Ground Game
I’ll probably post some other stuff today, but will leave this post at the top for a while. What are you seeing out there? I’m told that the line to vote at the Town of West Bend was huge. The lines in the City of West Bend are reportedly long too.
Looks like the Scott Walker supporters are out in full force.
Very exciting.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 0840 hrs
Voter #1032 at City of Burlington (Racine County) at about 8:30 a.m. ... It’s a fairly conservative place.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 0850 hrs
I was #645 at 8:05, but the absentee ballots were already numbered, so my number was higher than usual.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 0900 hrs
I jumped in line about 7:30 at Cedar Ridge, the line started at the lobby so in my opinion its the longest line I have seen in any prior years. The Walker recall line was half this size at the same time of day. I was # 900-something
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 0921 hrs
I had to wait forever…about 3 minutes. Half of that was spent listening to the poll worker telling me that you can’t fill in the arrow for the candidate AND also write that candidate’s name in. Apparently it already happened a bunch of times at our precinct. The woman in front of me was shocked to find out that she missed the entire right side of the ballot. President and two other races were on the left. Not hard to look an inch over to the right.
I was 242 at about 8:30 in St Croix County. Didn’t have any New Black Panthers “guarding” our polling place.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 0952 hrs
I worked Election Protection at four polling places in North Carolina today. On the way, a report on the radio said over half of all likely voters in NC voted early, and the 2nd polling place I stopped into said that over half of their registered voters had voted early.
Could be ridiculously high turnout here. Hope it’s that way everywhere.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 1002 hrs
#986 at village of Kewaskum at 9:25 A.M..
We have 2538 people registered. This means 40% of village voted by 9:30 A.M.
986 includes about 500 early voting/absentee ballots.
We had close to 90% turnout in recall and voted close to 80% for Walker. At the same time, on recall election in June, about 25-30% of the Village voted.
So turnout is heavier, so far, in Strong Romney precinct.
Clearly, great news for the country.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 1008 hrs
Nbr 1278 in Town of West Bend at 10 am. Was about the same nbr at 1pm for the recall election.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 1055 hrs
Meh…just a bunch of Lohr voters.
Heh.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 1154 hrs
As usual no lines in Elm Grove around 10am. Was in the 1200’s and usually at that time it’s in the 400 to 600 range. I don’t know if they count the ballots sequentially starting with the last early vote or not.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 1232 hrs
http://news.yahoo.com/voter-turnout-6-states-rank-highest-why-143723721.html
Wisconsin at #3…pretty great. Although I wonder how the turnout rate is calculated when, technically, anyone over 18 can register and vote the same day. Are all the University students counted as “eligible voters,” or do they only become eligible once they register?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 1243 hrs
Just got back from voting in Greenfield. #432, which is average to high for presidential turnout. The only reason I had to wait was because the poll workers were reconciling their numbers. Lovely people, all of them. Outside the voting area was a table for newbies to check which ward they were in. There were a couple of people there to find out and a couple more on the way. Never saw that before. At my apartment complex, the manager posted a sign for tenants about where to go to vote. I don’t remember ever seeing that before an election, including 2008.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 1255 hrs
That it takes people hours to vote is a giant waste of productivity and speaks to how antiquated and lousy our system of voting is. On a completely bipartisan basis, we should all be a little embarrassed that for as much as America strokes its own ego for being exceptional, our system of voting is so remarkably behind the times.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on November 06, 2012 at 1511 hrs
It will be interesting to see how the weather affects turnout. Hope turnout is high. I voted two weeks ago. Gary johnson is my guy.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 1627 hrs
our system of voting is so remarkably behind the times
Umm, can you name another country the size of the US that is “ahead of the times”?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 1631 hrs
Elkhorn, 4:45 PM, voter 4043, in and out in 5 minutes.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 1730 hrs
When was the last time a VP candidate failed to deliver his home state?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 2053 hrs
Um, Edwards in 2004?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 2101 hrs
About that Romney winning handily….
