinton, Gore, Kerry or Obama in the last few presidential elections. It has an effect. It confuses people.

UPDATE: Vote Tampering In Waukesha... Again



Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Mike Tate following evidence of election tampering in the 8th State Senate District race: "The race to determine control of the Wisconsin Senate has fallen in the hands of the Waukesha County clerk, who has already distinguished herself as incompetent, if not worse. She is once more tampering with the results of a consequential election and in the next hours we will determine our next course of action. For now, Wisconsin should know that a dark cloud hangs over these important results."



UPDATE TO THE UPDATE



Tate's changed his mind about taking vote thief Kathy Nickolaus to court! He issued this disappointing statement:

"Though we believe that Sandy Pasch was able to battle Alberta Darling to a virtual tie, on her turf, we will not pursue questions of irregularities. Those heat-of-the-moment statements came in light of the uncertainties that arose from a recent election, known too well.



The fact of the matter remains, that, fighting on Republican turf, we have begun the work of stopping the Scott Walker agenda."

AFTER TONIGHT'S SPECIAL REPORT, "WOODY ALLEN TONIGHT"

RETURNS TOMORROW WITH PART 1 OF "DEATH KNOCKS"

(Barring unforeseen circumstances, of course!)

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Paul Ryan-- Not Just A Self Server, But An Ignorant Self Server

...Lining his own pockets-- dining at one of the sleaziest lobbyist joints in DC (Bistro Bis) and swilling some fancypants $350 bottles of Jayer-Gilles 2004 Echezeaux Grand Cru (the most expensive wine on the restaurant's rip-off menu). He claims the two unidentified lobbyists he was drinking the $700 worth of wine with are "economists" but he refuses to give their names and he quickly paid for one of the pricey bottles when he was confronted by someone who recognized him. Says he won't do it again... But, of course, this is the same Paul Ryan who told constituents subsidies for oil companies should be ended just a few days before voting against ending them. Is he a pathological liar? His voting record, going back over a decade certainly attests to that.

Perhaps what Ryan and the two lobbyists "economists" [one has now been identified as one of the most predatory and ruthless hedge fund managers anywhere-- and a notorious Koch-head] were toasting was the gargantuan haul his reelection campaign had just taken in from special interests eager to express their thanks for his willingness to toss middle class Wisconsin working families under the bus to benefit... well, his own wealthy campaign contributors, the kinds of people who drink a couple bottles of Echezeaux Grand Cru with dinner. Mike Tate, chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party isn't one of those people. And he wasn't celebrating Ryan's latest haul either.

"With Paul Ryan having already taken more health insurance money than any politician in Wisconsin history and already in the pocket of Wall Street bankers, we now see massive fundraising totals coming for the 7-term Washington insider. But all the money in the world can't and won't redeem his immoral plan to end Medicare. When 2012 comes around, the seniors and working families of southeastern Wisconsin will pour to the polls and vote not on the size of Ryan's bank roll-but on a rotten agenda that asks seniors to give up the historic guarantee of health care so that millionaires and billionaires can cravenly share less in the burdens that keep America strong."

I'd like to think he's right but Republicans in the southern Milwaukee suburbs and especially in southern Waukesha County have been electing outright fascists and reactionary bums like Joe McCarthy, Scott Walker, John Schafer, Ron Johnson and, of course, Ryan. Replacing Paul Ryan with Democrat Rob Zerban is something we should all think about contributing to-- except those of us who don't find it appalling that Ryan continues to support massive taxpayer subsidies for some of the world’s most profitable companies-- as well as the biggest polluters-- while so many middle-class American families are hurting in this down economy.

Paul Krugman doesn't suffer Ryan gladly and early on pointed out that he has absolutely nothing of any value to offer in any debates about the economy or about fiscal policy. In fact we're coming up on the one year anniversary of Krugman letting NY Times readers know that "the Ryan plan is a fraud that makes no useful contribution to the debate over America’s fiscal future." Yesterday he got down into the fiscal weeds on a topic Ryan's been doing a lot of spouting on-- ignorant, misleading spouting, as it turns out: interest rates.

The Very Serious position has been that government borrowing will drive up rates, crowd out private investment, and impede recovery. A Keynes-Hicks analysis, by contrast, says that when you’re in a liquidity trap, even large government borrowing won’t drive up rates — and hence won’t crowd out private investment. In fact, it will promote private investment by raising capacity utilization and giving firms more reason to expand.

What we usually get in response to this seemingly decisive data are a series of excuses-- most recently, that rates were low because the Fed was buying all the bonds. Well, that program has ended, and interest rates are still low.

But wait: the crowding out types have another answer, namely, to just ignore the facts.

Which, brings us, as it so often does, right to Janesville dunce, Paul Ryan. As usual, he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about and as usual, the House Budget Committee chairman's got it all ass backwards: "Stop corny crony capitalism in the regulatory state, get spending under control to show that we’re getting our borrowing under control so we take pressure off the interest rates, reform the taxes. And our budget says, through base boarding, getting rid of loopholes in exchange for lowering rates, have a top tax rate of 25 percent so we’re more globally competitive, a tutorial system on corporations and sound money, sound monetary policy so our dollar maintains its reliable store of value. Those four foundations, real sensible regulatory system, spending cuts and controls to get our debt under control, sound money and tax reform, those are the things I think we need to do, the foundations for economic growth. There’s no excuse to do something else or there’s no substitute for it. This Keynesian borrow, spend and tax isn’t working and it won’t work." Wrong, wrong, wrong... and you can use those three words to sum up most of what Ryan has had to say about the economy and about fiscal policy since the small town p.r. hack who never had an honest job in his entire life declared himself an economic expert.

Don't forget... laughing at Ryan-- or even hating him-- isn't going to defeat him and it isn't going to elect Rob Zerban. Can you help?



UPDATE... From Mike Tate

You can always count on the Wisconsin Democratic Party chair for a good quote:

"It is obscene that Paul Ryan is drinking $350 bottles of wine with the very hedge fund managers who will profit at the same time Ryan is asking working families in Wisconsin to do less with less. Forget about the ethical questions of just who picked up the tab for this bacchanalia-- which Ryan still must answer-- it is flatly immoral for him to seek cutbacks by the middle class at the same time his hedge fund manager friends are getting more breaks that will allow them to buy even more pricey wines. While Wisconsin's middle class suffers, Paul Ryan's class celebrates."