Wisconsin Update: Total Recall voter turnout ‘just wild’

June 5, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Wisconsin State Journal reports that voters and public officials are reporting long lines at many Wisconsin polling places Tuesday — with Dane County Clerk Karen Peters calling the local turnout "just wild" so far. Turnout 'just wild' at polling stations around state (this morning): "It ranges from 28 to 42 percent … Read more

Sierra Vista Herald endorses Ron Barber for Congress

June 5, 2012

Posted by AzblueMeanie: Better late than never. The conservative Sierra Vista Herald today endorsed Ron Barber for Congress. It sounds as if the editors are suffering from a bit of the Pundit's Fallacy that I posted about yesterday, believing that Sierra Vista/Fort Huachuca is the center of the universe in CD8. In 2010, Pima County … Read more

Election Day in Wisconsin: Leave it all on the field

June 5, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It is Election Day in Wisconsin. To borrow sports metaphores from my coaches over the years, "It's game day. I want you to go out there and give 110%. Play your hearts out and leave it all on the field. If you have given all that you have to give, you are all champions."

The AFL-CIO launched a new online tool, called the Friends and Neighbors (FAN) program, to connect with people in Wisconsin about the recall elections without having to leave home.

Go to http://wisconsinfan.aflcio.org/users/login on Facebook.

Or you can contact your local Arizona AFL-CIO offices, where I understand they will be running phone banks today as well.

Arizona AFL-CIO – Non-Profit Organization – Phoenix, AZ | Facebook

Pima Area Labor Federation – Non-Profit Organization – Tucson, AZ | Facebook

The Madison Revolution against far-right radical extremism in the birthplace of unions and the Progressive movement faces its toughest test today. Everyone is needed in this team effort.

The far-right radical extremist governor, lieutenant governor, and four senators face recall today. Democrats need to win one senate seat to take control of the senate and block Scott Walker's radical extremist agenda.

Better, Democrats can defeat the corrupt Scott Walker and remove him from office today, rather than have to wait for prosecutors to indict him in the ongoing criminal probe in which 13 of his former staff members have copped a plea and are now cooperating with prosecutors.

This election is people power versus the power of big money unleashed by Citizens United v. FEC. Stand up to Karl Rove and the billionaire bastard Koch brothers.

Here are the Madison Capitol Times endorsements. Tom Barrett for governor:

Tom Barrett is precisely the right candidate for governor at precisely the right time for Wisconsin.

We endorse his candidacy not merely as a necessary antidote to the failed policies and the ethical and legal controversies surrounding Gov. Scott Walker. Our endorsement of Barrett is an affirmative one. We believe he has a great record, and that he would be a great governor.

We also endorse Mahlon Mitchell for lieutenant governor and Lori Compas for state Senate in District 13. 

Republicans for Barber Now, McSally Later?

June 4, 2012

By Michael Bryan Is the McSally campaign quietly suggesting Republicans should vote for Ron Barber over Jesse Kelly? If so, they have a very compelling electoral logic. If Kelly loses the CD8 Special – and polling and early returns suggest it will be a close race, which could be turned by a few hundred crossover … Read more

Nancy Young Wright collects the most signatures in the Pima County Supe, District 1, race

June 4, 2012

by David Safier Of the five candidates running for Pima County Supervisor, Distrtict 1, lone Democrat Nancy Young Wright turned in the most signatures, with 1302. In descending order among the Republicans: Ally Miller, 813; Vic Williams, 710; Stuart McDaniel, 564; Mike Hellon, 446. It's not an important stat in and of itself, but it … Read more

The ‘negative campaign’ meme

June 4, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: CBS Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer has been acting like the civility cops lately, only rather than arrest the perpetrator he wants to handcuff the victim. I caught part of this interview on Sunday, and I thought to myself "WTF Bob"?  That's right Bob, clutch your pearls and reach for the … Read more

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein break through the Sunday morning bobblehead boycott of their work on Up With Chris Hayes

June 4, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have previously posted about the new political tome by Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.

The Sunday morning bobblehead shows have boycotted their work, despite Mann and Ornstein being the high priests of Beltway conventional wisdom for "centrism," and regular guests on all the Sunday morning bobblehead shows for many years.

Susie Madrak writes Conservative Authors Blame The Republicans For Congressional Gridlock:

So bonafide conservatives Thomas Mann and Norm Ornstein published a new book out that blames Republicans for Washington's legislative gridlock, saying that despite conventional media wisdom to the contrary, it's “asymmetrical polarization.” Surprisingly enough (yeah, I'm being sarcastic), Chris Hayes is the only cable news person to date who's had them on to talk about the book – this, despite them being past of a regular stable of Sunday TV guests. Wonder why?

Via Raw Story:

The book describes the Republican Party as “an insurgent outlier … ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.”

* * *

[The authors] who have found themselves ostracized by the Sunday morning shows where they had always previously been welcome, appeared Sunday on MSNBC’s Up with Chris Hayes to discuss the book.