Originally Posted by
badger
Yeah, fouls are cried often in elections, or state questions, or petitions, or anything else involving anything as heated as politics.
Just have to have faith sometimes that the process will be carried out fairly and that the will of voters will be done. Simply whining before/during/after the fact does no good.
I have no doubt that Wisconsin will have a recall election, even if it is discovered that some people signed petitions 50 times each or signed fakes names with fake addresses. However, without a major event, Gov. Walker will remain Gov. Walker after the recall election, IMHO. Why? A few reasons:
1- Who is the alternative.
When Gray Davis was up for recall, there were two strong candidates --- Arnold and Lt. Gov. Cruz Busta... whatever his name was. There were also tons of name candidates out there that people had heard of, including the late Gary Coleman and someone named Michael Jackson who was not THE Michael Jackson. If people are going to feel strongly enough to vote out the sitting governor, they also have to feel strongly about who his replacement is. Right now, no major candidate has emerged.
2- People like to vote for the status quo unless they have a huge reason not to.
In California, the situation was apparently getting too frustration, to the point of people not being able to afford to live, even without the national recession we're currently camped in. In Wisconsin, an overzealous governor pushed his agenda a little bit too far. That alone, IMHO, will not cause a majority of voters to oust a governor. It has to personally impact a voter before they will be moved away from status quo... taxes unaffordably high, unemployed for far too long, blackouts, roads that impassable, police/fire not being available in emergencies, etc.
3- Worry about shenanigans.
You will hardly ever find someone who is motivated enough to vote in state elections who does not have some level of state pride. That said, if Wisconsin voters think that they are being pushed too much by non-Wisconsin people (read: unions bombarding them when endless ads), they will absolutely vote against the recall. Gov. Walker and his supporters absolutely must hammer this point home, or at least create doubt in voter's minds --- get reports of recall petitions being supported by groups based elsewhere, tell voters where the money for ad campaigns is coming from if it's outside of wisconsin --- to the point that they are angry.
I am not saying Gov. Walker will not be recalled. I am saying that at this point in time, the recall petitioners have not made their case to the point that they need to in order to get a majority of voters to recall Walker.
