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WISCONSIN or BUST – The “long, strange trip” and today’s primary

WISCONSIN or BUST – The “long, strange trip” and today’s primary

Will we have to wait for the vote to come in from Waukesha County?

All eyes are on Wisconsin.

Before I get to today’s primary, let’s take a look back at one of my favorite political periods in the history of the world – the defeat of the Recall against Governor Scott Walker after over a year of protests against the public sector union collective bargaining reform bill.

It was what I called Wisconsin’s Long, Strange Trip, linking to our exhaustive coverage of all the crazy:

Police insurrections.  Palace guardsCatch a Senator contests.  Doctors behaving badly.  Massive national solidarity protests which weren’tIdentity theft as political theater.  Shark jumping.  Legislators who run away to other states.  Busbang bangs.  Protesters locking their heads to metal railings and pretending to walk like EgyptiansBeer attacksCanoe flotillas.  (alleged) Judicial chokeholds.  Tears falling on Che Guevara t-shirts at midnight.  Endless recalls.  And recounts.  Communications Directors making threats.   Judges who think they are legislators (well, I’ll grant you that one is common).  V-K DayHole-y warriors.  Cities namedSpeculation and Conjecture.  And the funniest blog headline so far:

First They Came For The Right To Retire After 30 Years On Full Salary With COLAs

When Walker defeated the Recall late in the evening of June 5, 2012, it was Oh what a night.

That was a time when the Legal Insurrection community was more united and cohesive, and thousands of us celebrated the win with the inaugural launch of website fireworks and John Phillip Sousa music:

LI Fireworks2

I don’t know if we’ll ever get back that feeling. Too much has changed.

It’s hard to find one video that summed it all up, but this interview by Kemberlee of then-presidential candidate Walker has his reflections:

Scott Walker would have made a fantastic president. He just didn’t make a fantastic presidential candidate.

Fast forward to the present.

Cruz leads in the polls, but the polls have been wrong before in this cycle. So who knows. The RCP Average shows Cruz ahead by 4.7%:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/wi/wisconsin_republican_presidential_primary-3763.html

If Cruz somehow loses either overall (18 delegates) or in some congressional districts (3 delegates each) and Kasich makes the difference, tensions between the Cruz and Kasich camps likely will boil over, Ted Cruz Is Fuming Because John Kasich Won’t Bow Out:

As Mr. Cruz looks beyond Wisconsin, where he is favored to defeat Donald J. Trump on Tuesday, his frustrations with Mr. Kasich have increasingly been laid bare. With activists and operatives opposed to Mr. Trump fanning out across the electoral map in a scramble to deny him the nomination, Mr. Cruz’s team has argued that it is Mr. Kasich’s “quixotic” bid for the White House that will prove the biggest boon to Mr. Trump in the states to come….

Mr. Kasich’s team sees opportunities for delegates in states like New York, Maryland and Delaware, often in suburban areas. Mr. Cruz’s team sees any such gains as assisting Mr. Trump, particularly in New York, where Mr. Kasich’s presence could ensure that Mr. Trump receives a delegate even in congressional districts he loses to Mr. Cruz, given the state’s rules.

We all know where tonight’s vote will be resolved, don’t we?

Here’s the #WisconsinPrimary Twitter hashtag, so you can follow along at home:


We will add updates throughout the day. RESULTS coverage tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern.

UPDATES:

Pro-Cruz talk show host Charlie Sykes had pro-Trump Ann Coulter on this morning:

[Featured Image: Anti-Walker protester locks her head to State Capitol railing, via JS Online]

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Comments

Wisconsin is an open primary state.

    The Friendly Grizzly in reply to VotingFemale. | April 5, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    You stated a fact. Yet, you get two down-ticks. I wonder why?

      Probably because she implies, as Gary confirms down thread, that Trump fans are eager to align with the most vile progressives in order to get their way. It’s not a surprise, of course, that Trump fans feel more affinity with Occupy than with a solid conservative like Governor Walker. As I have noted and many have confirmed, they are excited by the “civil war” they imagine and by the prospect of fulfilling their wild-eyed fantasies about destroying the GOP … by unifying establishment and Constitutional conservatives while fomenting Occupy and Weather Underground-style “days of rage.”

      Destructive, irrational, naive, and potentially dangerous, these people don’t even care about Trump, some have literally stated this election is not about him, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that they don’t care about or share our values.

        Your feeble politically motivated attempts at character assassination of voters is transparent, baby girl.

        But, carry on!

        I love watching Establishment Supporters’ dumpster fires!

