Dear fellow Dems,

[OmahaBlueDog]

1) Poll results have shown Walker with a lead for the past couple of weeks. This is a disappointment, but not a surprise.

2) It's not over: remember this DU thread? http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014132056. There's still an ongoing investigation. Who knows where that will lead?

3) I'm not sure how much to read into this. We had a mayoral recall here in Omaha. An unpopular mayor (a Dem, I might add) survived despite a well funded onslaught. One oft-cited reason voters gave for voting against the recall -- they felt recalls should be reserved for the most extreme cases. I'm sure there was some of that in Wisconsin. (However, it doesn't change the fact that Gray Davis was screwed over).

4) We can wallow in blame. We can blame our President, or Bill Clinton, or Russ Feingold, or or Bob Uecker or whomever we want. The fact is we have a Presidency to retain, a Senate to try and salvage, and a House we may yet be able to win over. Let's learn what worked and what did not work in Wisconsin and move forward.

5) IIRC, we get another shot at Walker in two years, and meanwhile, we made the GOP spend a bunch of money to keep a Governorship they didn't think they'd have to defend.

6) They're still voting in Milwaukee - you never know until all the counting is done.

[rsmith6621]

1. 9% Gap with 84% Counted

Your #6 point I dont think holds water...

[kestrel91316]

2. Barrett has conceded. Those folks still standing in line may as well go home

because the vote no longer matters.

[cry baby]

3. I suppose I'm just disappointed in humans...I can't figure out what

is what is happening to our country.

[OmahaBlueDog]

5. Voting is never simple

Exit polls showed these same voters supporting Obama for President.

Maybe they are against recalls.

Maybe some voters blame unions for Wisconsin's economic woes.

Maybe they've decided Walker is likable.

How did the same country that elected JFK vote in Nixon 8 years later? How did the same country that voted for George W. Bush twice vote for Barack Obama? What is happening t our country is the same thing that has always happened -- voters do funny things.

[cry baby]

7. Yes they do funny things...I would just like to understand the things they do.

[shcrane71]

4. Bullshit on point #3.

Omaha, east of 72nd, is the most densely populated, and it's well over 80% registered Dems. I was in Omaha for the recall, and the suburban voters were hellbent on getting Suttle out of there. The Dems were just as hell bent on keeping Suttle. Hell, even the Nebraska Dem Party ventured east of 72nd to hold events for Suttle.

Suttle's still in because his democratic base knows that he's not going to privatize garbage collection, and those east of 72nd St came out to ensure that our property taxes still entailed garbage pick-up. We're not all that crazy about Suttle, but he's better than the alternative.

[OmahaBlueDog]

9. I call BS right back

Suttle narrowly won, despite massively unpopular tax increases. Omaha may be densely populated east of 72nd, but it's pretty massively populated from 72nd all the way out to the city limits at 180th to or 192nd or Elkhorn (wherever the limits happen to be). I stand by what I said before -- if that'd been a cyclical mayoral election, he'd have gone down, and the idea that it was not an appropriate recall (and that it would be Omaha's second mayoral recall in recent memory) was a factor. It was certainly more of a factor than garbage pickup. Mostly, the Sutle recall was a referendum on the restaurant tax and the fire and police union contracts vis a vis the pension spiking scandal.

Dave Nabity would have been smarter to have campaigned for the breakup of the city. Elkhorn still despises being part of Omaha; Omaha west of 680 doesn't feel much affinity for Omaha east of 680, and South Omaha is still ticked off over the downtown stadium decision.

[shcrane71]

10. I've seen the voter maps of Omaha, and I've talked to people in the election commission.

They all know where the voters are, and who has them. Straight from the Douglas county election commission office, east of 72nd Dems have the votes and they can own the city whenever they get out to vote -- even with the annexation of Elkhorn. It's as simple as that.

I know all too well why the suburbanites and restauranteers were mad. I had the mother of the head of the head of the Douglas County Dems trying to get me to vote for the Republican. She was upset about the new commuter tax that wouldn't even affect her as she worked and lived in Sarpy county.

Again when the Dems east of 72nd come out to vote, you've got yourself a Dem mayor -- recall or not.

[OmahaBlueDog]

12. We can both hope that theory holds true with Ewing vs. Terry (nt)

.

[shcrane71]

13. I'm not holding my breadth...

All I'll do is watch the mainstream network media, they'll tell me who wins and doesn't win before the election, and minutes after the polls close.

That's all we need to know.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

6. The most intelligent post of the night! K&R!!!!

[mahina]

8. Thanks.

[colsohlibgal]

11. It's Just Discouraging, What Is Wrong With Some People?

Too many have let themselves be swayed by propoganda, being lazy and/or not too bright to begin with. Really misguided.

Somehow they've been convinced to say "why them?" instead of "why not us?".

It's getting scary in this corporations are people country, I do not like where this may be headed, I'm spooked.

FDR, HST, DDE, JFK, even Teddy Roosevelt, that old trust buster, have to be spinning in their graves.

It all sucks right now.