Mary, Mary, ------ Why Ya Pollin?

By Jeff Simpson

Madison School Board member Mary Burke is the first to be considering a run for Governor against Scott Walker.

The most interesting news so far about the looming 2014 governor's race was Associated Press reporter Scott Bauer's scoop that Wisconsin Democrats have been poll-testing a run by Madison's Mary Burke. Within a day of the Dems' telephone poll, Bauer reports, someone registered six Internet domain names with different combinations of the words "governor" and "Mary Burke."

My initial thoughts - 1.  I hope they are not using a polling firm from the last two years.  That did not work out too well.  2.  If they have enough money to poll Mary Burke for Governor they must be loaded and have no need of money from you or I. (Personal Note here - IF you want to know what people think, get out and talk to them, NOT JUST the party faithful.  There are hundreds of activists, willing to work tirelessly knocking on doors etc, that have really nothing to do with the internal Democratic party and had zero interest in attending the (insiders only) convention.   Instead of paying to poll, fill your tank up and go talk to them.While I do not agree with everything in this post, there is a reason she wrote it!)

In our great democracy, I think it is great when anyone runs for office, so I welcome her run, even if she is a very flawed candidate. As my colleagues at Forward Lookout point out here and here). I will not even get into the fact that the one quote you can find of her's is wanting to cut teacher pay(which gave righty extremist and former state worker Dave Blaska a thrill up his leg.)   (Edit note - when your quotes make Blaska giddy, your probably NOT going to turn out the progressive base.)

The problem with this Burke candidacy, is the infatuation of money.   The sudden love affair with Mary Burke and the fact that she could finance her own run, are not coincidental.   The problem with that is when has that been successful?   Ron Johnson self financed Pacur financed Ron Johnson's successful run for Senate  and his lack of intelligence and emotional curiosity, combined with his poor speaking skills,  embarrasses himself and our state on an almost daily basis.   Chris Abele, self financed his run for County Executive and that led to a complete dictatorial takeover of the County Government!  Herb Kohl self financed his runs, also and while a nice guy, he had a very average Senatorial career to go along with running a mediocre basketball team!

When Dick Morris embraces the idea, its usually a very bad idea! 

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:10

 2014 is an incredibly important year, Scott Walker has been a miserable failure in his two plus years of running our state.  We have plummeted in jobs, wages, test scores and consumer confidence, businesses are closing at an alarming rate,  we have Rambo wanna-be's hired by payday loan operators roaming our pristine Northwoods and the only thing they have accomplished under his reign is to arrest people for chalking and trying to end safe abortions(edit note- His even failed in both of these instances.  Walker can not even get this right).  

Under Scott Walker, the only categories we lead the nation in are - Out of State fundraising trips by a seated Governor(on the taxpayer dime) and easiest Governor to buy!  Unfortunately for the citizens of Wisconsin, while he pads his right wing resume, the people suffer. 

As Paul Fanlund recently pointed out, the high road is WIDE open in 2014.  However, I would also point out so is the ethical road, the competent road, the education road, the honest road, the jobs road, the business road, the lets treat women like equals road, the lets give the LGBT community equal rights road, the environmental road, the moderate road, the small government road, the progressive road, the bipartisan road, the 21st century technology road, I do not let out of state billionaires dictate my policy road,  the worker's rights road, the follow Jesus's Teachings road, the economic development road, ...you get the drift.  All of these are paths to success, just waiting for someone to take them!

Scott Walker is immeasurably well funded and immensely beatable.  

So where do we go from here?

We need a few different candidates to start throwing their hats in the ring(and Mary Burke is more than welcome).  We also need the party to stay away!  (By "party" I refer to not only the state Democratic party but also party leadership (Barca/Larson and all of their lieutenants)).  The republican party tells their people who the candidates are (see Westlake, Dave) not the Dem party.  We win when we are different from them, not when we are like them.

For instance, how many party insiders would be scared to run Chris Taylor because she used to work for Planned Parenthood?  and how silly would that be?  

Let's let a few different candidates run and let the people decide.  There is plenty of time that if a few people jumped in now things would sort themselves out in due time.   Let the candidates get out and meet the people and take their message all over the state(see Baldwin, Tammy).  As John Nichols points out, SOMEONE needs to get out there and start meeting voters! 

So where do we go from here?

1.  Talk to your favorite candidate via email and/ or phone call and tell them to RUN for Governor.


2.  To help save the Democrats money, let's give the party our own poll for free - Contact Mike Tate (its not hard to find his email) at  - 

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin · MikeT@wisdems.org

110 King Street, Suite 203 · Madison, WI 53703

(608) 255-5172 (voice) • (608) 255-8919 (fax)

tell him A.  How you feel about Mary Burke running (yes, no or who?) and secondly leave the name of your preferred candidate!

3.  Leave a comment here on the same.

2014 is coming and we need to be prepared!



  

Wiggy Needs an Editor!

