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Comment Forum

Weekend Poll and Comment Forum: Who Benefits Most from a Strong Third-Party Challenge in 2012?

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There’s much talk about the possibility of a third-party candidate in 2012. What would a third-party candidate (not of the Libertarian Party, necessarily, but more of a protest-celebrity candidacy, e.g., Sarah Palin) mean for the 2012 general election?

Naturally, the LP’s executive director expresses umbrage at the assumption that there’s not already a viable third-party effort in the Libertarian Party, itself. See, LP responds to Wall Street Journal editorial.

It’s summer, with a long year ahead; why not have fun speculating?

In the Wall Street Journal, pollster Pat Caddell and pundit Doug Schoen are sure there will be a third-party candidate (of the John Anderson or Ross Perot-type):

The political order as we know it is deteriorating and disintegrating, and politics abhors a vacuum. So there is very good reason to believe that a credible third party, or even fourth political party, may be on the ballot in 2012. The American people clearly are looking for alternatives. Now.

Public Policy Polling, surveying the possibility of a third-party candidacy, concludes that third-party bids (even from the left!) would help Obama more than Gov. Romney:

But we took a look at seven possible independent candidates against Obama and his strongest GOP challenger, Mitt Romney, and found that the chances of defection by GOP-inclined voters are stronger than are cracks in the Democrats’ armor. Despite their grumbling, Democrats remain pretty united behind Obama, and six of the seven possible independent candidates would hurt Romney more than the president.

(Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight shares the view that Pres. Obama would be the Democrats’ strongest general-election candidate, rather than, say, a Hillary Clinton candidacy. That seems right to me.)

If there should be a third-party candidacy, of a candidate like Perot or John Anderson, what would it mean?

I’d guess it would (1) help Pres. Obama, (2) help a recall against Gov. Walker if the recall were held at the same time as the presidential general election (as it might be), and (3) might help Democrats running for state or local offices. A less formidable Republican presidential candidate (weakened in whatever way) might produce a weaker retention campaign on behalf of Gov. Walker. Some in the GOP may doubt Gov. Romney, for example, but I think he’d do better in Wisconsin than most other Republicans; his weakness in whatever form would hurt, not help, other GOP candidates.

(I see that Reagan is the exception — as a challenger, he won an absolute majority, and an electoral college landslide, despite a relatively strong third-party candidate. I’m doubtful any candidate will have that kind of electoral college strength, and landslide victory, next year.)

Below is a poll on this topic, and space for commenting, too: Would a strong third-party candidate help Pres. Obama or his GOP Challenger?




Comments will be moderated against profanity and trolls; otherwise have at it. This post will be open until Sunday morning.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.26.11

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It’s another sunny day ahead for Whitewater, with a high temperature of eighty-three.

There will be a forum tonight at the municipal building, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., for the candidates for Whitewater’s chief of police.

To start the day, Prof. Jeffrey Miron offers ‘Three Myths of Capitalism.’ Good points, all —



Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.25.11

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Good morning.

It’s a sunny day for Whitewater today, with a high temperature of seventy-nine.

There are Milwaukee residents who claim to have felt the recent earthquake from Virginia.  (No word on whether they also have super-sensitive, dog-like hearing.)  Wired Science, publishing a story from Ars Technica, explains Why the East Coast Earthquake Was Felt So far Away:

It comes down to a difference in crust. Density and temperature are primary controls on how far seismic waves can propagate through rock before dissipating. On the East Coast, the continental crust is older, colder and denser….

Contrast that with the West Coast, which is still tectonically active today, from the San Andreas Fault in Southern California to the subduction zone in the Pacific Northwest….

Because of these differences, shaking can be transmitted much farther (about three times the distance) through the colder, denser eastern crust.



Beautiful Whitewater, Charity, City

Thursday, August 25th: Relay for Life Fundraiser at Jessica’s Family Restaurant

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Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., during Jessica’s Family Restaurant’s grand re-opening, there will be a fundraiser for Relay for Life.

Five percent of all proceeds will be donated to Whitewater’s Relay for Life.  Among the many offerings will be a prime rib dinner for only $9.95, and there will be both raffle prizes and tours of the banquet room.  So many in Whitewater have had the pleasure of dining at Jessica’s, to find the meals delicious, and served in a congenial atmosphere.

Jessica’s is located at 140 West Main Street.  For those reading from near our area, why not make a trip to Whitewater tomorrow, for a good dinner and a good cause?  Jessica’s is in the heart of our downtown, and here’s a link to the restaurant’s address from Mapquest.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.24.11

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Good morning.

It’s a mostly sunny day ahead for Whitewater, with a high temperature of eighty-eight.

The Wisconsin Historical Society remarks on two events from our past, both having occurred on this day:

1857 – Panic of 1857

On this date the New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company failed, launching the Panic of 1857. Stocks plunged; banks and businesses across the nation, including many Wisconsin-based ventures, collapsed. The Panic of 1857 led to a depression that lasted three years until the beginning of the Civil War. [Source: American Memory Today in History]

1970 – Sterling Hall Bombing on UW-Madison Campus.

