Madison reflections (photo: re_hurd/flickr)

Amid all the blame-gaming going on, and the efforts by hidden-agenda folks to push certain non-factual narratives, there is one key fact that stands out about the Wisconsin recall vote this week — namely, this one:

Sixty percent of Wisconsin voters in today’s recall election say recall elections are only appropriate for official misconduct, according to early CBS News exit polls. Twenty-eight percent said they think they are suitable for any reason, while nine percent think they are never appropriate.

In other words, most Wisconsin voters likely saw this second recall effort not as a legitimate action against someone unfit for office, but as pure revenge or political payback.

Now, one can argue over whether the forces aligned against Walker could have done a better job making the case that Walker is indeed unfit even without the indictments that have been broadly hinted were withheld to avoid influencing the election. But as David Dayen notes, John Nichols, who knows the Wisconsin political scene as well as anyone, told Dayen back in February of 2011 that the recall effort against Walker would likely not succeed:

He understood the shift in the power dynamic here. The unions were punched in the gut by Act 10, and they had a series of poor choices, which they bungled in their own right. This may have been a wake-up call to the left, but that should have happened the moment that Walker stripped workers of their collective bargaining rights.

One suspect that if Nichols understood the effort against Walker to be doomed back in February 2011, a number of other people also did, and thus decided not to join it. Hell, even 36% of union households voted for Walker in the recall, a percentage similar to the percentage of union households that voted for him in 2010. Granted, a lot of unions are conservative ones like police and fire unions, but it’s still surprising that the unions weren’t able to bring more of their membership to back the recall.

But even though the effort to remove Walker didn’t work, he’s still hobbled for at least the rest of the year by the impending Democratic Senate majority, which came about thanks to recalls pursued against several Republican state senators. Walker had been crowing about his plans to do what he did last year: call a special session, once he survived the recall, so he could ram through “right-to-work” (aka right to starve) legislation, a mining bill, and other nasty stuff. That’s not going to happen now.

So pardon me if I’m not putting on a hair shirt over this. Darn things itch, anyway.

dirty trickster (photo: reallyboring/flickr)

How desperate are Wisconsin Republican activists? This desperate, apparently:

[State Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee)] said that voters have received calls directing them to vote Wednesday [instead of, of course, today] and telling them petition signatures counted as votes. Taylor told HuffPost she was not sure how widespread the cases are throughout the state, but that she and her staff were continuing to gather more information about the allegations. She noted they have been spreading through social media since Monday.

“It is nonsense,” Taylor said. “It is the desperation. I want the GAB to investigate.”

Staffers at the Wisconsin Education Association confirmed to HuffPost that they have heard similar messages going to voters but they did not know the origin of the messages or how widespread the rumors are. In her letter to the GAB, Taylor said that the calls regarding the petition signatures came from a Madison-area phone number. A call placed to that number came back with a voicemail saying the caller had reached the Wisconsin Republican Party.

[...]

The phone number is not the main listed number of the state GOP. The phone is used by the GOP for phone-bank purposes, including recent phone banks for the Tuesday recall.

Wow. Just — wow. But I guess it shouldn’t surprise me — not after this spring in Maine.

I’ve run into lots of people wondering what they can do to help the people of Wisconsin beat back the Koch-funded radical Bircherite Republicans that control their state house, supreme court and governor’s mansion. Here’s something you can do right off the bat, and that’s to help tip the Wisconsin Supreme Court to a 4-3 Democratic majority by backing JoAnne Kloppenburg, currently state assistant attorney general, to replace Republican Chief Justice David Prosser in the election that’s coming up on April 5:

Assistant Attorney General Kloppenburg has been a litigator and prosecutor at the Wisconsin Department of Justice since 1989, serving under Attorneys General from both parties: Don Hanaway, Jim Doyle, Peg Lautenschlager and JB Van Hollen.

Her legal experience is broad and deep and includes constitutional law, appellate law, civil litigation, environmental prosecution and administrative law. She has argued numerous cases before the Wisconsin Supreme Court and in the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and she has tried cases in circuit courts around the state.

Assistant Attorney General Kloppenburg graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin Law School (1988). She has an undergraduate degree from Yale (1974), also with honors, and a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University (1976). During Law School, she was an intern for Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and later was a law clerk for Chief Judge Barbara Crabb of the United States District Court.

A teacher at the UW Law School since 1990, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana (1976-1979) and remains active in professional, civic and community life. She is a member of the Legal Association for Women (LAW), a mentor with the Dane County Bar Association, an English as a Second Language (ESL) tutor, and a member of her neighborhood association board, and has volunteered with various nonprofit groups.

Assistant Attorney General Kloppenburg and her husband Jack are the proud parents of two daughters and one son. They live in Madison.

Wisconsinites will need someone like Kloppenburg to help undo the various garbage legislation Walker and the lege are trying to force upon them. Walker might think twice about pushing these bills if he knows they’ll face a less than friendly atmosphere in the state Supreme Court. Plus, it’s a test of the organizational strength of the newly-empowered progressive and union movements; success here bodes well for success in recalling the egregious eight Republican state senators.

Contribute to Kloppenburg here. Facebook her here. Endorse or volunteer for her here.

Wisconsin residents: Click here for polling location hours and other information.