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I’ve already discussed the road ahead for the Wisconsin recall election a bit. But now that we have the actual figures, it’s truly incredible. Organizers in Wisconsin collected over one MILLION signatures to recall Scott Walker, doubling what was necessary. They did this in under two months. This approaches the number of votes Walker received in the 2010 election, and it’s a much higher bar to find people and have them sign their name than it is to get them to show up at a defined polling place.
Today’s submission in Madison, the capital, will escalate a partisan war that has raged 11 months and divided a state with a history of progressive politics. Voters ousted two senators in August who voted for Walker’s collective-bargaining curbs, and now the governor, lieutenant governor and four Republican state senators face possible removal votes in the second or third quarter.
The million people favoring a recall election for Walker compares with the 1.1 million votes that elected him in 2010 [...]
Democrats and union members also collected about 850,000 signatures to recall Republican Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and 20,600 names to recall Senator Scott Fitzgerald, about 4,200 more than necessary. Also targeted are Senators Pam Galloway, Terry Moulton and Van Wanggaard.
Overall, you had 1.9 million signatures turned in today. Wisconsin has a population of 5.7 million. Obviously there’s some overlap, but just looking at the Walker recall, almost one out of every five people in the state of Wisconsin signed a piece of paper saying they wanted to kick out Scott Walker before his term ended. John Nichols is right when he says that this is the greatest popular democracy movement in Wisconsin history.
There is still a race to be run. But this recall drive is the greatest popular democracy movement in Wisconsin history, and one of the greatest challenges to political power in American history.
The signals could not be stronger. The Wisconsin democracy movement is real.
And Scott Walker should be afraid, very afraid, of the opposition he has unleashed in a state that is prepared to defend its rights and its future.
Walker is definitely well-equipped with millions in cash to defend himself. And there’s the matter of selecting a candidate. Tom Barrett, the Milwaukee mayor and 2010 gubernatorial opponent, has an edge in the first primary polling available, over Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, state Senator Tim Cullen and longtime former Congressman David Obey. But as I wrote earlier, unions may have a problem with Barrett, so that race probably remains wide-open for now. And nobody has actually announced as a candidate.
For the moment, then, we can just savor the incredible activism involved here. The Recall Fitz campaign is perhaps the best example of this. Originally state Democrats wanted only to try recalls of Galloway, Moulton and Wanggaard, seen as coming from districts most likely to flip. Fitzgerald’s district is strongly Republican, and the state didn’t want to invest in a recall. But some local activists were relentless and determined, and mainly through volunteer efforts, they got the 20,600 signatures, 4,200 more than needed, for the recall. That just shows you the power of the democracy movement in Wisconsin.
Andy Kroll has a bunch more, including this great quote:
But Walker recall organizers say the staggering number of signatures amounts to a mandate to get Walker and Kleefisch out of office. “The collection of more than one million signatures represents a crystal clear indication of how strong the appetite is to stop the damage and turmoil that Scott Walker has caused Wisconsin,” said Ryan Lawler, an official with United Wisconsin.
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Fun with numbers. According to the US Census, 76.4% of the Wisconsin population are over 18 years, thus 4.3 million Wisconsin voters. With a million signatures, 25% of the voting population “signed a piece of paper saying they wanted to kick out Scott Walker before his term ended.”
On the evening news, here in snowy Wisconsin, a Republican functionary said, This recall is gonna cost money. We gotta balance the right of recall against the costs.
Uh, say what? (I noted this over at Atrios’s place. As he said in his comment, Let the shenanigans begin!)
The Republicans really said the equivalent of “Elections cost money, so let us be dictators?” Now that is priceless!
This is yet more evidence that Republicans do not have the intelligence to understand the effect of their policies. Remember, to have an “average intelligence” half of the people need to be less than average!
Fire the smug beeotch! Let’s get on with it!!!!!!!!!
Please remember, it is not only collective bargaining issue.
It is JOBS! Under Walker we lost more jobs then the national average.
