Well, what have we learned? Nothing new, really. But let's take a look at last night's action!
Most importantly, staff flog leggies! - Congrats to Greg Gasper, who managed to break 50 percent against Dennis Lund and Joe Hermanny in the Republican primary in the 37th. That Dave Ward and Debi Towns were both meddling on behalf of Lund is the worst kept secret in the world. So is the fact that these two rocket scientists basically convinced RACC to pencil Lund in for the general and forget about this primary altogether. What they failed to take account of is two very important things:
1. How hard Greg was willing to work for this. Greg doesn't have nearly the roots of Dennis Lund, but Greg managed to outhustle, outraise, and flat-out outwork his opponents.
2. How hard staff were willing to work for Greg. Gasper assembled a virtual army of foot soldiers who were busting their tails to make their bosses eat crow. In the last few weeks of this race, word spread far and wide that Ward had been overheard on multiple occasions saying that he didn't want a staffer to win his old seat. Don't think that didn't end up on the proverbial locker room wall, Wardo. You want to motivate staff? Talk about them like they're not capable of doing your job. They all know better. Don't insult the people who made you look good all those years.
And Debi, that's a mighty nice endorsement of Greg you put out. Hopefully, you'll be able to overlook the fact that he's not a farmer, which seemed to be a big deal to you in your endorsement of Dennis Lund. You rave about Lund and all you can basically bring yourself to say about Gasper is that he's a nice guy. Grow up, Debi. This is why smart politicians stay the hell out of primaries. Don't expect to see many staffers down there helping you out in your own reelection campaign. You're not exactly popular these days. And maybe you can find nicer things to say about Greg before that press conference starts in a little bit.
Money talks - I think it'd be hard to argue that ideologically, there was much of a difference between J.B. Van Hollen and Paul Bucher. They even managed to act equally juvenile in debates. But in the end, Van Hollen was willing to put the bank's money where his mouth is, and his willingness to go head over feet into debt was probably the nail in Bucher's coffin. Bucher simply lacked the financial resources to be competitive. Is a system in which candidates are encourage to borrow large sums of money in order win a good system? In my opinion, no. But it's what we've got at the moment, and Van Hollen played his hand well. By the way, I've never been so glad to be wrong about a race in my life. So will "Paul's Wife" spend as much time whining about his loss as she does whining about immigrants or Eugene Kane?
Incumbency, and incumbency alone, is often enough to get the job done - Nobody can tell me that Dave Travis and Carol Owens won because of anything exceptional they've done lately. Similarly, nobody can tell me that people who heard from both Scot(t) Ross and Doug LaFollette were totally blown away by LaFollette. These three all managed to win last night solely based on longevity and name recognition. One of the hardest things to accomplish in a campaign is to get people to admit that the decision they've been making for years is no longer a good one. Lots of people have voted for these three time and time again, often because they had no other choice on the ballot. Regardless, habits die hard, and these three should be especially grateful for that today. I guess Mark Pocan will have to put up with another two years of Carol refusing to ride in an elevator with him.
If Republicans don't take care of her now, Kathy Falk will be your next Democratic governor, and Democratic U.S. Senator, and... - Remember back in 1998 when Republicans had a chance to actually hold Scott Klug's 2nd CD seat and blew it by nominating Jo Musser instead of John Sharpless? Tammy Baldwin's a lifer as a result of that one decision.
Kathy Falk is potentially the most formidable statewide candidate the Democrats have on the ballot this fall. If Republicans don't beat her now, she'll be moving into the Executive Residence sometime in the next four to eight years. Falk is pragmatic, does her homework, stands her ground, is tough without seeming bitchy. In other words, she's the kind of candidate that Wisconsin will lap up. And she's going to outraise and outspend J.B. Van Hollen, who may be "Two Mortgages, an Equity Loan, and there went my Roth IRA" Van Hollen by the time this is done.
Have the SE Wisconsin conservatives lost their mojo? - I make no contention that there weren't other factors in play in many southeast Wisconsin races. Jim Ott being on television for decades probably didn't hurt his cause. Still, it's interesting to note that the candidate branded as the "conservative" candidate lost in so many primaries smack in the middle of CRG's stomping ground. Jim Ott beat John Wirth by a 2-to-1 margin in the 23rd. Chris Lufter lost to Bill Kramer in the 97th by double digits. Brad Schimel handily knocked off Dennis Krueger by 16 in the Waukesha County DA primary. Three high profile Republican primaries in which the candidate with the conservative label took a digger. Looks like the TABOR gang may be losing steam.
All that work for 56 percent? - Finally, its really funny that Nick Voegli barely showed up on the radar and still managed to reel in 44 percent against former Assembly Assistant Majority Leader Jean Hundertmark in the Republican primary for Lite Gov. Talk about pathetic. Voegeli barely ran a campaign against Hundertmark and got 44 percent. He was the nominee in the general against Gary Hebl two years ago and only did 41.5. Good to see Mark Green has such a mighty fine asset on the ticket. Jean probably won't even carry Clintonville for the guy.
Most importantly, staff flog leggies! - Congrats to Greg Gasper, who managed to break 50 percent against Dennis Lund and Joe Hermanny in the Republican primary in the 37th. That Dave Ward and Debi Towns were both meddling on behalf of Lund is the worst kept secret in the world. So is the fact that these two rocket scientists basically convinced RACC to pencil Lund in for the general and forget about this primary altogether. What they failed to take account of is two very important things:
1. How hard Greg was willing to work for this. Greg doesn't have nearly the roots of Dennis Lund, but Greg managed to outhustle, outraise, and flat-out outwork his opponents.