We all know that the blog Wigderson's Pub is written with no regards for the facts and is appropriately named because it is written with the same fantasy aspects as a drunk in the bar telling a story.   One piece was particularly laughable, his "interview" with Eric Hovde.   It appears with the glowing recommendation and lack of reality that Wiggy is applying for a job with Eric Hovde, instead of reporting reality.  

Let's take look at a few highlights:

Hovde is running for the Republican nomination to replace retiring Sen. Herb Kohl. There are three other strong candidates in the race: former Gov. Tommy Thompson, Speaker of the Assembly Jeff Fitzgerald, and former congressman Mark Neumann.

 Let's see we have ancient Tommy Thompson, who can not even remember the date of 9/11,  homophobe, bigot professional jobber Mark Neumann, and former assemblyman Jeff Fitzgerald, of the suck off the taxpayer teat Fitzgerald Family, who has also raised a total of .36 cents for his campaign.  If this is a strong field, I would be interested to see what a weak field looks like. Wait I found a perfect example! 

 Thompson is the favorite in the race

Tommy G Thompson finished a very distant fourth in the endorsement vote at the Wisconsin state republican convention.    This beats last year's when he was not allowed to attend.  

 Hovde says that what separates him out from the other candidates is his private-sector background. Unlike the other candidates, Hovde says, he is not a career politician.

Unlike the other candidates, Hovde does not live in Wisconsin.  

 “We’re dealing with an economic crisis. As I say to people, when you get a brain tumor you’re going to want the best brain surgeon you can find. If you’ve got a heart ailment, you’re going to want the best heart doctor you can find.

 So Hovde Supports Obamacare!!!!! 

 “If you’re having an economic crisis, you’re going to want (someone) that can understand the economy inside and out, and how to deal with these issues.”

 Oops, Hovde just pointed out why he is immensely unqualifed to be the next WI senator.

Lack of ethics. Lack of morals. The culture turns bad.

 Interesting Hovde, can't stand Robin Vos either.  

A lot of Republican establishment guys complain about the tea party movement,” he said. “It saved the Republican Party, because it pulled (the party) back to what it’s supposed to be about.”

Now it is just getting weird, according to Hovde, if the "tea party" is what the republican party is supposed to be about, then that means the republican party stands for HATE, badly misspelled signs and really ugly American flag shirts!

This is not a replay of 2010, when businessman Ron Johnson filled a vacuum. This time around, Republicans have a choice between some very substantial candidates.

Umm Ron Johnson is as smart as a vacuum and Wiggy just spit on the memory and hard work of Dave Westlake!   









 

Republicans Endorse Neumann, Westlake

Today, Team Neumann issued a press release claiming that they received the endorsement from the Republican Liberty Caucus of Wisconsin. Following the link in the press release, one sees that they RLC-WI also endorsed Dave Westlake for Senate.

At best, they could be considered backhanded endorsements, especially when one considers this blurb:

In our view, neither of these two candidates is perfect. In fact, neither would likely be comfortable calling themselves libertarian Republicans. Perhaps they would consider themselves Constitutionalists. In any case, these are the best candidates Wisconsin has to offer for U.S. Senate and for Governor in 2010. We think our slate of candidates will radically reduce government waste and increase freedom in the state of Wisconsin. If you agree, please consider becoming a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus.

But even has tempered an endorsement as these might be, they also picked up on the machinations of the power brokers of the Republican Party:

First, in principle we oppose the Republican Party of Wisconsin making pre-emptive endorsements prior to the primary. They did so in both the Gubernatorial race and the U.S. Senate race. The Wisconsin Republican Party’s pre-primary endorsements were inappropriate for several reasons:

• They are directing money and resources to candidates prior to allowing primary voters to weigh in;

• The state GOP clearly picked its favorites and was working to help their favorites even before the state GOP Convention;

• Winning is not as important as vigorously protecting free and fair elections. Selling out on principle to win has not yielded positive results for the Republican Party in the past;

• Pre-primary endorsements discourage Republicans from donating to the Republican Party of Wisconsin; after all, if you donated to them to help build the Republican Party and they are funding the candidate you did not want them to fund, it doesn’t appear that your money is being put to good use.

This kind of takes away from Team Walker trying to gainsay the legitimacy of Neumann's campaign and puts his own in the shadow of doubt.

When one considers that this group claims to be part of the forces that brought in the Republican wave in 1994 with the Contract on for America, the fact that they are not very keen on either Scott Walker or Ron Johnson should put a trickle of concern down their backs, as well as those of the would be king makers.

Wall Sees The Writing On The Wall

I have received word that Terrence Wall has seen the writing on the wall and will be formally announcing that he is dropping out of the race to see who will have the honor of losing to Senator Russ Feingold in November.

At the time of this writing, I do not know what made Wall decide to drop out.

Perhaps he realized that he doesn't have the GOP Machine's support after getting his clock cleaned at last weekend's Republicanfest. (Johnson has said he is willing to drop several millions of his own dollars into the race, which was probably music to the ears of the cash-strapped Republicans.)

Perhaps he realized that if he was going to cost him a lot of pumpkins to run against Ron Johnson.

