Sometimes I think there are too many people on DU who believe that if you want it

bad enough, it will come true.

Take the Wisconsin election last night.

so many people thought that just because we were fighting for a victory and donating money and having a lot of people from MSNBC on the ground in Wisconsin that we should have won, and won big.

And on the surface that is good, no great really because we can get people fired up.

The thing is these districts, well all districts, really, are drawn every ten years and go into effect the first even number year after the Census.

Who ever drew these districts drew them with republicans sitting in those seats if not then, soon.

The seats that were targeted were targeted because they were eligible to be recalled not because they were favorable to democrats. We didn't pick these districts, they were picked by the recall law in Wisconsin.

Look at it this way; we got pissed off, then the people of Wis circulated and turned in enough petitions to get these six on the ballot to be recalled, then they wage an aggressive campaign were the in state money went more to the democrats while the red outside money washed over the state like the Red Sea crashing down on Pharaohs army.

That we stayed focused, on message and dedicated to a grass roots campaign shows just how effective we can be when we get together.

The only chink in this battle plan was the simple fact that all six of these seat ran deep purple to solid crimson.

No matter what was done on the ground, how many homes were visited, how many phone calls were made, the plain truth is that these districts were all drawn to favor republicans.

Hard work does not always pay off.

What we can take from this lesson is that they depend more on the media and on corporate money so we must counter that with boots on the ground, the prudent use of limited budgets and dogged determination that what we are doing is difficult but doable if we stay together and work as a team.

Having said all of that, I only have this much left to say...

Learn from this, learn that people can come together to beat the money, learn that we are better off together than apart and learn to focus on the end result.

The GOP message is easy to convey. No Taxes, Strong Military, No Handouts. That's really what their message is all about...

We need to focus on two things; Jobs and Equal Opportunity. All the rest will fall in place if we win that message.

not after the Supreme Court election.

Focus and fidelity to the ideal we believe in. Jobs and Equal Opportunity is a noble quest.

Two more next week. It may be a wash at worst, and a one seat gain at best. Meanwhile the population is more divided than ever. What did it accomplish. ZERO on the positive side in hindsight. This will embolden other states now, and other elected leaders. For cripes sake, one victory was over a guy that just recently got outed for cheating on his wife. If we lose both Tuesday, which I hear based on the results yesterday is a possibility, and factoring over the amounts of resources and attention given - we are in deep doodoo. I think it set back many causes and Wisconsin as a whole has provided a diversion and a distraction from other states doing more. My pessimistic side says we shot ourselves in the foot, bad.

make a difference.

At least that is why I wrote this piece.

This has implications, and if we lose even one seat next week it gets worse. It is highly likely that the net gain is one seat for all the resources, energy and time put in. It could end up a wash. We didn't like the results of the election and what they did so we tried and failed to change the election. This is setting a bad precedent and the ramifications are huge. Wisconsin was a distraction imo, and maybe it was purposeful, while other states took advantage of that distraction. You will know what I am saying later. I am thoroughly disappointed at this point with the outcome. I don't think it bodes well for anyone. At a minimum we are more divided in this country because of it. Obama told us, elections have consequences. Yep. He is right.

I think we stepped over the line and created a new monster. Think about it.

But... had our citizenry not been apathetic about campaign finance reform 10(ish) years ago, we wouldn't be in the fix we're in. The playing field would be more level AND perhaps after we had gotten reform, we would have had the momentum to slash the bribe money that plagues our system now. I truly believe in my heart, had we gotten serious about solid campaign finance reform, we would have never had the Citizens United decision.

:sarcasm:

The Democratic party will never have that kind of unity as long as every Democrat has their own pet cause and believes that their pet cause trumps all others.

But the stakes now go far beyond puppy mills, it is about survival and that has to trump all pet projects because in the end if we lose this time because we are divided, then Katie bar the door...

I believe in the olden days, we called that the 'Big Tent'. Which on the surface, should appeal to a wider audience, but we tend to eat our own when they piss us off. We scream about the whole 'lockstep', mindset, or is it now, 'goosestep'? No matter, we need some unity now and that unity, (whether we like it or not) needs to come from the top.

the two that were picked for reasons stated are a victory.

Wakenousha co needs to be investigated.

That is a cesspool in the clerks office and no one seems to care...

thrown at them no matter what. To them, you are wrong and cannot convince them otherwise (or they really are just trolling).

I was so disappointed. I live in MO and we have so many rednecks here voting for the ReThugs. They don't seem to understand why I vote Democrat and I am disliked for it and I don't give a fuck, I'm NEVER voting for a ReThug. We have Claire McCaskill and even voting for her makes me feel like I'm voting for a ReThug.

