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Subscribe to RSSMADISON, WIS. -- Mitt Romney made a serious play here – not surprising, given his running mate was a native son and the state recently re-affirmed its support of its Republican governor in a recall election.
But despite the Paul Ryan appearances and the millions spent in third-party ads, the state still proved elusive – one reason, perhaps, that became apparent just hours after polls closed in that contentious June recall.
Related: Romney never overcame bailout opposition
Of the 53 percent of voters who supported Gov. Scott Walker over Tom Barrett, who opposed the governor’s curbs on collective bargaining, 18 percent said they’d still vote for President Barack Obama over Romney.
And that was among the 2.5 million people that voted in the recall – half a million less than voted Tuesday for president.
“Even if the electorate didn’t grow at all, Republicans needed to worry,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said, “because that’s enough of a flip to make the state go for Obama.”
In a state where voters take pride in voting for the person, not the party, Burden said that some voters felt similarly about Obama and Walker.
Much of President Barack Obama's victory can be attributed to the declining portion of white voters. The president won only 39 percent of that group, down from 2008, but he dominated among non-whites. Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, Erin McPike of Real Clear Politics and Jonathan Collegio of American Crossroads discuss.
“They’re both incumbents, they’re both presiding over a kind of mediocre economy... But in both cases, voters are willing to give the incumbent credit and give them time to finish the job,” Burden said.
Plus, the fact that the Obama campaign turned out the voters they needed to put them over the edge, even if the resulting 53-46 percent result was far less than Obama’s 14-point margin in 2008.
In the important blue counties of Racine and Milwaukee, Obama got 51.4 percent and 67 percent of the vote respectively. As with elsewhere in the country, demographics were a key part of his victories there: Milwaukee County’s population is 27 percent African American, versus 6.5 percent of people statewide; Racine's is 11.5 percent.
Steven Senne / AP
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets people during a campaign stop at a Cousins Subs fast food restaurant, in Waukesha, Wis., Tuesday, April 3, 2012.
But while Obama won decisively here, Republicans said they are far from ready to cede this perennial purple state to the Democrats.
“I think we have a fantastic ground game and we’ll continue to grow,” said Wisconsin Republican party spokesman Nathan Conrad.
Republicans did win the super-swingy Brown County, which voted Obama in 2008, Walker for governor in 2010 and 2012, and gave Romney a narrow 50.4- 48.5 percent win Tuesday night. Green Bay, located in Brown County’s Fox Valley, is a particularly important bellwether, given its high concentration of white male working-class voters who frequently swing between parties.
But the margins there were meaningful – smaller than they had to be in order for Walker to win, some Republicans conceded.
Another bright spot for Republicans in Wisconsin was in the statehouse - Wednesday morning Scott Walker was quick to note that his party eked out a new 17-15 majority in the state Senate, the body’s third party switch in two years after it went to the Democrats during the recall.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker predicts the final results for president will be very close in his state. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
“What that tells me is that voters in this state are independent. They listen race by race to what the candidates have to offer,” Walker said to reporters Wednesday in Milwaukee.
And that is one of the reasons this state will continue to be a key battleground in future presidential races, Burden, the University of Wisconsin professor, said.
“It’s just volatile enough and has just enough electoral votes that neither party really wants to walk away from it,” he said.
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The onlyt reason Obama won Wisconsin is because of all his handouts to the African Americans! PERIOD
Wrong. You clearly do not here or understand Wisconsinites. Ryan and Romney's hypocracy was the reason they lost. PERIOD.
ALL CONSERVATIVE, REPUBLICAN, TEAPARTY, INDEPENDENTS, PLEASE READ
PLEASE COPY, RE-POST, SIGN OFF, DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT AND NEVER RETURN
To borrow a phrase from Obama: DO IT FOR REVENGE!
Why argue with these democrats, liberals, progressives, whatever they call themselves?
The best revenge that we can dish out is to close these forums down!
If they have nobody to argue with they’ll soon get tired of kissing each other’s a$$es and leave too.
Take revenge on the lamestream media too like First Read and NBC Politics!
These liberals live for these forums and the best revenge is to take it away from them.
Also stop watching the lamestream media channels. Hit them where it counts, there biased wallets!
Obama would not have been re-elected if not for the protective curtain provided by the media!
Join me in shutting this place down!
I will post these until Friday evening, and I hope you will follow suit.
Friday, I will sign off and delete my account and never return.
Please join me and get just a little taste of REVENGE!