It is about EDUCATION! Walker cut education significantly in 3 key areas of the state.
It is about CRONISM! Scott Walker’s people are under a John Doe investigation and three have already been indicted. Some of his appointee were given jobs they can not handle. Some were given higher salaries then their predecessors.
It is about GIVE-AWAYS to corporations in the millions of dollars while suppressing teachers, state workers, laborers and many others!
It is about him not having a college degree and owned by large corporate interest. This is the average citizen fighting back against corporate greed and our lively hoods to raise a family, put our siblings through college and something left to retire on!!!
By not trying to close tax loopholes for buddies at Koch Industries, WI state Republicans demonstrate how banal their partisan whining is. From Badger Democracy:
Worried about money for the state, do the right thing. Walker, “we are broke…” $294K in taxpayer legal fees to defend his Act 10 attack on the unions. Scooter, do the right thing, just resign. Be the man you never were.
Meanwhile, Scott Walker is busy raising money from friends of Hank Greenberg. You remember Hank, the guy who brought down AIG.
On edit: here’s a link to the Greenberg part: http://wonkette.com/460375/scott-walker-bravely-flees-wisconsin-on-recall-petition-deadline-day
That part has been edited out of the AP story in the Chicago Tribune. Well, not edited out, moved to page 2. My bad.
I am so proud of the people who stayed out there and collected all those signatures! Thank you all!!!!
Nice job of clarifying the issues.
There is going to be millions spent to try to overcome this challenge to Walker. Supposedly he cries about out of state monies while he has been in Texas and today in New York with Wall Street backers to get more money.
All these monies cannot overcome the voters wishes in the next four months but we have to look at all the money thrown out there to show how much Wall Street really, really wants Scotty to stay and push their interests.
Go nonquixote! Go Badgers!, Go Wisconsin!
The only downside to the large number of sigs is that it gives Scotty another excuse to drag the process out by demanding that all of them be verified, rather than stopping once the required count is reached. I’m sure he’ll use this time to do as much damage as possible on his way out.
The real, “badgers,” here are the numerous elderly and single seniors worried about physical adverse repercussions from Walker brownshirts if they put their name and address to the petition, but found their way to the local offices despite their fears.
” Fill Your Hands, You SonofaBitch!”
Rooster Cogburn to another rotten fucking bastard.
Bring it Scottie, you sonofabitch.
Sorry I stepped away from the computer for supper.
You are so right about the Brownshirts and the fear they can spread.
It takes courage for people to stand up to this kind of facism. Each and every Wisconsinite who worked, passed petitions, signed petitions deserves so very much credit in standing up to these critters. Bless each and every citizen of Wisconsin.
I don’t suppose there might be any “leftover” signatures that could be used to recall Kathy Nickolaus, the Waukesha (and World’s Worst) County Clerk ? … Please ??
She’s the former Republican Party worker who became County Clerk and recently “misplaced” a bunch of ballots in the contentious Supreme Court election … ?
Now it seems “Thousands of people could be affected by an apparent error in the state’s controversial redistricting process that caused them to be listed in the wrong municipalities, school districts or wards …”
“I know it wasn’t an error on my part, which is always a good thing,” Nickolaus said.
And a rare one, Ms. Nickolaus.
http://tinyurl.com/7fo35ak
On, Wisconsin!
Let’s assume they are all real names. With all the money the unions are throwing at this recall campaign I’m not surprised. Getting rid of Walker would be the worst thing they could do. He is doing everything he can to keep the blood sucking unions from draining the state dry.
a Republican functionary said?…that’s good enough for me. Lets label the entire Republican party. Of course there will be an election for recall. Not sure what Republican functionary you speak of but he doesn’t represent us all. You should also watch the term “dictator” your guy fits that bill more than any president ever.
I signed the recall petition in the comfort of my friend’s family room, fire blazing in the fireplace, lots of cold beers being tipped around the card table. But I saw people standing out in the cold and wind collecting those signatures and I never failed to give them a shout out and a v-sign.
They are the best!