Wisconsin voters speak out today!
Submitted by Cathy Lee B on February 19, 2008 - 5:47pm.
Democratic politics
Read comments from WI voters from around the state as they cast their votes today...
http://blogs.jsonline.com/allpoliticswatch/
Particularly telling:
"A vote doesn't necessarily mean a show of confidence for one candidate over another. Sometimes, it's a lot more complicated than that.
Take Audrey Murray, a 74-year-old registered Republican. She said she voted for Barack Obama at Glenwood Elementary School in Greenfield - but not because she likes him.
"I don't want to see Barack Obama get elected president," said Murray, a retired banker. "I don't want to see Hillary Clinton anywhere near the election."
Murray said she believes a lot of Republicans are voting in the Democratic primary in order to weaken the challenge to McCain."
"Elizabeth Kandziora, 84, and Daniel Wenzel, 78, both voted for Hillary Clinton at Clement Avenue School in Bay View.
"Clinton has a lot of knowledge and she's been in politics for many years," said Kandziora, a resident of Bay View for 55 years. "It would be nice to have a woman in the White House. I like what she stands for."
Wenzel, a retired aluminum products installer, said, "I think she has more on the ball."
Both say health care was their chief concern in the election."
Early Wis. Exit Poll Highlights
By The Associated Press – 3 hours ago
Highlights from preliminary results of exit polling Tuesday in the Wisconsin primaries for The Associated Press and television networks:
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THUMBS DOWN ON GLOBALIZATION ...
Wisconsin Democratic primary voters were not big fans of globalization. Seven in 10 said U.S. trade with other countries takes more jobs from Wisconsin and fewer than one in five said it creates more jobs for the state. One in 10 said international trade has no effect on the state either way.
... AND PESSIMISM ABOUT THE ECONOMY
Broader economic concerns were apparent. As in earlier primaries, at least half of Wisconsin Democrats said the nation's economy is not good and nearly all the rest said it is poor.
Wisconsin Republican primary voters felt a bit better about the economy, but still, a majority said it was not good or poor.
OPEN PRIMARY TURNOUT
Wisconsin has truly open primaries — voters choose in the voting booth which party's primary to vote in. The exit poll indicated that, as in earlier open primaries this season, far more voters were participating in the Democratic than the Republican contest. For about one in seven Democratic voters, Tuesday was the first time they were voting in a primary.
DEMOGRAPHICS:
As usual, men outnumbered women in Republican primaries while the reverse was true on the Democratic side. About nine in 10 voters in both primaries were white. The Republican electorate was a bit older than the Democratic. Roughly four in 10 in each party were college graduates.
Preliminary results from exit polling by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and television networks. Partial samples in 35 precincts across Wisconsin.
I don't recall complaints from the Clark community when republicans crossed over to vote for Gen. Clark in 2004... in all fairness those republican military votes certainly didn't hurt Gen. Clark...
it's incredible how quickly people's memories can fade when it become clearly apparent truths turn into an inconvenient truth.
How many folks here are saying they would sooner pull the lever for insane McCain than Obama...gimmie a break.
I'd vote for either HRC or Obama in a second over McCain...how far this community has fallen since a few years ago is bizarre frankly.
about crossover voting when it occurs as a result of a coordinated effort to crash Hillary's candidacy & elevate Obama's as a strategy for the Republican nominee to win the GE, not people crabbing merely about Republicans who "sincerely" wish to vote for O!, such as they may be, and if there are any. No one voted for Wes in order to derail Kerry. In fact the accusation was that Wes was "recruited" to derail Dean, if I recall. Or as just a stalking horse for Clinton.
I myself dropped my Indie registration to turn D to vote for Wes, though I'd never voted R in my life.
So at least attempt to deal with the mysterious phenomenon of sudden crossover voting in the updated context in which they are being discussed.
Being concerned about the republicans influence on our party is a legitamate concern. But Obama didn't set up the primaries that way, Howard Dean did.
Obama still does better with republicans AND independents than Hillary. He does better with the youth vote by far. Republicans are crossing over to vote Obama because they hate Hillary Clinton.
Like it or not most Republicans will never vote for her, most independents will swing for McCain and the new dem voters from 06 just won't be all that thrilled, they were mad about Iraq, and they still are and still will be and you are not going to sell many of them on the idea of voting for a candidate that voted yes on the Iraq AUMF and Yes and the Kyl/Lieberman ammendment, it just isn't going to happen, they will sit out.
Hillary will lose the GE. She can't win the GE by picking up NY and Cali, she's got to win places like Virginia, Ohio and Florida and that simply will not happen.