Doubletake:
Want some cheese with that whine sweetie? Somebody hands you your testicles in a bag you take a hint boy. America doesn't believe in your ideology anymore, and the sheer numbers of Liberals is swarming you people and blotting out the sun.
This is why you feel you have to cheat or suppress votes to win. Deep down,....even you people know the truth.
Even YOU know.
Even you realize the end of your party is nigh.
I thought Wisconsin was going to be totally red by now. What happened? Scott Walker's "recall victory" was supposed to symbolize an unending rising red tsunami fueled by Koch cash.
And then,.....there go the badgers,......electing Obama President of the United States.
"The best laid plans of mice and men,....."
We're a purple state here, with lots of lefties like me. If Walker had been up for election yesterday he would have lost.
lmao at butt hurt angry white person, doubletake. you're an unpatriotic fascist.
MJBO, you best get used to the idea that untrue racist mantras will not advance your cause!
mjbo44, that is incredibly rude and obviously not even close to correct. I encourage you to visit Wisconsin and meet the hard-working, friendly people that live here, instead of making troll-like judgments on a news comment section.
This election of 2012 has been hard fought and dearly won, and despite all the differences it has brought us closer together as a nation. For we now know a lot more about what each other considers important and why. Some of us have changed our ways of thinking. Some have challenged our positions and come away renewed and strengthened. Social media played an unprecedented role in making the exchange of information within the electorate possible. And without the taint and filtering of political spin doctors.
You know who you are.
This election has challenged us to think deeply about our choices of candidates and the values they profess. I feel a new era of American political awareness dawning. The stakes are too high to allow the political complacency of my generation to continue. The American electorate has been ignited, and the fire will grow.
Corporate control of our government has had catastrophic consequences for everyone but the top 2%. Corporations are not people. In their headlong quest for profits, they have undermined democracy and weakened America. We MUST have a Constitutional amendment prohibiting corporate involvement in the electoral process.
Let us continue to share our thoughts and questions and hold our elected officials accountable, and let us not ever again allow ourselves to be manipulated for the profit of others. I/we owe Facebook a debt of gratitude for this growing awareness.
Thanks, Mark Zuckerberg and Friends, for your major role in helping to rescue democracy.
I hope that people continue to educate each other about events, issues, and policy. As F.D.R. said, policy does not originate from the top down, people must make them do it (by getting together and petitioning or stating their cases in rallies).
For many people in battleground states, however, we feel beaten up by robo calls, attack ads run by PACs, doorbells ringing, and urgent requests for money and volunteers. I am not young anymore, and I feel wrung out. Even though I am glad that the President won, I am sick and tired of this whole process, and there are many in my state (Ohio) who feel likewise. None of us could match the dollars paid by the billionaires; we put our dollars against their millions, and it really hurt our bank accounts while for the billionaires it was probably less than pocket change. Those billionaires could give that amount of money at least to improve this country.
And I look into the face of a homeless person, and ask myself the same question that St. Martin of Tours asked in the 4th century: "In such a great empire of ours, why is there a poor person shivering in the cold, without enough heat or food?" St. Martin was a Roman soldier at the time, and his solution was to divide his cloak (cutting it in half with his sharp sword) and giving half to the beggar, which made St. Martin a laughing stock for a while. The important thing is not his religion, but that he, as a Roman soldier, could ask such a question: even back in ancient Rome there was the rule of law and due process (as St. Paul cited in the Book of Acts 25:16). Due process was overturned in the Patriot Act by Bush. But a great empire helping the poor is America's habit, as long as the poor are in some other part of the world and not here at home. But it is in America that I see people losing their homes even before hurricane Sandy, and facing hunger. This is wrong. It is time that we stood for something, and made Congress act for America. St. Martin's day is November 11th, and it is also Armistice Day, and should be democracy helping people day.
Bravo, Elizabeth!
You must understand that most Wisconsinites do not care for Ryan and his radical politics. His being on the ticket was enough to insure an Obama win.
Oh how I loved last nite, neither rumney nor ryan won their home state, now that say a lot. The President ran the table on the battle groung states and then some. The right wing are running around blaming everybody for their loss but themselves. They blame Christy, they blame the pollsters, but turkey neck lady(whats her face, err, ann coldher or something like that), said that rumney was gonna loose. I don't want to rub salt salt in their wounds,.....who am I kidding, yes I do, because I can only imagine what they would have said if the President had lost. The blame lays with every body in the rumney camp, Rove, Sunono, the Coukoo brothers and all of the knuckleheads at fake news. Christy did cause them to loose, Chryster did what was right for his state, which is the way it should be. The people of NJ voted him(Christie) into office, not limpbar or boner or the knuckleheads at fake news.
