There’s a scene from the film The King’s Speech where Colin Firth’s George VI insists that he has stammered all his life. Geoffrey Rush, as speech therapist Lionel Logue, tells him that’s impossible, as babies don’t stammer. George VI then admits that he was told he began stammering when he was a few years old,…
Politics
Politics
The Implications of the June 13th District Senate Race
by JOHN ADAMS •
The last of my three local topics about the recall was whether 13th Senate District race between Scott Fitzgerald and Lori Compas will have any lasting significance for politics in that area (whether in the new or old 13th District). (For previous posts about the 13th District and its candidates, see The Fitzgerald-Compas Debate in…
Politics, School District
Local Implications of the Recall Results for the Whitewater Unified School District
by JOHN ADAMS •
On Friday, I asked three questions about the implications of the June recall election, and yesterday I wrote about the first of them (implications for the newly redistricted 43rd Assembly district). Today, I’ll look at what the numbers say about the electorate within the Whitewater Unified School District. A map of the district appears immediately…
Politics
Local Implications of the Recall Results for the 43rd Assembly District
by JOHN ADAMS •
Last week, I posted a task list with three questions about the June 5th recall election. Here is the first of those three: What do the June 5th results say, if anything, about how the race in the 43rd Assembly District will finish? In this discussion, I’m referring to the newly-redistricted 43rd. The old 43rd…
City, Politics, School District
Task List: Local Implications of the Gubernatorial Election
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are dozens of possibilities for what the recall election means for Wisconsin, but I’m curious about three local implications, that I’ll write about after looking at precinct-by-precinct gubernatorial results. (Quick admission: in January, I thought Gov. Walker would lose a close recall election. That prediction was considerably off – he won comfortably. The advantage…
City, Elections, Politics, Recall
The (Red) State, the (Blue) City
by JOHN ADAMS •
A few remarks on the recall elections: There are thousands of happy and thousands of disappointed Wisconsinites today. A third-party voter looks at elections differently, because in many cases he or she doesn’t have a partisan candidate in the race; one votes for or against the candidates of other parties. This places a certain distance…
Elections, Politics, Recall
The Fitzgerald-Compas Debate in the 13th Senate District
by JOHN ADAMS •
One typically expects that a longtime incumbent will easily manage a newcomer-challenger. Those conventional expectations were upset last week. Lori Compas matched Scott Fitzgerald in last Wednesday’s candidate debate between the incumbent majority leader and his recall challenger for the 13th Senate District. A libertarian on the ballot, Dr. Terry Virgil, was sadly not invited…
Elections, Politics, Recall
Video for the Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
I posted earlier about the Democrats’ recall forum on 4.25.12 at UW-Whitewater. I’m not a Democrat, but it was an event well-worth attending. All four Democratic candidates for governor, and other office-seekers, were there. For my posts on the evening, see The Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater and The Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater (Compas…
Elections, Politics, Recall
The Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater (Compas and Jorgensen edition)
by JOHN ADAMS •
I wrote yesterday about the Democrats’ recall forum, focusing on the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor. (See, The Democrats’ Recall Forum @ UW-Whitewater. ) Below is a summary of two other candidates’ presentations: Lori Compas, running in the 13th Senate District against Sen. Maj. Leader Scott Fitzgerald, and Rep. Andy Jorgensen, now representing the…
Daily Adams, Politics, Recall
The Wisconsin Democrats’ Recall Strategy
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here in the land of recall primaries and recall general elections (5.8.12 and 6.5.12 respectively), the WisDems have a strategy that’s light on collective bargaining, but big on education, legislative issues perceived to be affecting women disproportionately, and Walker’s honesty & candor. Writing in Mother Jones, Andy Kroll describes the tack the Dems plan to…
City, Elections, Hip & Prosperous, Politics
Hip & Prosperous through Political Clarity
by JOHN ADAMS •
Most people don’t think about a contest for a single council district when they’re thinking about ways to make Whitewater hip and prosperous. In fact, political races — and how we describe them — make a big difference. Not just a race, but the way we describe it (or any other contest), matters. It’s the…
Politics, Walworth County
Election Transparency: How Jefferson and Rock Counties Still Top Walworth County
by JOHN ADAMS •
On April 5, 2011, I wrote about the more transparent and informative election websites in the area: Election Transparency: How Jefferson and Rock Counties Top Walworth County. It’s a year later, and Walworth County still lags behind Jefferson and Rock Counties. The Walworth County website doesn’t list results by precinct, leaving residents in the dark…
City, Politics, School District
Political Recap: The Whitewater Schools’ Referendum
by JOHN ADAMS •
Sometimes one sees something impressive. Last night was one of those times. After all but a few votes have been counted, the Whitewater Schools’ referendum has likely passed. I wrote about the referendum on January 18th, and made two principal points: (1) the referendum faced long odds (“I’d guess that a referendum in the spring…
Gov. Walker, Politics, Recall
Republican Betting on Walker’s Recall Opponent
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Republican Governors Association expects Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to be a candidate in the recall race against Gov. Walker (Barrett’s promised to announce his intentions between 3.30 and 4.3). Most people expect him to be a candidate. (I’d guess that, should he run, he’d beat candidates Kathleen Falk and Kathleen Vinehout in recall primary).…