So, the headline should read “Democrats lose, Republicans win,” as four of the six Republicans up for recall held on to their seats and Democrats need to win three to gain control of the state legislature. But I’m not sure I see it that way. Because…
1. The Fact There Even Was a Mass Recall: It’s hilarious to watch Republicans crow about SOME of them getting to keep the jobs they were elected to less than a year ago. Congratulations, not all of you were voted out on your ass in an extraordinarily short time frame in an unprecedented mass recall election. The mere fact a record breaking recall happened at all means you’re losers in my book.
2. General Circumstances: Liberals and liberal causes have a tough time in special elections. We tend to do best during “big” presidential election years when there’s a large voter turnout. [Alabama learned this the hard way in our fight for a lottery and certain county liquor ordinances, when “Kris-chins” come out of the woodwork–literally–to vote them down.] Having a special election in the middle Tuesday of August–and after a ridiculously unnecessary and wasteful primary when Republicans put fake Democrats on the ballot just to confuse people–isn’t likely to see broad turnout and especially considering the recall elections are staggered on two different Tuesdays (the one for two Democrat senators is next Tuesday).
Plus, people tend to get spectacularly misguided about their local senator/rep. They feel a sense of defensiveness about them, and are more protective than they would be over, say, the Governor. Which is exactly why they should go forward with the recall of Governor Walker in 2013 because the executive of an area is much easier to hate. Also why the anonymous, disposable Flea Party knows Obama will take most of the heat for the debt ceiling fiasco, it’s much easier to focus your anger on a single, well known target than a bunch of nobodies. And I can’t think of a better target than Governor Scott Walker who looks like the kid from Mad Magazine without the charisma.
3. Specific Circumstances: No matter how you slice it, there was some very dirty tricks going on in this campaign. So far the media has paid a ton of attention to ONLY the union side of things sinking money into the Democrat candidates, but not to the anti-labor side of things sinking money into their Republican puppets. It wasn’t just attack ads, there were misinformation ads. Everything from a fake mail-in ballot that had a return address to nowhere to putting the wrong date on the day it had to be turned in. Then there was a big hoopla about requiring voter ID cards at the polls–which majority Democrat voters didn’t have and you could only get at the DMV, even though a third of the DMVs in Wisconsin were closed by Scott Walker recently–to stifle minority votes. Then there were delayed ballot boxes coming out of districts that went heavily Republican (convenient). Plus, all six of the counties up for recall are strong Republican counties so the Democrats being able to win any of them was pretty significant.
So…we didn’t do as well as some might have hoped in Wisconsin, but to me this is a positive step in the right direction. We are finally, FINALLY catching fire enough to take our internet rage to the voting boxes. Now we just have to make sure the fire is contagious and lasts until 2012.