It is not surprising that there would be an enthusiasm gap in Wisconsin, with the national unions pouring substantial funds and efforts into recalling Republican Senators and eventually Gov. Scott Walker.
The efforts are not only monetary, but also through physical and other intimidation, such as physically disrupting recall efforts against Democratic Senators and intimidation by police unions against businesses which do not denounce Republicans.
Is the situation dire for Republicans? Or is the silent majority merely intimidated into public silence?
Sam Stein at HuffPo argues that Republicans are being seriously outorganized and outfunded:
Both national and Wisconsin-based Republican operatives tell the Huffington Post the party is being dramatically outworked and out-organized by Democrats in the recall campaigns being launched against state Senators.
The operatives, who raised their concerns out of hope it would jar the GOP into assertiveness, argue complacency has taken over after Governor Scott Walker successfully shepherded his anti-collective bargaining bill into law. While the Wisconsin Democratic Party, with major assists from progressive groups and unions, has harnessed resentment towards the governor into a full-throttled effort to recall eight GOP Senators, neither the enthusiasm nor organizational acumen exists on the Republican side of the aisle.
I have no doubt that much of what Stein says is true, but the numbers being reported by Dave Weigel show that each side has obtained so far roughtly half the number of signatures needed for recall petitions. So is the enthusiasm gap really going to show up at the polls?
As both Stein and Weigel report, local Tea Party activists and groups are leading the way in recall petition drives against Democrats, while the Democrats have national union support.
I have no way of judging if the situation is as dire as predicted. As Matthew Knee wrote yesterday, the polling numbers do not necessarily portent doom for Republicans.
But this should be a call to action for those who want to support the recall efforts against Democrats and to help defend the recall efforts against Republicans.
While most of the nation will have forgotten about Wisconsin by June, the national unions will try to turn Wisconsin in June 2011 into Massachusetts 2010, where Scott Brown’s victory shocked the country.
The difference is that there is no underlying national support for bloated state budgets, unlike the genuine national revulsion at Obamacare which led to Brown’s victory.
If left to its own devices, the recall efforts against Republicans in Wisconsin would fail miserably; but things are not left to their own devices, as a victory in Wisconsin may be the national unions’ last chance to resurrect control over state budgets.
Post in the comments or send me links to the groups fighting for Republicans in Wisconsin. And consider donating.
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Comments
Please do not link to Dave Weigel.
We have Republicans and we have conservatives. There are "moderate" Republicans, and blue blood Republicans, those who enjoy give and take on the House or Senate floor, and then drinks together later. So the day will come when fence sitting will not be an option. Are these Republicans willing to let Walker and Wisconsin hang in the wind, to rid themselves of the Tea Party types? I hope not, but this is a fight neither side can afford to lose.
Wait… Reince Priebus, who is the new chair of the RNC… He was the architect behind the Republican takeover in WI.
Where is he in all this?
Where is the Tea Party?
WHERE are our armies?
Agreed. The Unions know that if this falls into distant memory and the State returns to a normal status quo beautiful Spring, it proves that they truly were being selfish about their benefits, which they are. That's why they need to turn this around and "prove" that they can't be stopped… not realizing that they're leaving a broken leg untreated, so that soon the only options we'll be left with will be much, much worse.
In light of that, I'm definitely on board throwing some money to the locals.
That's one way of looking at it. Another way is to remember that we can spread the battlefield into other states like OH, IN, and MI so as to thin them out and force them to spend more money where bills have yet to be passed. We already won in WI. We outnumber these thugs and should press our advantage by continuing the fight where it expand on the WI narrative.
The thugs can try to make hay over the recall but only at a cost of losing the franchise elsewhere.
Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS has launched a "Government Union Reform Action Center" that we can donate to. I've seen the first video ad at the link below play a handful of times on Fox News where I live, and I'm pretty sure (but not 100% certain) it has played on local broadcast stations as well. Here's the link to the site:
http://crossroadsgps.org/government-union-reform-action-center
This Rove group is not focused specifically on Wisconsin. While the union reform effort is playing out in several states, the national unions appear to have decided to plow disproportionate resources into Wisconsin. The Community Organizer in Chief's community organizing front group, Organizing for America, together with the national unions that have bought him and put him in their back pocket have decided to turn Wisconsin into a high profile national battleground.
I agree that we need to find organizations that are specifically dedicated to recalling the Fleebagger 14 to support.
I say we boycott the public unions by not paying our taxes. Oh wait we can't do that, the union police will come with guns and confiscate our homes. Who are the thugs again?
I wonder how much "enthusiasm" we'd be seeing for the Dems in Wisconsin if it weren't being bused in from out-of-state and cooked up in Washington.
Or, stated another way, there's a difference between enthusiasm and astroturf.
Do NOT donate to anything Karl Rove organizes. He is the architect of RINOism. His goal is to co-opt the Tea Party conservatives or failing to do so, to derail us.
Who checks the signatures on the recall sheets?
The Republicans need to remember how Obama destroyed Alice Palmer's bid for her old seat back, and she was Obama's Illinois memtor and a Communist.
"Who checks the signatures on the recall sheets?" –"I"
Answer – usually – is a Democrat. The poll watchers, ballot chiefs, and many of the officials in government charged to work on such efforts are Democrats. If there is not an effort to ensure these signatures are verified by a TRULY bi-partisan committee, it will be thrown.
The old saw that Stalin supposedly said "The one who votes, does not matter. It is the one who COUNTS the votes that matters" is shown to be true time and time again in recall efforts, close elections, etc.
Who is watching the watchers?
PPhil: I share the concerns about a group led by Karl Rove, but I don't think we should fail to support our troops in Wisconsin, where Obama and his army are going to force a major battle. If they win there they will enhance their momentum, and vice versa. We also should do as you suggest and support our people in the other states you mention.
Some relevant facts.
Erin Decker, of Silver Lake Wisconsin filed our petition. http://gab.wi.gov/node/1665
The effort is being led by Dan Hunt of Pleasant Prarie, WI. Dan stated clearly (on camera) that he thought the outside group APRC should stay out of our business. Dan's site is http://www.recallwirch.com APRC did file a petition as well.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/118138494.html
"• Dan Hunt, a Kenosha County resident who's a land developer in Illinois, is the chairman of the effort to recall Sen. Robert Wirch (D-Kenosha).
He said last week his group, which collects signatures at public places around the district, had between 6,000 and 10,000 signatures, out of the 13,000 needed to force an election."
"But both parties said it's the grass-roots organizers that are in control of the campaigns."
Someone local has to file the petition, yes. But, the outside influnce is massive on one side of the fence.
http://maciverinstitute.com/2011/03/organizers-recruiting-workers-from-washington-dc-to-run-recall-efforts-against-gop-senators/
https://secure.actblue.com/ Look at all the WI recall PAC's.
The fact that Union thugs keep interfering with our recall efforts tells me they are afraid.