My take on the Gableman-Butler race...

[Archae]

I smell Rove-style voter fraud. :grr:

[goddess40]

1. I smell stupid people

Those that whine about negative ads the most seem to be the most swayed by them. This, like the last supreme court election, should have been a no brainer but people seem to like to vote their lives into a shit hole.

[Broca]

2. It seemed that the

Democrats did't take this race seriously. It was indeed a case where negative campaigning payed off for the republicans. I received 3 robo calles (recorded by the Repub. state chair, Paul Ryan, and some police group) and one post card from the National Rifle Association in favor of Gableman. In favor of Butler: nothing, not a flyer, not a card, not a call. The vote on the governor's veto power probably brought out a disportionate number of anti-government types who then voted for the scum bag while they were there.

[Sabien]

3. Frankenveto

I don't think many people even knew this was going to be on the ballot - I know I didn't. I wanted to write "If Tommy could do it, so can Jim" on the ballot but alas, there wasn't space for comments ;) Actually - it should have never morphed into what it did, does anybody know when it will take effect? After the next gubernatorial election I presume.

On the state Supreme Court will sit another judge bought and paid for by the right-wingnuts. WMC wrongly calls itself a group that represents state businesses and the media lapdogs gladly play along.

Sad day.

I often wonder why people put up with the "conservative vs. activist" labels when talking about judges. People are too damn lazy to think for themselves and look into the issues and fall back on stupid labels.

[undeterred]

4. I guess it depends where you live.

Being in Dane county, I was saturated with accurate information about the candidates and there were fundraisers with Doyle, Lawton, Feingold, and others I was invited to. I got a robo call reminder from Lawton in case I forgot, and it was on the radio/tv nonstop. Obviously the Dane County vote was important, but it isn't enough to dig out the rest of the state.

[tanglefoot]

7. I got one of those NRA hit pieces too.

What a load of crap. And one robo call for Gableman. Nothing from Butler except an e-mail warning about low turnout in the afternoon and a call from Barbara Lawton late last night - like a half hour before the polls closed.

[LTR]

5. In these spring elections, it's all about motivating the base

Quite simply, whoever gets the most supporters to the polls wins. And it seems to have paid off for Gableman. I'm pretty sickened by it, especially since Gableman and his cronies ran the sleaziest campaign in recent state history.

If this election were held in November, perhaps we'd see a different result. Nonetheless, I'm sure the reason for holding it in the spring is to limit it to the hardcore political wonks who actually know who their alderman or county commissioner is.

[saigon68]

12. Its Mark Graul of the slimy Green fame

He's now been hired by Gard

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

6. Let's wait to see the numbers...

Dane County often "rescues" candidates in statewide races, but did the student vote turn our for a State Supreme Court race in enough numbers to offset the right-wing nuts up north?

[undeterred]

8. Dane county went heavily for Butler (72%)

but the turnout was lighter than predicted- 15% instead of 20%. The campus groups did nothing to promote the Supreme Court race. Campus turnout in February was 60%. If only this was on the ballot in Febrary instead of now.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

14. Final Number was 64.7%

As good as Kerry, but not as good as for Feingold. Turnout was the killer. Kerry rolled up a nearly 90,000 vote margin. Butler won by only 27,000. But you can't expect a presidential turn-out for a spring election. but to leave 60,000 votes on the table. Oy.

I'm hearing from a lot of people that Butler did not campaign aggressively enough.

[ThisIsMyCountry]

9. I say...

we should quit electing justices and let the governors appoint with Senate approval.

[undeterred]

11. AMEN!

Thats how they do it in many other states.

[elocs]

10. I don't see voter fraud. In La Crosse I saw all kinds of tv ads slamming Butler,

and very little from Butler. We don't have to be like the prima donna wide receiver who constantly whines for a flag any time he misses a pass. Sometimes the answers are very simple. Sometimes you get outplayed--dirty or not. Sometimes, even if you are the incumbent you have to show up and play to win and not take a victory for granted. Butler allowed himself to be swiftboated and we know how that turns out.

[goddess40]

13. Money

It's not that Butler allowed himself to be Swift Boated it's that the other side had so much more money to keep hammering the air waves with negative Butler ads. I don't think for a minute Butler took victory for granted. Again, it all comes down to money and the conservatives have a lot more money than the other side.

[ewagner]

15. 3 robo calls

for gableman here too....

I laughed them off ....but apparently some took it seriously.

[CatholicEdHead]

16. From across the border this looked like a nasty race

In the clips of ads I saw on NBC 15 news stories online. Electing judges like this is a horrible system where money takes all. We are trying to keep it away here but it happens to be the local GOP nuts who are pushing this. They do not want neutral judges, but radical conservative ones.

I wish Gableman would have lost as he sure came across as creepy in his NBC 15 interview. Appointed judges should be the way to go based only on legal credentials, not party connections.

[midnight]

17. He did come across as creepy. Also he didn't seem to be

able to answer the questions,but instead seemed distracted about fundraising. This is the second judge that seems incompetent that Wisconsin has put on the supreme court.

[Serial Mom]

18. More than incompentent - unethical!

And this is how the repukes will "carry-on" with their desire to stack the courts from the small ones on up!