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Go Home Total Recall In Wisconsin

JONATHAN CHAIT MARCH 3, 2011

Total Recall In Wisconsin

BY JONATHAN CHAIT

The interesting question that's hung over the Cheddar Revolution is what the endgame is. Democrats is the State Senate can't stay away forever. Governor Scott Walker seems implacably hostile to compromise. (Listen to his conversation with pretend David Koch, and his invocations of Ronald Reagan and the Berlin Wall suggest a man whose entire political identity rests upon a refusal to compromise.) One possibility is that a handful of Republicans in the Senate will force his hand. One moderate is speaking out against Walker, but it's hard to imagine three state Senators submarining a governor who has attracted a mass national following among his party.

What other options remain? That would narrow it down to total surrender, or else flip the Senate by successfully recalling three Republicans. Democrats are now pursuing the option, reports Greg Sargent:

The Wisconsin Democratic Party has decided to throw its weight behind a nascent grassroots drive to recall a number of GOP state senators, a move that will considerably increase the pressure on them to break with Governor Scott Walker, the Dem party chair confirms to me.

"The proposals and the policies that Republicans are pushing right now are not what they campaigned on, and they're extreme," the party chair, Mike Tate, said in an interview. "Something needs to be done about it now. We're happy to stand with citizens who are filling papers to recall these senators."

Previously, Wisconsin Dems had not publicly supported talk about recalling GOP Senators, in hopes of privately reaching a negotiated solution to the crisis.

The recall is an easily abused process. But this is exactly the kind of thing it's made for--a party trying to advance a highly unpopular policy change that it did not campaign on.

Here are the eight Wisconsin Republicans eligible for immediate recall, with their district's 2004 and 2008 presidential vote breakdown:

  • Robert Cowles (District 2): 2004 – Bush +15%; 2008 – Obama +6%
  • Alberta Darling (District 8):  2004 – Bush +7%; 2008 – Obama +4%
  • Sheila Harsdorf (District 10):  2004 – Bush +3%; 2008 – Obama +2%
  • Luther Olsen (District 14):  2004 – Bush +13%; 2008 – Obama +5%
  • Randy Hopper (District 18):  2004 – Bush +15%; 2008 – Obama +4%
  • Glen Grothman (District 20):  2004 – Bush +39%; 2008 – McCain +27%
  • Mary Lazich (District 28):  2004 – Bush +29%; 2008 – McCain +21%
  • Dan Kapanke (District 32):  2004 – Kerry +7%; 2008 – Obama +23%

I see several possibilities here. Getting the recall election--you need 15,000 signatures in each district--is the hard part. It requires a mass mobilization and organization effort, as it should. The SEIU is pledging support--I bet other unions, and the mass of demonstrators in Madison, join in. It's more constructive than playing guitar and eating pizza.

Winning the election is much easier--it's all about turnout, and right now Democrats in Wisconsin are as energized as can be.

It's possible that the credible threat of recall will prompt a few GOP Senators to cut a deal. Failing that, the Cheddar Revolution will come down to the success or failure of the recall campaign.

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19 comments

The stakes are ratcheting up in Wisconsin. Scott Walker is an immovable object, an ideologue, and recall seems to be the only way to budge him even an inch.

- liberalref

March 3, 2011 at 10:22am

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YES!!!

- Tgossard

March 3, 2011 at 11:17am

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Dan Kapanke is toast. R.I.P.

- Bukharin

March 3, 2011 at 11:21am

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I would be interested in the observations from some Wisconsinites close to this issue to learn if it is feasible.

- spd1955

March 3, 2011 at 11:53am

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I would be interested in the observations from some Wisconsinites close to this issue to learn if it is feasible.

- spd1955

March 3, 2011 at 11:53am

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The next step will be a GOP drive to recall Democratic senators eligible for immediate recall, and Wisconsin will become the venue for an electoral civil war not seen in this country for a long time. I assure you that, when in their collective right minds, Wisconsonians are reasonable people, the coming spectacle notwithstanding. How very sad.

- IowaBeauty

March 3, 2011 at 11:57am

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Oh, what will this do to the Tea-Party "we're what America wants!" campaign for 2012? Good things, I hope. And by "Good Things", I mean a breath of fresh air and some sanity. Or, "Good things" could simply mean making the Tea-Party crazier than they already are -- after all, some people still take them seriously.

- AllanL5

March 3, 2011 at 11:59am

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Chaitless -- your parasites are losing. Ohio, 2x WI parasite population, will be first to fall. Ohio bill passed senate -- assured of approval Too bad President doesn't have recall option -- Obama would be gone now Good news -- Obama approval rate falling, fell 10 points in latest NBC/WSJ poll. Unions not a winner for Dems with non-liberals. Thus, I encourage liberal parasites everywhere to step-up their full-throated defense of public sector unions.

- mr_rationale

March 3, 2011 at 12:09pm

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Clearly Mr. Rationale is still taking them seriously. Though I don't think his name means what he THINKS his name means.

- AllanL5

March 3, 2011 at 12:14pm

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Memo to the poorly-written Heritage program: Poll after poll demonstrates that union-busting is not popular with the public, only a minority slice of which is liberal Democratic. Even at his nadir, Barack Obama was more popular than were Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton at the same times in their first terms. Rationaleless is clueless, as usual. Sometimes it cherry-picks data but even more often, it just makes things up, as in this post. Memo to Heriatge: Fire that staffer. The program isn't getting any better.

- liberalref

March 3, 2011 at 12:46pm

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I too would love to see liberal parasites everywhere banished. Right after the conservative hypocrites and liars are banished. Lib, I think the program has gone rogue and has self-replicated. We need to inform the anti-malware companies to be on the look out.

- tmmats

March 3, 2011 at 12:58pm

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Allan, we had that exact discussion on this site some months back; he did indeed pick his name in order to lay claim to superior reasoning capabilities while not understanding the connotation of the word. But I have to admit, his name fits PERFECTLY, so I guess it worked out after all.

- GSpinks

March 3, 2011 at 1:29pm

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Why do people get all up in arms when The System works like it should? Wisconsonites established their own law, and now they're going to uphold it. Good for them! Let the Republican Tea Party hold their own recall, then, if they can get 15000 legitimate signatures. Somehow, I don't think it will be as easy for them as it will be for the Dems this time around.

- GSpinks

March 3, 2011 at 1:33pm

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I like the malware notion, tn.

- liberalref

March 3, 2011 at 1:58pm

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GSpinks You actually had a discussion with mr_rationale? I didn't think it responded. Like a dog -- cr*ps and runs off.

- Nusholtz

March 3, 2011 at 2:39pm

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Rat usually makes some glaring ommison or factual error and it is pointed out and he runs with his tail between his leg.

- MikeB.

March 3, 2011 at 4:11pm

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I think the developer may have stepped in briefly; the style of writing was a bit different during the exchange.

- GSpinks

March 3, 2011 at 4:38pm

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"it's all about turnout, and right now Democrats in Wisconsin are as energized as can be." This is the take away statement of this article and situation in WI and OH and it forces me to ask this important question. WHERE THE F*ING HELL WERE THESE ENERGIZED DEMOCRATS, PROGRESSIVES AND UNION MEMBERS DURING THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS? Oh yeah...sitting on their hands grousing about how much Obama and Dems sucked pickled eggs. I guess these folks finally pulled their collective heads out of their asses and realized that...hey...voting during midterms is just as important as showing up for the major elections!

- singlspeed

March 3, 2011 at 4:49pm

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Rat does hit and run all of the time, Mike. It is commonly the way of an epistemically-closed conservative.

- liberalref

March 3, 2011 at 10:38pm

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