2. How hard staff were willing to work for Greg. Gasper assembled a virtual army of foot soldiers who were busting their tails to make their bosses eat crow. In the last few weeks of this race, word spread far and wide that Ward had been overheard on multiple occasions saying that he didn't want a staffer to win his old seat. Don't think that didn't end up on the proverbial locker room wall, Wardo. You want to motivate staff? Talk about them like they're not capable of doing your job. They all know better. Don't insult the people who made you look good all those years.
And Debi, that's a mighty nice endorsement of Greg you put out. Hopefully, you'll be able to overlook the fact that he's not a farmer, which seemed to be a big deal to you in your endorsement of Dennis Lund. You rave about Lund and all you can basically bring yourself to say about Gasper is that he's a nice guy. Grow up, Debi. This is why smart politicians stay the hell out of primaries. Don't expect to see many staffers down there helping you out in your own reelection campaign. You're not exactly popular these days. And maybe you can find nicer things to say about Greg before that press conference starts in a little bit.
Money talks - I think it'd be hard to argue that ideologically, there was much of a difference between J.B. Van Hollen and Paul Bucher. They even managed to act equally juvenile in debates. But in the end, Van Hollen was willing to put the bank's money where his mouth is, and his willingness to go head over feet into debt was probably the nail in Bucher's coffin. Bucher simply lacked the financial resources to be competitive. Is a system in which candidates are encourage to borrow large sums of money in order win a good system? In my opinion, no. But it's what we've got at the moment, and Van Hollen played his hand well. By the way, I've never been so glad to be wrong about a race in my life. So will "Paul's Wife" spend as much time whining about his loss as she does whining about immigrants or Eugene Kane?
Incumbency, and incumbency alone, is often enough to get the job done - Nobody can tell me that Dave Travis and Carol Owens won because of anything exceptional they've done lately. Similarly, nobody can tell me that people who heard from both Scot(t) Ross and Doug LaFollette were totally blown away by LaFollette. These three all managed to win last night solely based on longevity and name recognition. One of the hardest things to accomplish in a campaign is to get people to admit that the decision they've been making for years is no longer a good one. Lots of people have voted for these three time and time again, often because they had no other choice on the ballot. Regardless, habits die hard, and these three should be especially grateful for that today. I guess Mark Pocan will have to put up with another two years of Carol refusing to ride in an elevator with him.
If Republicans don't take care of her now, Kathy Falk will be your next Democratic governor, and Democratic U.S. Senator, and... - Remember back in 1998 when Republicans had a chance to actually hold Scott Klug's 2nd CD seat and blew it by nominating Jo Musser instead of John Sharpless? Tammy Baldwin's a lifer as a result of that one decision.
Kathy Falk is potentially the most formidable statewide candidate the Democrats have on the ballot this fall. If Republicans don't beat her now, she'll be moving into the Executive Residence sometime in the next four to eight years. Falk is pragmatic, does her homework, stands her ground, is tough without seeming bitchy. In other words, she's the kind of candidate that Wisconsin will lap up. And she's going to outraise and outspend J.B. Van Hollen, who may be "Two Mortgages, an Equity Loan, and there went my Roth IRA" Van Hollen by the time this is done.
Have the SE Wisconsin conservatives lost their mojo? - I make no contention that there weren't other factors in play in many southeast Wisconsin races. Jim Ott being on television for decades probably didn't hurt his cause. Still, it's interesting to note that the candidate branded as the "conservative" candidate lost in so many primaries smack in the middle of CRG's stomping ground. Jim Ott beat John Wirth by a 2-to-1 margin in the 23rd. Chris Lufter lost to Bill Kramer in the 97th by double digits. Brad Schimel handily knocked off Dennis Krueger by 16 in the Waukesha County DA primary. Three high profile Republican primaries in which the candidate with the conservative label took a digger. Looks like the TABOR gang may be losing steam.
All that work for 56 percent? - Finally, its really funny that Nick Voegli barely showed up on the radar and still managed to reel in 44 percent against former Assembly Assistant Majority Leader Jean Hundertmark in the Republican primary for Lite Gov. Talk about pathetic. Voegeli barely ran a campaign against Hundertmark and got 44 percent. He was the nominee in the general against Gary Hebl two years ago and only did 41.5. Good to see Mark Green has such a mighty fine asset on the ticket. Jean probably won't even carry Clintonville for the guy.
4 comments:
On the 37th assembly Campaign, you fail to mention that Greg was able to out hustle his opponents due to the fact that HE HAS NO JOB. Also he was able to out raise his opponents easily with the SILVER SPOON STILL IN HIS MOUTH and finally he was able to outwork his opponents when he had all of the other SPOILED BRAT STAFFERS helping him. Lets get some new and fresh blood, Instead of SPOILED BRATS. GO ANDY
I'll only take a moment to point out that the reason Greg "has no job" is because Legislative rules require him to take unpaid leave once he files his nomination papers. It's not like he had a choice. I'm not sure that if you asked him, he'd tell you he was thrilled about not collecting a paycheck for six months.
If anything, Legislative rules make it a hell of a lot harder for staff to run for public office, since most of them can't afford to cough up six months' pay in order to run. I'd hardly call that a silver spoon, my friend.
That said, I'm sure that Greg and Andy will have a good race. Seems like everyone expects that district to be competitive. Either way, I think the district will end up with someone in the Assembly they can be proud of.
Spoiled Silver spoon brat staffers? Who writes this stuff, they have watched too many bad 80s movies like Rambo . I think someone needs a hug and a little help from Dr. Phil to overcome their bitterness. (Check local listings for time.)
Don't confuse the messenger for the message. Ott committed to support TABOR (including Lasee's version) on a couple of occasions in our race. The voters generally believed he was as conservative as I am and, therefore, elected the guy they knew. We'll see how he does against Teplin. Ott will win, and that will be a victory for the message, if not this particular messenger.
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