Kloppenburg's Win Bodes Well for Recall of Wisconsin GOP Lawmakers

By Adele M. Stan
Posted at April 6, 2011, 1:12 pm

Against all odds, Democrat JoAnne Kloppenburg appears to have unseated the incumbent Republican Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Paul Prosser, by a margin of just 204 votes:

Supreme Court

All precincts reporting

Candidate Votes Percent
David Prosser (I) 739,886 49.99%
JoAnne Kloppenburg 740,090 50.01%

Yes, there will likely be a recount. But when you consider that Kloppenburg wasn't supposed to have had a prayer, this bodes very well for Democrats in their bid to recall eight Republican state lawmakers. Word from the field is the recall effort is doing much better on the Dem side than it is for the Republicans, who are trying to recall an equal number of Democrats.

With a turnout of more than 1.4 million voters, this Supreme Court race is seen as reflective of a backlash against the antics of Wisconsin Republicans who, through trickery, bullying and sleight-of-hand, rammed through a bill in the state legislature that would repeal the collective bargaining rights of state employees, and gut the public health-care program for the poor. The bill was shepherded by Gov. Scott Walker, who was elected in 2010 with the support of Charles and David Koch, and the latter's front group, Americans For Prosperity.

Adam Green, whose group, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, was deeply involved in running television ads and organizing voters for the Supreme Court race, released the following statement, along with an appeal for donations for a television ad campaign focused on the recall campaign:

"Now we have to finish the job," Green wrote to supporters. "When we win the upcoming recall elections against Republicans in Wisconsin it will have ripple effects across the nation -- showing that working families will hold Republicans accountable for their war on the middle class."

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/552072/kloppenburg%27s_win_bodes_well_for_recall_of_wisconsin_gop_lawmakers/