Baldwin wins as well.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 2105 hrs
Wow! It was exciting to watch Rahm Emmanuel talking when the three networks called it for Obama!! Now if we can just beat that SOB Thompson.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 2217 hrs
Nate Silver is the man.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 2336 hrs
Any chance your party will join us in the 21st century, Owen?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 2337 hrs
Too early to say “SUCK IT?” Not for losing, but for the preposterous certainty y’all had in winning. Please, stand back now and say “perhaps I should re-evaluate how I assess odds of success.” You know, that ridiculous hubris is really unbecoming.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 2346 hrs
The GOP is too delusional to look in the mirror and realize what’s wrong. They’ll be too busy making excuses and yelling fraud.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 06, 2012 at 2350 hrs
Owen,
Please keep running as if the Country is still white, male, and Christian.
Or, join us in reality.
Choice is yours.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 0007 hrs
Great, Obama won. Now what is he going to do the next four years? Hopefully, those in the Republican ranks will work with him. Perhaps Obama does have a mandate after all.
As far as the some of the comments here, I would temper your “gotcha” mentality. The GOP is NOT dead in the water by any stretch of the imagination. But this party does have to do some soul searching in that MODERATES like myself are sick and tired of gridlock.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 0038 hrs
Nate Silver 50 for 50!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 0245 hrs
Great. 4 more years of golfing.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 0505 hrs
http://twitchy.com/2012/11/07/with-first-post-racial-president-reelected-fk-white-people-trends/
Feel the unity?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 0706 hrs
Please keep running as if the Country is still white, male, and Christian.
So Obama is not Christian? I thought Obama claimed to be Evangelical Christian? My liberal friends say he is.
Greencarman.
Hopefully, those in the Republican ranks will work with him. Perhaps Obama does have a mandate after all.
Why? Many times its better if things can’t get done in Washington. Washington usurps less money, power, and control of our lives that way.
The most fiscally responsible years was when Clinton was president and a Republican congress controlling the pocketbook.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 0732 hrs
Kevin, I meant fundy-whacko Christian. Sorry for not being more obvious.
Regarding your point about the 1990s, I don’t seem to recall the Congressional GOP holding the debt ceiling hostage. If the House can act more like the 1990s then that’d be fine…if they remain out in loony land then we’re in trouble.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 0824 hrs
IHG,
Kevin, I meant fundy-whacko Christian.
Meaning what?
Or is any white male Christian “fundy-wacko” in your view?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 0834 hrs
“The GOP has some work to do. I am a Democrat, but I want two healthy, sane parties to protect us all from their excesses. My district just got flipped from D to R last night and the R is a pretty reasonable, sane guy so it doesn’t bother me that much.
But the GOP needs to take its party back. It simply can’t go on being the anti-gay, anti-women, anti-minority, anti-intellectual party. It can’t pick pure unadulterated obstructionism as its sole governing tactic. It can’t turn down $2 or $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases to balance huge budget deficits and national debts that it was largely responsible for creating. It can’t go on denying that climate change is a real issue; the science on this is settled.
It is a party untethered to reality, and I think you saw that in the past 2-3 weeks with the attacks on Nate Silver. My God, the man was averaging scientific polls! It could not get any more quantitative and less biased than that, but conservatives crucified him.
I think we’ll learn a lot in coming weeks. Is the GOP capable of looking itself in the mirror? Or will the hardcores dig in and insist they just need to nominate a “true conservative” and do a better job of hammering home their message?
I hope the GOP finds its way and hitches its wagon to reasonable, sane, decent guys like Chris Christie, Jeb Bush etc. But I agree with some commentary I heard last night that they’ll have trouble making this shift. There’s an entire generation of younger voters who haven’t seen a sane GOP in their lifetimes, and they might be lost forever.”
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 1012 hrs
How many successful election cycles to Reince Preibus preside over in WI?