        And by the way, Trump protesters are a partnering amalgamation of GOP Establishment and the most vile nasty hateful Progressives in the nation. So there’s that…

        There is a mega-ton of disgruntled GOP turned Independent voters plus swing voters without whom no GOP nominee can win the General.

        The DEM & GOP Establishments have porked this nation so badly that the backlash is now towering tidal wave of anger and resentment.

        So yeah, Americans who love America = E Pluribus Unum, baby girl.

        Wrong as always and consistently Fuzzster.

        If those vile progressives can be our “useful persons” in a temporary convergence of desires tovdefeat Lyin Ted Cruz then so be it.

        If dems want to vote Trump to stick it to walker and we want to vote Trump for the good of the country that is a temporary convergence of not a permanent alignment.

        After all it is the cruzbots that revel in stealing delegates by any means possible. The cruzbots are the ones who say if it isn’t barred by the rules then it is legal ethical and moral.

        Henry Hawkins in reply to Fuzzy Slippers. | April 5, 2016 at 3:18 pm

        Well, Fuzzy, all we know for certain is that when God put teeth in VotingFemale’s mouth, he ruined a perfectly good horse’s ass.

        I see one of your pupils just got an A+ in ‘Attacking Trump Supporting Women 102,’ Fuzzy. You must be so proud.

        Henry Hawkins | April 5, 2016 at 3:18 pm

        Well, Fuzzy, all we know for certain is that when God put teeth in VotingFemale’s mouth, he ruined a perfectly good horse’s ass.

    Here is hoping that several 10s of thousands of hate walker with a passion democrats and independents cross over and vote Trump just to stick it in Walkers eye. Keep your fingers crossed.

    Twitter Feed:

    Mark Murray
    @mmurraypolitics

    % of remaining delegates Trump must win for 1237:

    – if Cruz takes all WI delegates: 59%

    – if they split: 57%

    – if Trump takes all: 54%

    5:31am · 5 Apr 2016 · TweetDeck

    136 Retweets 102 Likes

    With some luck, a good percentage of the usual Trump-inspired whackos will cast their vote for Sanders, diluting their normal skewing of votes toward Trump.

Activity was surprisingly sparse at my overwhelmingly blue polling place at 7:30 this morning. Appeared to be mostly retired folks and those on their way to work, but still significantly few for a polling place serving two wards. MSM has been yelping about an expected record turnout for well over a week, but these are the same people that hype two snowflakes as an apocalyptic event. Didn’t see anybody suffering from having to produce an ID to vote, either.

Sorry professor but you are quite wrong about walker as a good president. Walker had to leave presidential race because of his policies and not because of his lack of charisma and personality.

Before Trump walker was my choice for all the same reasons that you celebrated walker. Sadly walker did not campaign for president on the policies that made him a great governor. He didn’t campaign on doing to public unions and teachers unions in the usa what he had done in Wisconsin.

Instead walker surrounded himself with washington RINO open borders stupid trade deal loving Paul Ryan style consultants. Walker came out for open borders increased h1b visas and pro sanctuary cities. THOSE ARE THE REASONS WALKER WENT NOWHERE AS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND THOSE ARE THE REASONS HE WOULD HAVE BEEN HORRIBLE PRESIDENT AND THOSE ARE THE REASONS HE ENDORSES CRUZ.

    Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | April 5, 2016 at 2:07 pm

    Wow.

    Gari has gone ALL CAPS early today.

    I hope his has his slobber-bib on…

      Henry Hawkins in reply to Ragspierre. | April 5, 2016 at 2:11 pm

      If Trump loses Wisconsin, his campaign is effectively over, which has many Trump supporter stomachs in knots today. They behold their Goliath hitting the dirt, holding one eye in pain, yelling, “OW! Not fair!”

        conservative tarheel in reply to Henry Hawkins. | April 5, 2016 at 5:47 pm

        I do not understand … if Trump loses WI
        how is his campaign over?
        Yes he will not make 1237
        but he can still be a force at the convention.
        and could still win on the 2nd ballot
        since he is such a skilled negotiator (his words)
        cuz you know in redoing trade deals and
        everything else it is going to be yuge ….

          “I do not understand … if Trump loses WI
          how is his campaign over?”

          The long plan is that if Donald Trump is denied the nomination on the first ballot then on the second ballot delegates will switch to Cruz. Those delegates aren’t “double agents” or “zombie delegates”. This is how the game is played. I’ve been following the national conventions since 1968, and this is how it is done. Coming out of the primary or caucus delegates usually have a commitment for a limited number of votes. Otherwise, if delegates couldn’t switch candidates, if no one won of the first ballot, no one could ever win.

