Listen to this episode: {play}http://traffic.libsyn.com/radioornot/20120606_Nicole_Sandler_Show.mp3 {/play}
Podcast: Play in new window
So, what the fuck happened in Wisconsin yesterday? Did big money win the day? Yes, but it’s more complicated than that. People revolted against yet another recall, or so it seems. Recall exhaustion? That’s what the exit polls are saying. As Jamie Bouie writes (posted by Greg Sargent in WaPo), “On Wisconsin, Conventional Wisdom is Mostly Wrong“.
According to exit polls, Walker won 17 percent of Obama supporters in the state, and overall, last night’s electorate favored the president over Mitt Romney by a significant margin, 52 percent to 43 percent. It’s a smaller margin than 2008, where he won the state by 14 points, but it’s a solid performance, and a sign that — in reality — Wisconsin is less vulnerable than it looks. Indeed, as of last night, President Obama’s Wisconsin effort is in great shape, and conservatives should temper their view of their chances in the state
Of course, this leads to a question; who are these pro-Walker, pro-Obama voters? Simple. For 60 percent of last night’s voters, a recall is only acceptable in cases of offical misconduct. For 10 percent, a recall is never acceptable. It’s not that these voters are pro-Walker, pro-Obama as much as they are pro-Obama, anti-recall. To them, this is a question of stability — “how are we supposed to govern a state if a governor can be deposed for controversial policies?” You may not like Walker — and see him as a dangerous ideologue — but it’s a fair point.
Fair enough. However, I’m still not happy that the DNC chose to sit this one out, to hold back their massive cash reserves when the money could have helped close the 10:1 spending gap. Walker spent $30.5 million to Barrett’s $3.9 million. And that doesn’t account for outside spending (a la Super PACs) from groups like Kochs, etc.
This morning, we’ll discuss this with Susie Madrak, who came to the same conclusion this morning.
In the second hour, we’ll hang with BradBlog‘s Brad Friedman, the guy who can shine a light on what happened at the polls, and tell us what, if any shenanigans happened at the ballot box.
Today, after the show, I head to Providence, Rhode Island, for Netroots Nation 2012. For a preview of the events, I’ll be joined this morning by Netroots Nation’s communications director Mary Rickles. We’ll broadcast live tomorrow and Friday – and will have special editions of Talking Left immediately following my show. We’ll also be the place to live stream most of the events – so if you can’t be there in person, be there via streaming video live from Radio or Not!
