If running a neoliberal women is a good way to beat conservatives how come Walker beat Mary Burke

[betterdemsonly]

Mary was so conservative she supported prop 10, She was as antilabor as the come yet conservative Wisconsinites still preferred Walker, and she sure didn't impress the labor protesters for obvious reasons. Wisconsin is not in the South so it isn't culturally conservative.

[Scootaloo]

1. Same way McConnel held his seat against Alison Grimes

Proponents of right-wing democrats seem to think that Republicans will jump at the chance to vote for a right-wing democrat, and so make active efforts to attack mainstream and strongly liberal Democrats,while catering to Republican policy and agenda.

This suppresses the democratic vote, in the hopes that Republicans will overcome thirty years of Pavlovian anti-Democrat conditioning.

Which is to say, Democrats don't vote, or split vote, Republicans laugh, and the democratic candidate loses.

Right-wing democrats and their supporters are thus effectively ringers for the Republican party, whether or not they even realize this. The only way to win is to challenge the right - Not just republicans but the right. Challenge aggressively, take principled stands with both feet deep in the progressive camp. No, it probably won't sponge up Republican voters. But it'll energize the Democrats who outnumber those people, and it will enthuse the "undecideds" who are mostly undecided due to a perceived lack pf principle in candidates.

[betterdemsonly]

2. Thought I was going to get deafening silence. Thanks for kickin it. n/t

[AngryAmish]

3. Exactly right.

If an establishment candidate runs they will be crushed. The establishment got us here.

Run a real liberal. Only chance we have.

[wyldwolf]

4. The same way Hillary Clinton lost her senate races twice and Mary Landrieu lost 5 times!!

... wait...

[betterdemsonly]

7. The previous to challenges to Walker came from an anti-Union buddy of Rahmbo. n/t

[wyldwolf]

8. I thought Gabrielle Giffords would have been great. Too bad she lost her elections.

umm.. right?

[nikto]

5. Neoliberalism's whole purpose for existing is to...

Destroy Liberalism and Progressivism.

I see it as a State-of-the-art ideological/rhetorical weapon against Progressivism.

We can see how it works right here on DU.

We need to have more threads like this on DU.

Neoliberalism vs Liberalism/Progressivism is a vital distinction everyone should be aware of,
and too many folks, aren't.

[HereSince1628]

6. Bill Clinton AND Obama stumped for Burke.

In a state where the issues were all about labor rights Burke was seen as a pro-corporate former lobbiest.

She was not inspiring. Obama's failure to put on the shoes and Clintons coolness to labor were noted.

Nonetheless 'the loyal' party and hatred for Walker kept it from really being an embarrassing blow out. Walker only got 52.3% in what was the nation's second highest voter turnout.

[postulater]

9. We actually had a great progressive who was running in the primaries.

But she was in a car crash on her way to an event and dropped out of the race to recover.

Kathleen Vinehout would have been a great governor. I don't know the practicalities of the politics to know if she would have won but she is a passionate, smart and dedicated representative of her district.

She is still in the State Senate. I wish she would have continued her run. After she was hurt Burke was locked in. She was entirely forgettable and did not inspire many people.

[betterdemsonly]

10. She literally praised Walker for Prop 10

ran on nuthin other than not being Walker and some rich ceo feminist appeal. She looked like a Deer in the headlights when anyone would ask her a question.

[Half-Century Man]

11. A lot of discussion about that has been going on.

She did fairly well in the debates, In the second debate she called out Wanker for the projected 1.2 billion dollar shortfall in his budget. Wanker said there was no shortfall in the budget. A lie of course, his lips moved. It turns out there was a 1.8 billion dollar shortfall. And not a single media source has called him on his mistake/misdirection/outright lie yet.

I know we had some electronic voting machines in Wisconsin, I heard they were used in the rural areas (whatever that means). We have had votes disappear here in Wisconsin before (Waukesha county has problems; https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110415/23002413918/wisconsin-county-that-found-lost-votes-apparently-has-major-voting-irre )

One last point this post. There was no effort to excite or engage minority voters. Both parties just assumed all minority votes would go to the Democratic Party. Wisconsin has a terrible reputation with minorities, We lead the nation in African American prison population; http://www.blackcommentator.com/146/146_cover_dixon_ten_worst.html. We have a wide gap in education between African American and European Americans; http://host.madison.com/news/local/education/local_schools/national-report-card-wisconsin-s-achievement-gap-worst-in-nation/article_8 .

We ran a third wayer against a teabagger.