The Fall Out from Walker's Recall Win in Wisconsin

Yesterday's disastrous victory by Scott Walker in the Wisconsin recall election holds many bad omens for Democrats and average Americans who don't drink heavily from the GOP's Kool-Aid cauldron.  The first omen is that money can buy elections via a constant media barrage (some estimates are that Walker out spent Democrats 7 to 1).  Another is that many voters remain with their heads in the sand until the last moment and can be easily duped to vote against their own long term best interests.   The third is that much more effort needs to be focused on winning the votes of moderates and independents.  No doubt Walker's survival will embolden the extremists in the GOP to take the Wisconsin game plan national - something that doesn't bode well for the country in the long term.  Here in Virginia one can only cringe at what the Virginia GOP will try to do during the 2013 legislative session. When will all of this end?  Only when (i) more of the elderly voter portion of the population that voes for the GOP dies off and (ii) younger voters wake up to the poisonous consequences of the GOP economic agenda and vote in full strength.  A column in the Washington Post looks at how Walker pulled out victory yesterday.  Here are highlights:

Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s victory in the Wisconsin recall offers a number of lessons for American politics more broadly.

First, the gender gap can work both ways. Women voted for Democrat Tom Barrett while men voted for Walker. Indeed, Walker’s share of the vote among women was 12 points lower than his share among men. But he carried males by a landslide: 59 percent to 40 percent. Walker lost women much more narrowly, 52 percent to 47 percent. The lesson is that Republicans can survive a rather big gender gap as long as they win men overwhelmingly.

Second, Walker’s heavy early spending clearly helped him. The pre-election polls suggested that Barrett was closing in on Walker in the final days, and he clearly was. The exit poll found that eight percent of the voters said they decided how to vote in the last few days, and they went overwhelmingly for Barrett, 69 percent to 27 percent. The rest of the electorate that decided earlier went for Walker . . . . Money matters.

Third, to win, Democrats need to overwhelm Republicans among moderates. Looking at the vote by ideology, you might imagine Barrett won: he carried liberals by 86 percent to 13 percent, and moderates by 54 percent to 46 percent. Walker carried only conservatives, by 86 percent to 14 percent. But the math added up for Walker

Democrats don’t just need to win moderates; they need to win them by very large margins. Victorious Democratic coalitions are inevitably an alliance of the center with the left. . . . . . Turning out your own supporters is essential. But so is fighting for the pure swing voters.

As a gay American, I continue to wonder at times if simply leaving the USA isn't perhaps the best strategy.   I find the GOP down right frightening and a threat to my well being.