      The Friendly Grizzly in reply to Ragspierre. | April 5, 2016 at 2:37 pm

      Simple explanation: the batteries in his hearing aids ran down, so he has to shout. :-{)}}

Henry Hawkins | April 5, 2016 at 2:02 pm

lol… an assertion may be determined to be correct if it’s posted in all caps.

I SAID AN ASSERTION IS TRUER IF IT’S POSTED IN ALL CAPS.

Henry Hawkins | April 5, 2016 at 2:08 pm

This just in:

Trump Releases Short List of VP Candidates

5. Dog The Bounty Hunter
4. Hulk Hogan
3. Snookie from Jersey Shore
2. Sarah Palin’s plumber

and his favorite choice…… (drumroll)

1. Triumph The Insult Comic Dog

“While everyone on our list would bring valuable assets to the Trump campaign, we felt that Triumph best embodies the Trump style,” said campaign director Corey Lewandowsky.

http://www.dumbenough2Btrue. com

This just in:

DC Madam’s Phone Records Have Been Privately Released

Cruz should be worried as should others.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/04/developing-dc-madams-phone-records/

    Ragspierre in reply to VotingFemale. | April 5, 2016 at 2:17 pm

    How’s it feel to carry character assassinating unsupported lies from a cartoon blog?

    You were always a liar, pretending to be what you were not.

    I always had your number, and still do.

    I hope someone has an authenticated list of past phone numbers used by Lyin Ted.

    On the other hand, Trump does not have to wrroy, as he is on the record boasting of his adulteries. You can’t be a hypocrite if you’re evil.

    Oh, and thank you for helping destroy any chance that your messiah will win the general election by antagonozing everyone else to the pont of staying home. (Which is wrong. Instead, leave the top line blank and vote for all of the actual Republicans.)

      Henry Hawkins in reply to mzk. | April 5, 2016 at 8:05 pm

      “You can’t be a hypocrite if you’re evil.”

      Galaxic quote of the day.

    Others? Why? Are you on it?

Henry Hawkins | April 5, 2016 at 2:22 pm

Report: Trump Laying Off Staff In Key General Election Battleground States

“Donald Trump’s campaign is increasingly falling into disarray as the Manhattan billionaire braces for a loss in Wisconsin that could set him on course for an uncertain convention floor fight for the Republican presidential nomination.

Since March, the campaign has been laying off field staff en masse around the country and has dismantled much of what existed of its organizations in general-election battlegrounds, including Florida and Ohio.”

http://www.weaselzippers.us/

Disclaimer: This report originates from Politico, the online website of choice when the GOPe wants to leak something. On the other hand, this isn’t a leak from within the GOP (‘e’ or otherwise) and contains claims easily refuted or confirmed. Politico is leftish, but they ain’t stupid.

    This story was planted by Cruz so Cruz can then do robo calls to voters saying Trump is dropping out of race. It is Cruz’s original lie and dirty trick.

      Henry Hawkins in reply to Gary Britt. | April 5, 2016 at 3:05 pm

      lol. Yeah, shoot an arrow into the side of the barn and then go draw the target around it. “Mommy, I hit the bull’s eye!”

      YOUR CLAIM CANNOT BE TRUE BECAUSE IT WASN’T POSTED IN ALL CAPS.

    Ragspierre in reply to Henry Hawkins. | April 5, 2016 at 7:14 pm

    Multiple staffers and advisors left the campaign last month in protest of the way its management was treating its staff, a source familiar with the departures told POLITICO.

    “I believe that Donald Trump has the backbone to fix this country, but if changes are not made soon at the top I am fairly convinced that he will lose,” said one of the people who left the campaign. The person said morale among the campaign staff is sinking, attributing that to the layoffs, as well as Lewandowski’s profanity-laced outburst on campaign calls.

    “I don’t think Mr. Trump knows what’s happening on his campaign,” the person said, adding “everyone is in astonishment of what’s going on. It’s almost like they’re sabotaging themselves.”

    (Lewandowski said that “never once” has anyone on the campaign complained to him about his cursing or management style.)

    Braynard, the former Republican National Committee strategist Trump had hired to run his campaign’s data team, was let go by the campaign a couple weeks ago, multiple sources also told POLITICO.