Perhaps he saw the footage of Ron Johnson's thuggery and felt intimidated.

Whatever the reason, when Wall hits the wall, that will leave just old man Johnson trying to buy his way to Washington or Dave "Orange T-Shirt" Westlake.

In other words, a rich mad hatter or a poor Republican, going up against Team Feingold.

My money is on Feingold.

But I Don't Wear Orange...

Jason and the crowd at Drinking Liberally are continuing with their threat of bringing an outsider into our midst.

This came in the mail sometime while I was gone:

Gather round, my lefty folk, come hear the tale of the tea partier who ventured into Milwaukee realm. The one who came, Westlake was his name, and into the land of beer and progressives he roamed. Over taxes and healthcare he groaned, under entitlement and non-discrimination he moaned, when really, there was no threat he'd be disowned. For it's nothing like what he'd been shown(ed).

(Rest assured we don't speak in verse at Drinking Liberally. Or anything remotely like it. And it may be telling that this meesage was composed *without* the aid of beer...)

Let me shove aside my rare (rare?) case of bad writing and give you the details:

Drinking Liberally
Wed. April 21, 7-9PM
@ Sugar Maple, 441 E. Lincoln Ave., Milwaukee

Special guest Dave Westlake, G.O.P./Tea Party candidate for U.S. Senate, who's hoping to challenge U.S. Senator Russ Feingold in November.

*** NOTE: A Republican-Tea Party candidate need to be treated gently. Pregnant women, the elderly, and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to them. Do not taunt the candidate. If the candidate begins to emit smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head. Failure to do so relieves the organizer of Drinking Liberally Milwaukee, and its parent group, Living Liberally, of any and all liability. ***

Fine print aside, let's give Dave Westlake a warm welcome. I think this will be a good conversation for all of us. Look at his info at www.davewestlake.org, and bring your questions. This will be good!

Your cordial host,

Jason Haas

Ah, well, we welcome Nick Schweitzer to these, and Westlake is not nearly as goofy. Close, but not quite.

Feingold vs. The Three Stooges and the Boogie Man

If people were wondering why I haven't written much about the race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Senator Russ Feingold, well, there are a couple, three of reasons.

One is that many other bloggers, like Zach Wisnewski at Blogging Blue, Jim Arndt at Pretty Important Politics, Bill Christofferson at Uppity Wisconsin and the whole crew at One Wisconsin Now have been doing an admirable job. I don't see any reason for me to just repeat them.

Secondly, I have my old pal Scott Walker to focus on, and given my position in life, I have the ability to give an unique point of view and some information that can get lost in the shuffle.

The third reason I haven't written about the race is because I don't see it being much of a race so far.

Feingold is pretty well set, in my humble opinion. Despite the squawkings of the usual suspects on talk radio and the right wing echo chamber, I don't think many people have much against Feingold. He has always done what he had thought was the best for the state and for the country. And even when people disagreed with him, some quite vehemently, he continued with his listening sessions all over the state, despite the vitriolic rhetoric people threw at him.

Besides Feingold's track record, he doesn't have much in the way of competition.

One potential opponent is Terrrence "I don't pay taxes" Wall whose tax-dodging skills are only matched by his propensity to put his foot in his mouth.

Another potential candidate for the right is Dave "Orange T-shirt" Westlake, who cannot raise any money or gain any traction, even with his campaign gimmicks. Although to be fair, Westlake is coming to Drinking Liberally this month, so he has that much going for him.

The most recent candidate to throw his hat into the Republican three ring circus is Dick Leinenkugel, recently of the Doyle administration. Not only have the right wingers started to attack him immediately for having worked with Doyle (so much for their mewling about bipartisanship) but he has come out of the blocks only to land flat on his face by listing his former state work phone number as his campaign contact number. This is obviously a problem for him since it's a no-no to use state property for campaigning. Even more telling is that he resigned from that position before starting his campaign, so even if he could use that number, he won't be there to get any calls.

But enough of the stooges. Not even the usual right wing suspects are paying them much attention, unless they are bored and need someone to taunt.

The one person that the right wing his hanging their senatorial hopes on is a guy who isn't running. Yes, folks, I refer to the one and only TOMMY!!, aka Tommy "Stick it to 'em" Thompson, aka the real Tommy the Taxer. The Tommy Thompson that showed up at the Green Bay Packer's celebration of their first Superbowl win in thirty year drunk as a skunk.

I hope that, for their sakes, they aren't holding too much hope out for Tommy. I don't think he will be running for a number of reasons:

• He wouldn't want to take the pay cut,
• He has always wanted to be the center of attention. He wouldn't get that as just one of a hundred Senators,
• He wouldn't want to try to explain all the lobbyists hanging on him, and
• If he were going to run, Leinenkugel wouldn't have chosen to run, since they are family. This would indicate that Leinenkugel knew Tommy wasn't running.

I might start writing more if the race became competitive, but right now, I think Feingold's team and my cohorts on the left side of the Cheddarsphere have it pretty well covered.