Latest from Wisconsin: Kloppenburg has razor-thin lead in proxy fight

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court election, usually a sleepy affair, turned into a titanic proxy fight between Gov. Scott Walker supporter Judge David Prosser, and challenger Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, supported by the unions and the Wisconsin Democratic Party. This election is viewed as a referendum on the policies of Gov. Walker and the Fabulous Fitzgerald brothers in "Fitzwalkerstan."

The latest returns from the Wisconsin State Journal show JoAnne Kloppenburg has a razor-thin lead in Supreme Court race:

With almost all votes reported, challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg edged ahead of incumbent David Prosser in a tight race for Wisconsin Supreme Court justice that seems certain to end up in a recount.

With 3,627 of 3,630 precincts reporting as of mid-morning Wednesday, Kloppenburg led by 224 votes, 739,574 to 739,350.

The close results suggest the race may be decided by a recount. Under Wisconsin election law, a candidate has three days after the official results have been tallied to request a recount. The candidate must specify a reason for the request, such as a belief a mistake was made in the counting or some other irregularity.

The nonpartisan matchup between Prosser, a self-described judicial conservative, and Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general who has vowed to be impartial on the bench, drew more special-interest money and attention than any Supreme Court race in state history.

Tuesday's contest was widely considered a referendum on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's moves to weaken public employee unions and a test of the political strength of the unions to strike back. 

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Until Walker introduced his bill severely limiting collective bargaining for 175,000 public employees, Prosser was seen as a clear favorite. He got 55 percent of the vote in the four-way Feb. 15 primary to Kloppenburg's 25 percent.

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Business and conservative groups favoring Prosser, 68, weighed in heavily with TV ads, spending almost $2.2 million in an effort to defeat Kloppenburg, 57. The liberal Greater Wisconsin Committee poured an estimated $1.4 million into ads attacking Prosser, according to the New York-based Brennan Center for Justice, which has been tracking spending in the race. 

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The spending broke the state's previous record for television spending by non-candidate groups, the Brennan Center said.