Clinton is a feel good partisan vote that has little chance in a general election against John McCain who is viewed "rightly or wrongly" as moderate/semi liberal and is considered a war hero.
They will pull back up everything from the 90s, monica, white water, etc, and whether hardline Dem party loyalists beleive it or not the republican attacks on her will work. Half the country already hates her, and they haven't even begun a full scale election campaign against her.
Is Obama untested, sure. But people are deluding themselves if they beleive Hillary will fare any better against the GOP machine, she has a long record and half the country already dislikes her, another increase of 5 to 10% negatives and she's toast.
Barack has a margin of error, Hillary does not.
or maybe you should wonder just why it is that the dominant rightwing forces seem to want to run against him rather than her. Hillary's rallies have been well attended, they just aren't marketing her like so much flavor of the month ice cream or a rock star. People can be re-introduced to Hillary & they will be compelled by her health care story. She can make inroads. She's owned these debates. And for every Monica, there's a Rezko, a Reverend Wright & a dose of egomania & a lazy press that will turn in an instant to boot. There isn't much more than can do to Hillary- but with O!, what goes up, must come down. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. They want a naieve Dem pres, doh, so they can cut & run & spend four years rubbing their hands together & rehearsing The Blame Game - The Democratic Version.
This country is in serious trouble. If you prefer airy scary rhetoric to results, that's certainly up to you.
Neither of them is Wes Clark, and any objective observer would admit that Barack and Hillary both have rather unacomplished legislative careers. How many Hillary sponsored bills have actually passed, or even made it out of comittee? Not many, you keep talking about Hillary's acomplishments, all I see is a failed health care plan almost 15 years ago, a disasterosly mistaken vote on Iraq and a siguraly uneventful legislative career.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=300022
And as for the health care thing, it didn't sell in 94, it won't sell any better in 08 to people who already don't like her, if you are counting on her health care narrative to bail Hillary out with voters that don't like her... well to put it as nicely as I can: "it's the biggest fairy tale I've ever heard"
...Wes Clark is sold on her experience........but I'm sure he'll acquiesce to your greater wisdom.
"The Right always knows who its enemy is" Lance Mannion
I'm still yet to hear Wes negatively campaign AGAINST Obama. I've only heard him campaign positively FOR Hillary.
There's a fairy tale being written around here that to support Wes you have to be anti-Obama. And it's pure hooey.
Look at how Wes has chosen his words in this campaign. Lessons can be taken from his grace and decorum. He didn't achieve his stature for nothing.
The Hillarycare Mythology
Did Hillary doom health reform in 1993? It's time to get the facts straight about the Clinton plan and why compromise failed. Here's the real story, from the Prospect co-editor who was a White House senior health policy advisor at the time.
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It is pointless to engage with you beyond this.
No, we didn't complain about the Republicans who found Clark preferable to Bush. But we did complain about all the Republicans who voted for Dean who thought he would be the easiest to beat. Same song, second verse.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
I find it tactless and insulting that the Hillary campaign and her supporters seem to dis and dismiss every state that doesn't go her way.
These sort of depths are truly getting pathetic. I was an Edwards guy, but when he failed to win states we didn't blame repub voters and disrespect the primary voters in those states.
from tonight, the Washington State Democratic Primary results. Note that over a half million Democrats voted in Washington State's primary, at least 250% the number who participated in the Washington State Caucus, and Clinton finished FAR closer in the primary - losing by only 3%, than she did in the Washington Caucus. And that's not simply because Democrats didn't bother to participate because no delegates were awarded, over 135,000 more Democrats voted than Republicans. The CNN and New York Times web sites aren't even listing the Democratic results, I had to find a Washington State Government site to get the final results:
President - Democratic Party
Federal (Statewide)
Last updated on 2/20 12:27 AM
Candidate Votes Votes %
Joe Biden Democrat
1,447 0.28 %
Hillary Clinton Democrat
240,394 46.93 %
Christopher J. Dodd Democrat
473 0.09 %
John Edwards Democrat
8,999 1.76 %
Mike Gravel Democrat
787 0.15 %
Dennis J. Kucinich Democrat
2,766 0.54 %
Barack Obama Democrat
255,918 49.96 %
Bill Richardson Democrat
1,473 0.29 %
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Votes 512,257 100%
(Total Votes Republican - 376,113 100%
kool-aid as the rest of the state...
Candidates Votes %
Barack Obama 15467 50.89
Hillary Clinton 14552 47.88
and other states that allow people to crossover to vote in a caucus or primary. Independents and Republicans are deciding the Democratic nominee. Then they will go for their 4 more years of Bush style government and vote for McCain. They may not even like McCain, but they support their team.