    Neither Braynard nor Lewandowski commented when asked whether Braynard left of his own accord or was fired. Sources say his top lieutenant in the campaign’s data shop, a former RNC data engineer named Witold Chrabaszcz, was elevated at least temporarily to run the team. Chrabaszcz, who goes by “Vito,” declined to comment. While he is regarded as a savvy manipulator of data, he’s largely unknown in the tight-knit world of GOP data strategists. He seldom worked on political strategy at the RNC and mostly interacted with the party’s other data engineers, a group known as the “basement dwellers.”

    Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-campaign-staff-disarray-221557#ixzz44zqdd7G9
    Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

    That is SOOOOOO strange…

    So much inside-the-campaign stuff, including quotes from “Lady Killer” Lewandowski, for a story “planted” by Cruz.

    Damn. That Cruz guy must have ninja skills…

Charles Gasperino
@CGasperino

#BreakingNews @tedcruz adviser: “election is over and @realDonaldTrump wins if he wins in Wisconsin” more @FoxBusiness NOW
12:57pm – 5 Apr 16

Sweet Jesus, why is ANYBODY voting for that idiot Kasich at this point. He has no chance of winning, and the RNC would first have to change their own rules to make him eligible, and THEN pass up Trump and Cruz to crown him. In such a case the party would revolt and Clinton/Sanders would win by default.

At this point it’s Trump or Cruz.

    Heck Olinser, GOP candidates that have dropped out are still getting primary votes.

    mzk in reply to Olinser. | April 5, 2016 at 5:33 pm

    Technically, that rule has not yet been passed.

    For that matter, if Trump were losing, his supporters would be whining about the fact that the delegates are disprportionaely given to the front runner. But we didn’t think of that, did we? That’s because we are dumb Republicans, instead of clever Establishment Democrats like Donald.

Henry Hawkins | April 5, 2016 at 3:16 pm

This is hilarious. Former Trump advisor and current fanboy Roger Stone is threatening delegates who “steal” the nomination from Trump:

Roger Stone: We’ll disclose the hotel room number for any delegate in Cleveland who tries to “steal” the nomination from Trump

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/04/05/roger-stone-well-disclose-the-hotel-room-number-for-any-delegate-in-cleveland-who-tries-to-steal-the-nomination-from-trump/

The hilarious part? These delegate hotel room number assignments are routinely made public by the RNC. There’s nothing to reveal.

BREAKING NEWS

Exit polls are showing Cruz is leading BIG with 18 to 24 year old midget hookers.

    The Establishment bots must be on an Erick Erickson conference call getting more pointers how to enhance their jackassery.

    They just up and vanished like a fart in the wind.

    No doubt they will be back newly equipped with even more nastiness.

      You are referring to the DNCe candidate? Donald Rodham Clinton?

      No doubt, coordinated talking points are happening.

      Could we hope that the Cruz camp is getting exit polling data that isn’t favorable and they are all in panic mode ?

      Probably not sadly. Probabilities going into today are Cruz wins, and we in the public don’t have anything but unreliable anecdotal evidence as to what is happening at the polls. I’ve seen anecdotal comments that support all possible outcomes.

      So sadly we have to assume unless something happens otherwise that Cruz will win Wisconsin today.

    Thank you for reminding me why even Hillary is better than Donald Clinton. Lately, word seems to have come out from Trump Central to lay off, as I don’t see the continual comments using an obscene term to question my loyalty to the United States. If they had kept it up, I might have held my nose and voted for Donald in the general. The way you antagonize anyone who does not worship as the feet of your messiah makes me wonder why you are trying to get Hillary elected and give the House to the Dems. Given that Donald is an old friend of his fellow establishment elitists, the Clintons, perhaps that was the idea all along

      McCain the RINO got Obama elected.

      Romney The RINO got Obama reelected.

      The GOP Establishment is maneuvering to deny both Trump and Cruz the nomination and this is what you come up with…

      Lost in the wilderness, you are.

        And now Trump the uber-RINO will get Hillary elected.

          If Trump were an Uber-RINO, Establishment RINOs would worship him instead of attacking him. You need better lines, MZK.

          mzk in reply to mzk. | April 5, 2016 at 6:52 pm

          You aren’t thinking. RINO means Republicans in Name Only. Trump is the least Republican of all who claim the title. That doesn’t mean they are all on the same side. Oh, and “establishment” does not mean “anyone who disagrees with me”.

          Trump is an establishment Democrat, so real Republicans, weak Republicans (RINOs), and real Democracts do not like him. Also, all decent people. The Establishment isn’t fond of Cruz either, but it is the Republican establishment, so Cruz is closer to them than Rodham Trump.

        Missed that. You aren’t calling Cruz a RINO.