On this date a car bomb exploded outside Sterling Hall, killing research scientist Richard Fassnacht. Sterling Hall was targeted for housing the Army Mathematics Research Center and was bombed in protest of the war in Vietnam. The homemade bomb (2,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate soaked in aviation fuel) was detonated by the New Year’s Gang, aka Vanguard of the Revolution, who demanded that a Milwaukee Black Panther official be released from police custody, ROTC be expelled from the UW campus, and “women’s hours” be abolished on campus. The entire New Year’s Gang fled to Canada the evening of the explosion. Four men were charged with this crime: Karleton Armstrong, David Fine, Dwight Armstrong, and Leo Burt. All but Burt were captured and served time for their participation. Leo Burt remains at large.[Source: On Wisconsin (online PDF) Summer 2005]

Official Misconduct, Open Government

Racine Journal Times Investigation Uncovers Municipal Abuses in Mount Pleasant

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For those who obstinately contend that bureaucrats and politicians are always and forever public servants, selfless, giving of themselves, exist for a better community, etc., a compelling refutation will be found in a series from the Racine Journal Times, entitled, “JT investigates: Climate of fear in Mount Pleasant.”

The JT describes the series:

The abrupt firing of the Mount Pleasant village administrator last spring raised many questions in the community over the reasons for the village board’s actions and whether the board had been diligent in its oversight of that position and the operations of village hall.

Without a public records request from the Journal Times, residents would not have known that “days before he was unceremoniously ousted as village administrator, Mike Andreasen had been locked out of his office and his computer was seized by police….” See, Police seized administrator’s computer, supervised his departure.

Without a public records request, residents wouldn’t know that

Just days before the late Mike Andreasen was removed from office, village staff had painted a picture of the former village administrator as the “tyrant” of Village Hall who bullied employees, especially women, and drove them to tears and even professional help….

See, Secret records allege abuse.

Had the newspaper not filed a lawsuit to compel a reply to its records request, residents wouldn’t know that local officials ignored residents’ many complaints about their village administrator’s abusive conduct (concealed from the public, but known all-too-painfully to his victims).

After months of repeatedly denied requests for more information regarding the abrupt removal of the late former village administrator, records obtained through a lawsuit settlement with the Village of Mount Pleasant suggest some board members may have turned a blind eye to various employees’ pleas going as far back as late 2009.

See, Reports: Trustees ignored Village Hall complaints.

Mount Pleasant’s officials owed those they ill-served far more than these unfortunate employees and fellow residents received. Instead of humble, plain, effective services, ordinary people received abuse and hypocrisy at at the hands of a self-interested tyrant and his supportive ilk.

The Journal Times has done Mount Pleasant, and all Wisconsin, a true and worthy service.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.23.11

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Good morning.

It’s a rainy day ahead for Whitewater, with a high temperature of eighty-five, and thundershowers in the afternoon.

School’s about to resume, and each school day comprises hundreds of interactions between students, teachers, and visitors. In France, researchers decided to place radio frequency tags on students, to map the encounters between them during a day:

By putting RFIDs on children and monitoring their interactions over a single day, researchers have produced one of the most detailed analyses ever of the roiling, boiling social free-for-all that is school.

The findings, published August 16 in Public Library of Science One, document the minute-by-minute interactions and locations of 232 children aged 6 to 12 and 10 teachers.

Reconfigured as pulsing network maps and flows of color are the universal experiences of middle school: the between-class rush, playground cliques, snatched hallway conversation and the fifth-graders who are too cool for everyone else.

See, Visualized: A School Day as Data.

And here’s how those many encounters appear:



more >>

Laws/Regulations, Taxes/Taxation

Helping Entrepreneurs Enrich America: Univ. of San Diego Law Professor Donna Matias

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It’s hard to run a business, as entrepreneurs are burdened in taxes, regulations, and find themselves squeezed by those who have never run a small enterprise. (Regulators have often spent a lifetime working at state — taxpayer — expense.)

Here’s a video describing a law clinic that’s helping America’s job-creators thrive against long odds.



The description accompanying the video, from Reason.tv, appears immediately below:

At a time when political leaders are talking a lot about the need to create jobs from the top down, Donna Matias is taking more of a bottom-up approach. Matias and her colleagues at the Entrepreneurship Clinic at the University of San Diego Law School provide pro bono legal services to San Diego entrepreneurs.

We sat down with Matias to learn more about how her organization works to help low-income entrepreneurs overcome the regulatory hurdles that so often make it difficult for small businesses to succeed.

Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

School District

The Whitewater Schools’ Sound Path

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A dynamic organization both experiences, and experiences positively, changes in personnel and direction. Tonight, Whitewater’s school board will discuss a replacement for our high school principal, who is leaving for Williams Bay. (For more on the departure, see Kevin Hoffman’s story on the change.)

These last twenty-six months have, overall, been good ones for our school district, and far better than conditions at many other districts. (Hoffman’s recent story mentions some of the problems elsewhere, many that Whitewater has shrewdly avoided.) For more on this topic, of Whitewater’s path, see Zentner and Afterward and The Whitewater Schools’ Next Administrator: A Wise and Sound Choice.

Changes in the district, of different types, offer Whitewater an opportunity to build on a good direction. There’s a chance from these recent years for the district to be a primary source of genuine innovation for all Whitewater.

There are challenges ahead for just about every district in the state, from budgets to the Wisconsin economy; these next few years will remain difficult for many schools.

We’re better positioned than many others to address them.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.22.11

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Good morning.

It’s a sunny day ahead for Whitewater, with a high temp of eighty-one.

In our schools, there’s a school board meeting tonight, (portions in closed session) during which there will be planning for the replacement of Whitewater High School’s principal. Closed session begins at 6, regular, open session at 7 p.m. The meeting agenda is available online.

Dogs beat cats in the FREE WHITEWATER poll from Friday, and in honor of their close (but undisputed) victory, here are two clips of the theme song from the old PBS series, Wishbone.   The show ran originally from ’95-98, with forty-eight episodes.



There’s even a blues version of the theme —