The people on the ground there got results. They came out winning big. Recall elections are very unusual and very hard to pull off. I think it was a huge win as it stands.

But too many people here will look at this victory as a defeat...

Senators and we are right back where we started. Will those people on the ground have gotten results? Best case senario is we are looking at one state senate pickup. How much union and progressive time/money went into this 'victory'?

People worked hard and won 2 elections for Democrats in republican districts. Their work should not be diminished by the fact that the outcome was not as good as people hoped.

fight that should not be discarded. Unions gave millions of dollars and millions of dollars worth of time to the effort that, after next week, is looking like it will be a net one state senator at best, and at worse, a net zero. If it is a net zero (we recall two, they recall two) will it still have been worth it?

Recommended.

A) If those were actually "both" "red districts". District 32 is calculated at approximately a D+5 district. Kapanke only won in the past because people liked him and he owns the baseball team in La Crosse. Politicize the race and he was pretty much guaranteed to lose. I would know this I used to live in La Crosse. Now live in District 10.

B) If the GOP actually outspent the Dems. Um no they didn't unless the GOP was paying 3+ more for every ad, phone call, mailer, etc. then the Dems. The Dems outspent the GOP 5 to 1 or more. The GOP seemed content to leave all their major election outfits out of it(Chamber, Crossroads, etc.) and just leave it to a few small statewide organizations and CfG and AfP. The GOP saved and the Dems flushed vast amounts of money down the toilet.

C) If Hopper was liked in his district. Yet he was hated. Instead of waiting a year and taking the seat for 4 years. The Dems decided to kick him out in the last year of a 4 year term. Now Jessica King has to go right back on defense in a GOP district with 1 year away from reelection. The GOP is probably happy that they can now put up a stronger candidate and only had to lose 1 year to get rid of Hopper.

This seat has been red since it was redrawn. Two of his three assembly seats have been held by republicans. I don't buy Kapanke's reelection only happened because people like him.

What I do buy is that he lost his ass in a recall because he forgot his district has a fairly heavy labor component. As does Hopper's.

Comparing the GOP spending to the Dem spending doesn't work unless you count outside spending. Pukes and their corporations don't give to the GOP anymore. They give to AFP, All Children Matter, etc. Count all the outside spending and conservatives and their front groups outspent liberals and their organizations. They always do. No matter how you like to spin the numbers.

And, once again, if Hopper was so unpopular, how did he get so close to re-election. What your saying here doesn't make any sense.

Dan Kapanke does not live in a Republican district. I went to school in La Crosse. The entire area is known as "Hippy Valley". The name comes from a migration that occurred in the early 70s when die hard hippies in cities like San Francisco decided that their movement was getting perverted in the city. They decided to move out to the country and live with nature. La Crosse county and surrounding area was a key destination for them because of its beautiful bluffs, rivers, and wildlife refuges. La Crosse is a also a heavy unionized city in Wisconsin and has 3 universities/colleges. Besides the way north west of the state the "arm pit" of Wisconsin is really the only other area of Wisconsin where Democrats perform well in rural areas. Also during redistricting it appears the GOP was expecting Kapanke to lose because they didn't try to add more GOP friendly territory to his district. If your wondering why Kapanke has won in the past its because he owns the baseball team in La Crosse and on a personal level people have tended to like him. Politicize the race in that liberal district and he was bound to fall.

a) Current District Map: <http://legis.wisconsin.gov/ltsb/redistricting/PDFs/Sena ... >
b) Redistricted Map: <http://legis.wisconsin.gov/ltsb/redistricting/Bills/sen ... >
c) Kapanke 2008 Numbers: (page 16) <http://elections.state.wi.us/docview.asp?docid=15401&lo ... >
d) Obama 2008 Numbers: <http://elections.state.wi.us/docview.asp?docid=15385&lo ... >
>>La Crosse: 61% Obama Vernon: 60% Obama Crawford: 62% Obama
e) Bush/Kerry 2004 Numbers: {http://165.189.88.185/docview.asp?docid=1416&locid=47}
>>La Crosse: 53% Kerry Vernon: 53% Kerry Crawford: 55% Kerry

Its not GOP territory.

The entire city is dominated by Democrats. When I used to live there, maybe 1 or 2 of like 20 member city council was Democrat. The La Crosse County Dem party is significantly stronger than their GOP counterparts.

GOTV in La Crosse for Dem candidates is a well oiled machine and you can expect fliers and doorknockers every cycle from the Dem side. GOP side is almost non existent.


Oh and by the way where do you live??? Since you seem to know so much about Wisconsin particularly La Crosse.

Audacity of Hope seems to have struck a nerve.