It was Sandy that caused them to lose, because Sandy, so late in the year, proved that the ocean was still at summer heat, and that global warming is real. It wasn't Christy, but Sandy.
Interesting coincidence, the billionaire Adelson who contributed the most money to Rove's PACs owns the "Sands Hotel" chain, and it was Sandy that stopped him.
It's beddy bye time lizzy. I'm glad Obama won also. Glad for the whole country and the world. But get some rest girl.
Michael boy, so glad you care.
Let's ask Wisconsin how they feel in 2014.When the Affordable Care Act gobbles up more of their hard earned money they will be signing another tune.
If you're just a cleaning lady you'll get a subsidy under Obamacare in order to help you with your health insurance premiums.
I think it's just a pen name, and if the person came clean instead of pretending to be a cleaning lady, we would find one of those millionaires.
Subsidies are only for the poor, and if you make a small salary, you will be helped a lot by Obamacare.
I'm actually surprised to hear you say that because on other issues you seem sane.
I run a small business, and the ACA has already helped a lot by holding down costs on our health insurance premiums. The last few years we've had 20% to 30% annual increases, but this year it was less than 5%. The costs will be even lower when the exchanges get enacted, and I really hope the feds do it rather than Scott Walker.
Health care reform has improved the bottom line of my business a lot.
Again, the only reason Obozo won is because of the black people in Wisconsin. I know this @!$%#. We are the minority. Obama and his people are protected. Just wait, more free @!$%#, higher taxes. The more free @!$%#, the less you have to work and have to steal. That should keep crime down!
MJ it's free pretzel night at your local KKK chapter. Iron that sheet and get on down there.
Yep, the 6.5% of Wisconsin citizens who are black (about half the national average) tipped the scales!
How Wisconsin eluded Romney campaign
It's simple: Wisconsin wanted someone who tells the truth.
Obama has adopted GOP ideas, only to have the GOP promptly renounce those ideas. SO it's the GOP that has refused to work with him.
Romney was not a good candidate. If he had been a great governor as he claimed, MA would have voted for him. They went for Obama huge.
The GOP needs to run the best candidate, not the one who bows and scrapes to the right.
As a liberal, I can tell you, Obama is no such thing. What he is, is genuine, and actually pretty decent, and not all that much of a politician.
Now, he will have to outflank the GOP and force them to co-operate.
The intransigence of the GOP will eventually destroy them. They cannot continue the racist, sexist policies they now endorse, and continue to be a major player on the national stage.
They would do well to treat POTUS with more respect this time around, lest it cost them again in 2014.
There are a lot of people like me who are fed up with them.
Funny thing is, I started out GOP. Now, they hae no hope of ever seeing a vote from me again unless they straighten up and fly right.
The country comes first. Until they see that, they are a gone goose.
My faith in this country is restored as of last night. At least now I know for sure that the majority aren't haters that live by Faux News and Lush Slimeball.
Republicans can thank Gov. Walker for organizing and energizing Wisconsin democrats.
Very, very true.
The GOP extreme views weren't going to fly with the middle class. Romney could not be trusted. I'll take the Dems over any Repub anytime. The GOP is too far out there.
Come to think of it, the same was said about 30 years ago about the Dems, but even then there were almost no extremists among the Dems. The most "liberal" among the Dems works with industry. Dennis Kucinich (gerrymandered out of his district) worked to keep the steel industry in Cleveland, and still works to keep jobs in northeast Ohio. Senator Sherrod Brown helped veterans get jobs in fracking industry, even though he also works to inform the public what chemicals are being used in that industry. Democrats stand for sanity, and will work with business to build communities. Whatever caused the Republicans to say the word "rape" several times this past year, was truly insane; I can't trust any of them, because they have all signed pledges to vote for only the most extreme policies, not just tax breaks.
Give it a rest already about where he was born and raised. Dead issue. The best thing about our wonderful president being re-elected is seeing the arrogant smirk wiped off Romney's face. He is so out of touch with reality I'm surprised he can function. Ryan is even worse. Does anyone remember when Ann Romney got her panties in a twist when someone had the "audacity" to say she never worked a day in her life? Missed the whole point there, didn't she? And Ryan's wife is the typical good little housewife. Be seen and not heard. Does she ever talk? You people really want these 2 families running the country? These 2 men want women launched back to the 50's. Romney needs to go back to the rock he crawled out from under, take Ryan with him and let our president get back to trying to undo the 8 years of damage Bush did to our country. The party of NO lost. Get over it.
