Some highly speculative thoughts on yesterday's WI recalls--

[Jackpine Radical]

The Dems won pretty handily:

Holperin (D) over Simac (R) 55-45

and

Wirch (D) over Steitz (R) 58-42

On Sunday I was driving from Chicago to Milwaukee, passing through Wirch's district. Listening to the radio, I heard nothing but anti-Wirch ads, and was pretty impressed with the obviously large ad expenditures. Many of these ads were on the presumably expensive Chicago stations that broadcast into that area of Wisconsin. Being down there, exposed to the radio blitz, I was pretty nervous about how this was gonna work out. Can the public withstand such a massive media assault?

Well, they could, and did, as we all found out last night.

That started me thinking. An old but very effective cognitive-behavioral technique involves simply practicing resisting an impulse to do one thing and replacing it with another action. For example, a person with a compulsive behavior might simply work at doing something else when confronted by his compulsion.

Surely all those anti-Wirch ads must have raised some degree of an impulse to vote against him, at least in that portion of the public who were not particularly knowledgeable or committed. But these people resisted the urge, and replaced it with a better and healthier alternative: they overcame whatever level of discomfort the ads may have placed in them and voted for Wirch.

Thus all those who were to some degree susceptible to the negative advertising overcame the implanted negativity and followed their own guidance. In psychological terms, their ability to resist the negative ads was strengthened. Theory would seem to say that their susceptibility to this kind of advertising was weakened, and their "field independence" was strengthened, so they will be more likely to follow their own judgment next time as well. It's kind of like being vaccinated; if the dose of pathogen isn't strong enough to kill you, you will develop resistance to it that will stand you in good stead the next time you are exposed to it.

Could RW propaganda be a self-limiting problem?

[EC]

1. Hope so.

But Kenosha is still very heavily union. Wirch was a factory worker who got his credes though actually helping many of us and getting out and doing the door to door. Many of us that were born here know him. Wirch also just doesn't do his part during elections, he is available and working for us all the time. Our #1 Senator was Joe Andrea, when he died, Wirch took his place and has been true to the teachings of Andrea...so I would have thought there was some monkey business if the repubs had won, with a securities lawyer as their candidate.

[CatWoman]

2. seen this page, Jackpine?

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=170298846356161

:hi:

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Hey, thanks, CW.

:hug:

[kentuck]

4. Excellent question Jackpine.

The Repubs must be very disappointed with the results, even though they are fairly silent? But, it seems they spent a lot of money on ads for these two campaigns, with hopes of slipping in and taking one or both of the seats?

They must be asking, "What happened?"

[Jim Lane]

5. The silver lining for Republicans

Yes, they spent money on these two unsuccessful campaigns. But they have lots of money to spend.

They also forced Democrats and their supporters to spend money. Even if the Dems spent less, the dent in their resources was probably greater. This spending gained the Dems no new seats, but simply defended what we already had.

The flip side would be if the campaigns mobilized and politicized some voters who'd been more apathetic before. We can hope that the result will be more Democratic money, not less, available for the next round, including the Walker recall.

[librechik]

6. should be, but every few years we get a brand new load of political naives

who don't know that the Republicans are evil and when they run an ad they are trying to brainwash you. They just get brainwashed. There will never be an end to it, because the education problem is always with us, generation after generation.