        OK, then my point is that by ccalling people who disagree with you by obscene terms that question their loyalty to the country, you make it impossible for them to vote for your guy in November. (I expect him to get the nomination.) Thus you elect Hillary.

        I am quite serious. While I first decided when he slandered Bush (calling him a liar instead of mistaken) and then showed his ignorance in the follow-up, listening to Trump on the radio warmed me to him a bit. I might in fact be persuaded to vote for him in the general, if it weren’t for the fact that, like Democrats, his supporters consider anyone who disagrees with them to be evil instead of mistaken.

          Cruz is a backstabbing traitorous sellout to the Tea Party who now is a GOPe puppet endorsed by none other than Jeb!

          You GOPe types are hanging from you Amnesty Is Love Liberal-Appeasing petards.

    Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | April 5, 2016 at 5:25 pm

    Gawd! The T-rump suckers here are like little, spoiled kids in their need for constant attention.

    Little brown-shirted, spoiled kids…

Twitter Feed:

Voting Female
@VotingFemale

Even More Than Ronald Reagan Himself

#WIprimary

#copolitics #nra #maga #tcot #ccot #pjnet

Retweet:

https://twitter.com/newtgingrich/status/717442076304998400

Newt Gingrich @newtgingrich

.@realDonaldTrump is the greatest threat to the Establishment in our lifetime.

https://www.facebook.com/newtgingrich/videos/vb.19182454196/10154055809184197/?type=2&theater

http://pic.twitter.com/wbjSFnMKbI

1:05pm · 5 Apr 2016 · TweetDeck

Henry Hawkins | April 5, 2016 at 4:24 pm

Tick, tick, tick, tick….

    Yes, we are imploding. Hillary will be the next President, possibly with the House on her side. You would almost think her friend Donald planned it this way. And if the DRC acolytrd had only stuck to the usual visciouness of candidate partisans and not gone full brown-shirt, Donald would have had a chance in the general.

    At any rate, it appears that the real fans of LI/CI are not split.

Henry Hawkins | April 5, 2016 at 5:22 pm

Ruh-roh……..

Exclusive: Republican presidential hopeful Cruz in national dead heat with Trump – Reuters/Ipsos poll

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-cruz-idUSKCN0X22L2?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews

Observing VotingTamale and Gaghdad Bob Britt writhing around each other inexorably reminded me of this couple…

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Nurse+Diesel&view=detail&mid=EC397177C93ACBD310AEEC397177C93ACBD310AE&FORM=VIRE

Rags got mixed up.

This is Fuzzy schooling Rags in the fine art of personal attacks on voters, GOPe-Style 🙂

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Nurse+Diesel&view=detail&mid=EC397177C93ACBD310AEEC397177C93ACBD310AE&FORM=VIRE

Twitter Feed:

Greta Van Susteren
@greta

.@SarahHuckabee: I think it will be mathematically impossible for @tedcruz to get to 1237 delegates -OTR #greta @FoxNews

4:17pm · 5 Apr 2016 · Twitter Web Client

Back when they had the Supreme Court race and Waukesha County was so important, it was about timing. The clerk sent the wrong subtotal in, so the Democratic strongholds knew how many false votes to report. When the actual total was sent in it was great enough to overcome that deficit. My intuition is that Republicans don’t cheat with voter totals the way the socialist do. Fortunately, as mentioned above, the socialist/communists who would do mischief by voting for Trump might be voting for Sanders over Hillary.

Just heard Ann compare Reagan and Nixon as both from California. Those are polar opposites. She is such a mean girl snot. She drinks hateraide.

An ok win tonight for the Scott Walker GOP establishment machine.

Interesting to note that even the Scott Walker establisnment machine could not beat the #NeverCruz factions tonight. Tonight a majority of Wisconsin republicans voted against Ted Cruz. And if Kasich weren’t in the race Trump would have won beating tge Walker machine.

I liked Trump’s statement. I hope it means his attempts at making nice with the GOPe are over and he goes back to attacking the GOPe republicans in Congress and party leadership along with his other campaign strategies and positions.

    Ragspierre in reply to Gary Britt. | April 6, 2016 at 8:22 am

    “Donald J. Trump withstood the onslaught of the establishment yet again. Lyin’ Ted Cruz had the Governor of Wisconsin, many conservative talk radio show hosts, and the entire party apparatus behind him. Not only was he propelled by the anti-Trump Super PAC’s spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was coordinating `with his own Super PAC’s (which is illegal) who totally control him. Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet— he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump.”

    Shorter Der Donald: getting schlonged…it BURNSSSSS….!!!!