www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/organ...ion-to-recall-gov-walker-in-wisconsin.html?hp is walker the next Gray Davis?
As I remember, the recall Gray Davis campaign got over 1.6 million signatures. But of course California has a larger population than Wisconsin.
Yep. California's population in 2000 was 33 million (it's over 37 million now), Wisconsin's population in 2010 was 5.7 million. Also, Walker was elected with 1.1 million votes, Davis had 4.9 million votes. It only gets crazier from here, I'm sure.
Time for OWS to mimic. Consciousness raised, check. Slogan disseminated, check. Now organize, target your enemies, and get them recalled/defeated.
Sure, but the important difference here is the folks of Wisconsin had an individual to target and had a legal avenue in attempting to get rid of him. For OWS, it's unclear who the target would be and questionable whether there is a similar avenue to rid whoever that person or people may be.
Funny, it would seem that OWS should recognize their "target" as their elected officials who participate in receiving corporate funding for writing/supporting favorable legislation to "Wall Street" and either convince them to reverse that and enable legislation to restrict corporate funding in politics or vote them out for people who will. But far be it from me to tell a bunch of disaffected fucks what they should have learned in 6th grade civics
Quick note about Cali and its relation to the current state of the GOP primaries all over the country, both federal and local elections: For a host of reasons -- like Prop 187's blatant attacks on immigrants/Latinos and the ensuing loss of conservative and moderate Latinos plus the fact that California's primaries are closed (so no independent moderates can counter-balance the extreme right) -- California's GOP is impotent in statewide elections b/c the ultra right wing insists on candidates that would be considered really conservative in places like Utah and Nebraska, so when they reach the statewide level, they're friggin' toast... The ONLY way that the GOP could finagle a Reep in a high position was to circumvent the ruinous primary system. They saw an opening, and went after it. Right now, the former governor of thee most conservative state in the union was considered too moderate for today's GOP. In. Sane.
This won't help Walker's case much: Wisconsin lost 3,900 private-sector jobs in December "Wisconsin unexpectedly lost private-sector jobs in December for the sixth consecutive month, the same months in which the nation added private-sector jobs." And on the subject of who might run against Walker: Crowded primary could precede recall
The debates were hilarious. Especially Arianna Huffington vs Arnold exchanges. Arianna: "Arnold, it is completely impolite, the way you treat women" Arnold: "I just realized I have the perfect part for you in Terminator IV"
Each party gets to choose an opponent to go up against Walker in the recall election. If there is more than one candidate, the party will have a primary to choose which one will go up against Walker. (This is different than the California recall, where anyone who ponied up $10K or whatever it was could get their name on the ballot.) So far, there is one Democrat (Kathleen Falk) who has officially announced that she is in the recall race, but there will likely be more.
I can say that I am happy to be 1 of the million to sign. Though I am not a real Wisconsinite cause I live in Madison. Others will get into the race. Hoping Falk won't win. Has already lost twice statewide and while popular with the unions, she isn't that popular in Dane County (Madison) where you need a huge difference in votes to counteract the crazy Milwaukee suburbs. Falk's last race for Dane County Exec I think she only had 59% of the vote against a person that said something like "I got through school with a pencil and paper, I don't think they need computers."
Walker has raised even more money than he did in 2010 (which was a record amount) - 60+% from out-of-state. It's apparent someone wants him in office, but it's not Wisconsinites ... Wisconsinians? .... Wisconsians? People from Wisconsin!
Apparently there's a law that the incumbent can raise and accept unlimited funds from anyone up until the new election begins. The guy who funded the Swift Boaters already contributed six figures to Walker.
It's official: Recall elections ordered for Walker, Kleefisch, 4 GOP senators Let's Get It On Recall primary elections are expected to be held on May 8, followed by a June 5 general election.
Today is election day. Things are looking good for Walker. Sigh. Helps when you outspend your opponent like 7 to 1. Fingers crossed but I would guess that a 2-3 pt win for the Tea Party favorite.
The main reason he may survive the recall is because law they passed that caused this ruckus in the first place has done exactly what they'd intended for it to do: Reduce union membership dramatically. Less membership, less money, less get out the vote. More GOP win, now and always... This is the recipe for the destruction of democracy in America, ladies and gentlemen. Add a side of Michigan and you've got a permanent buffet for the rich paid for at the expense of the masses.
Yes and no. Now that it is no longer mandatory to pay union dues, many have decided to opt out. Obviously there's nothing stopping teachers/other workers from paying those dues if they so choose. But it's not really fair to blame the law for the disparity in fundraising, as union contributions generally only make up a slice of campaign donations. In addition, most of it hasn't taken affect yet, because the workers can only opt out when their contract expires. There hasn't been enough time for the law to have a significant financial impact. The real reason for the disparity is that most of Walker's funding is coming from out of state and there doesn't seem to be a real national Democratic effort behind this, especially from the President. Don't ask me why though, I'm not entirely sure myself.