I agree with #13 above. It’s a joke when with every election there are issues that lead one side or the other to cry fraud, or the New Black Panthers go to the same doors in Philly to hang out, or poll workers don’t realize there’s a huge Obama mural in the room, or people show up to vote and they’ve already voted, or people long dead still remain on voter rolls.
Things are even standard within a state with electronic or paper, ovals or arrows.
We tell the rest of the world how great our elections are, but we fail miserably on something that seems very simple and very important.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 1106 hrs
Adamski,
You forgot to mention the Tea Party election observers harrassing voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania and being removed.
I am damn sick and tired of the same old vote fraud line being uttered when there is virtually no proof. WHich dead people voted and where? Who showed up to vote and found that they had voted and where was this? Proof not the rhetoric that does not stand up.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 1230 hrs
Adamski,
You’re exactly right with the last sentence in #34. We have a “one person, one vote” standard in this country, but that standard is applied differently depending on which state you’re in, or which precinct you vote at? It’s really absolutely absurd.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 07, 2012 at 1236 hrs
I could’ve written this morning’s GOP post-mortem last week and hit all the talking points. But here’s the reality that those invested in the GOP’s present structure don’t want to confront.
- Karl Rove’s 2000 & 2004 “squeeze it harder” strategy of wringing turnout from the usual suspects is a long-term loser in light of demographic shifts.
- Opposition to gay marriage is a total loser of an issue for the party. Look how far this issue has moved in under a decade. 6-8 years ago, states were passing gay marriage referenda left and right. Many of us argued that conservatives were racing to do it because they saw the writing on the wall. Last night, gay marriage advocates went 4-for-4 and Tammy Baldwin did something nobody would’ve thought she could ever do a decade ago: she was more popular than Tommy Thompson.
- Hating on immigrants is killing the GOP. 44% for Bush in ‘04, 31% for McCain, 27% for Romney. In 2004, Hispanic voters comprised 8% of the electorate. Now, 10%. Every cycle, the GOP allows itself to be pulled further and further to the right on immigration in the primaries, and its nominees never recover.
- Either get the Tea Party to play within the system, or throw them out of the house and tell them to build their own party. All the Tea Party succeeds in doing is making conservative seats more conservative. Ted Cruz won’t get two votes in the Senate for being extra conservative. In every other aspect of the game, they’re killing the GOP. Christine O’Donnell, Sharron Angle, Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock. Four seats a sane Republican would’ve won.
- In the last three cycles, the GOP may well have lost an entire generation of young voters. The same way support for Reagan defined an entire generation of voters, so too will opposition to Bush and support for Obama. Young voters aren’t going to eschew their socially liberal positions to make nice with social conservatives with long-term fiscal issues as the commonality. Young voters think the GOP is crazy for opposing things like homosexuality and birth control and disregard its candidates out of hand as a result.
As it is, the only successful long term opposition to the Democratic Party is libertarian in nature. It’s fiscally responsible and socially accepting. It leaves decisions about sex to the parties involved. It leaves women’s health decisions to actual women.The longer the GOP cleaves to rural whites, older males, and evangelicals, the harder it will be for the party to ever recover. There’s just no future there.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on November 07, 2012 at 1300 hrs
Recess,
Tea Party criticism is absurd.
In WI we nominated far from Tea Party for U.S. Senate, Tommy Thompson.
We nominated a semi liberal Republican and he can’t beat the most lunatic leftist radical.
The problem is when the Republican party does not lead and govern as a conservative.
Ultimately, Romney’s questionable conservative record also hurt him as well.
Republicans need to get more conservative, not give in to the Democratic party getting more radical with Baldwin and Obama as their standard bearers.
Republicans should stop listening to liberal critics over Tea Party. WI Republicans threw Tea Party out window with nomination of Thompson, and still got burned.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on November 08, 2012 at 0842 hrs
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