Doubletake......I have an idea. Why wait till Friday? Take your account down now before you have a meltdown. Sore losers die hard. Time to take your toys and go home.
Barack Obama is the President of ALL Americans, not just some Americans. We may disagree with him on some issues, but he has our Nation's best interests at heart, and we must all work together to end Washington gridlock and get our country moving forward.
If The Kock Brothers didn't back Walker he would be gone also!!
After Four years of the Fox propaganda machine, Rush the fat man, Hannity and billions of dollars spent on misinformation, this was proof that this party needs to get new leadership and get rid of the deceivers.
I just had to hear the limpball spin today. He was in top form. What a gas bag.
Michael: That's one thing I won't do, is listen to that kind of thing, although somebody has to. I think I heard enough stuff from the candidates themselves.
How do the citizens of Wisconsin justify Paul Ryan as a congressmen when he is determined to scrap social security and medicare and any other program that assist seniors. My only clue is that Wisconsin has no seniors on social security or medicare if that's the case I understand. Ryan would have been a cancer as vice president spreading his cancer to every citizen in the US all to put more dollars in his pocket. I would hate to see my parent and grandparents attempting to live off the land. There was talk that the republicans were considering to pass laws that would force seniors give up all assets on retirement and that the government would dole out their moneys to privately held companies and if they ran out of money that they would be place in camps to live out their lives the best they can. The reason the republicans wanted to do this was to allow the 1% to pay no taxes while the are attempting to create jobs that these seniors in these camps would be able to do to extend their health care or until until the money runs out.
He doesn't care about seniors, because his father died young. Ryan is still a cancer as a Representative, and he will still be in Washington trying to cut Medicare, Medicaid (nursing homes for seniors come out of that), and Social Security. Congress will be just as gridlocked as before, and they will try and try again to cut vital parts of the budget, and lie and lie and blame and blame... all thanks to campaign money from Adelson, the Koch brothers, and other billionaires.
Ryan is truly a crappy representative for his district, but he keeps getting reelected because the Janesville area is fairly conservative.
Hey GOP
1. Misinformation- Not a service to the taxpayers
2. Obstructionism- Not a good value to the people
3. Oligarchy - Not our national values
4. Finger pointing - Bad Elephant stand in the corner.
5. Over spending on Military - W reckless
6. Creating wars for oil - senseless
7. Being without a useful set of plans that appeal to the domestic Americas - crazy
8. Defining Rape as "legitimate" - unbelievable
9. Messing with voting rights - Anti- American
10. Constant Filibusters -maddening
11. Crashing our Economy and the world economy, Finger pointing and denial - typical
12. Shutting out latin Americans,Gays, women, African Americans, Asians,Middle eastern immigrants and Chinese. - Typical
No surprise that you will need to do some soul searching before 2016.
That would require a SOUL first.....
Time they stopped thumping their Bibles and actually opened them and read, including those sections they have crossed out.
You know your party is irrelevant when the challenger and his running mate LOSE their own states to the Democrats.
Republicans: EPIC FAIL.
Not only their home states...Ryan lost Janesville for God's sake...and the Salt Lake Tribune endorsed Obama.....hmmmmm......
And Romney lost both his home states - MA & MI.
Does lying and then telling you "yes I lied" get your vote? It wouldn't get my vote. There are people that heard your lie but didn't hear your admission of lying. No if you're going to willingly lie and admit it, you're still a liar!
Hey GOP, white angry hillbillies are a dying breed. So take your viagra and seduce your sisters and mothers. The GOP needs your help!
Lets spin it to it's lowest common denominator.
The blue states were given a choice between a smart good man and a known thief.
The red states saw the choice as one between a black man and a white man.
well said!
this is to mjbo44 who commented...(The onlyt reason Obama won Wisconsin is because of all his handouts to the African Americans! PERIOD)...African Americans make up a small percentage of the electorate in WI, the reason Romney lost is the people in Wisconsin are not the low information voters that you think they are....simply put, mjbo44 your comments are not accurate and YOU are a nitwit
Romney was not able to carry the state where he grew up (Michigan), or were he governed and resides (Massachusetts), nor could he carry his running mate's home state (Wisconsin). That is very telling because those who apparently know him best didn't trust him to run the country.
No team has ever won the Presidency and Vice Presidency by loosing their home states. Romney was born in Michigan and is now nominally a Massachusetts resident (though he spends the vast majority of his time elsewhere). Both states went decisively for Obama. Ryan didn't help the team carry his home state.
Memo to primary voters: Never, ever nominate a candidate who isn't going to carry their home state. They never win!