Jim Klauser

ScottForGov issued a report that there is trouble brewing in the Neumann Campaign for Governor. The word is that former Administration Secretary James Klauser under Governor Thompson  may be no longer supporting Neumann.

This comes as the blog further reported that Klauser’s wife Shirley could have stepped down as the campaign’s treasurer.  If this is true, this could be another blow to the campaign as former Neumann staffer Rick Wiley earlier this year abruptly quit the Neumann camp to join the RNC. One cause that Wiley may have bailed from Neumann is that he failed to pay Mr. Wiley $8,000 in consulting fees according to JSOnline.

As the campaign issued a statewide town-hall debate challenge earlier in the

Mark Neumann (R-WI)

week, the news of Klauser’s possible exit could be evidence that the challenge is a  desperation tactic.   Like I pointed out earlier this week, Mark Neumann is engaging in tactics similar to what Hillary Clinton did during the 2008 Wisconsin Presidential primary. Mrs. Clinton relentlessly challenged Barack Obama to debate between one another at Marquette as a way to gain traction she lost in the last two weeks of  the Wisconsin primary campaign.   It was known that Mrs. Clinton dealt with internal conflicts with campaign staffers during critical primaries including Wisconsin.   As Neumann may campaign on a message of his private sector experience, a big issue that  could be derailing his campaign is dealing with internal conflicts.  With Wiley already leaving the campaign and possibly Klauser on his way out this may show that really the former Congressman could be playing a Hillary Clinton in this Governor campaign.

Also, as the campaign nears one month to go before the year-end campaign finance reporting deadline the big question that could come up is how is the financial health of the Neumann campaign?    If the campaign loses the Klauser’s as a key fund-raising arm many observers could be skeptical of how much money Neumann could have raised in this reporting period.  Also the same observers may ask how Neumann could perform in future fund-raising cycles.

This shocking report could give us answers about some of the recent motives in the Neumann campaign.

Tom Barrett (D-WI)

As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Saturday had a report published of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Sunday making a  announcement on his run for Governor, here are some of the negatives he is going to have to deal with if he runs.

First, Barrett is going to have to sell his candidacy to a Democratic Party that is starting to see its coalitions in the process of fracturing because of the planned MPS Mayoral takeover.  Barrett is starting to deal with the insurgent special interests in his own party who are opposed to the takeover.  This is noted by the NAACP which has been very vocal over the Mayoral takeover.  Also, 16 different groups are opposed to the MPS takeover including teachers unions and advocacy groups have been united with the NAACP  in its opposition.

Second, he will have to defend his stance on the recent City of Milwaukee budget in which he attempted to cut public safety services in a lean economy.  The City Council recently restored some public safety positions the Mayor proposed to cut.  When the North Shore Exponent was at the public hearing held for the City of Milwaukee budget in October, many firefighters said during their testimonies that they have not had a good working relationship with the Mayor.  Also, many Police officers in Milwaukee were outraged about the furlough days that were in the budget.  Currently, the bargaining unit that represents the Milwaukee Police has litigation pending against the Mayor over the proposal. Mayor Barrett’s actions with the budget would not sit well with the platforms of organizations like the Milwaukee Police Association and the Wisconsin Professional Police Association.    The MPA has endorsed Walker in the past and they would more than likely the MPA and related organizations will not give Barrett their endorsements in 2010.

Third, Barrett will have to face with the possibility of Wisconsin Democrat Party Chairman Mike Tate being a big liability to his campaign.   The people of Wisconsin have seen it already with Chairman Tate engaging in dirty and deceptive messaging.  A perfect example is when the youngest state party chairman in the nation this year used racial slurs directed towards pro-taxpayer groups in a campaign fund-raising e-mail. With how pro-taxpayer groups in Wisconsin are organized and fired up for the 2010 elections, there could be the possibility of the seeing Chairman Tate committing the same thing again down the road.  Barrett may have to deal with competing egos in the party in which would disrupt his campaign’s message.

Mike Tate-WI State Dem Chairman

Fourth, he will have to defend the failed Obama stimulus for Wisconsin.   With Wisconsin losing so many private sector jobs he will have a very difficult time convincing voters that his party’s plan to boost the economy is the way to go.  People also know that Barrett and Doyle have had a good working relationship, however if he defends Doyle’s handling of the failed stimulus many independent voters can connect Barrett easy to the outgoing Governor.  A prime example is a recent SurveyUSA poll in which nearly 70 percent of independent voters disapprove of Doyle’s job performance. Two weeks ago in Virginia and New Jersey, independent voters voted in packs against the Democrats.  The factor of the stimulus and how independent voters are not pleased with the progress could be a very difficult factor for Mayor Barrett to deal with.

These four factors are going to be a reason why Tom Barrett will have some very difficult terrain to work with.    No matter how much money the DNC and the DGA throws in the race for Barrett, the Milwaukee Mayor will have to deal with the insurgencies in his own party.  The insurgents that have not been enthused with his key policy initiatives as Mayor of Milwaukee and trying to move these initiatives to the statewide level if he is elected Governor.

The Chief of Oshkosh today had a post called “Virginia Slims” thinking that what happened in Virginia this November would not happen in Wisconsin.   Well, he mentions a snippet of my post in which Scott Walker may bank off a 30 point swing to win the Governor’s race.  You may heard on the news “Bob McDonnell banked off a 25 point swing to win in Virginia” on November 3rd.  For those who may not know how swing in politics works here is how its calculated.

Simple swing-Governors races, Electoral vote races

The simple swing formula is simply adding the margin of victory Obama won a certian state in 2008 and the margin of victory the winner in the oppositie party had in the next Governor’s election.

Example with Virginia: If Obama won by 7 points in 2008 and Bob McDonnell won by 18 points for Virginia Governor in 2009.  This results in a 25 point swing.

If we want to use this on New Jersey, Obama carried the Garden State in 2008 with a 16 point margin of victory.  This year Chris Christie carried the Garden State winning the Governor’s race by 5 points.  That is a 21 point swing.

So if we take a hypothetical situation for next year with Obama winning Wisconsin by 14 points in 2008, but Scott Walker wins Wisconsin Governor in 2010 by 16 points over Kevin Conroy that could be a 30 point swing.

British Swing formula

It will be a matter of time before Gordon Brown will call for an national election in the United Kingdom next spring.  In Britan there is a swing formula of their own and on the BBC they use this cool gadget called the Swingometer.   The British House of Commons Library defines their swing formula as the average of the percentage point fall in Party A’s share of the vote and the percentage point rise in Party B’s share.   For Example if we use this same formula for the US House of Representatives next year.  The Dems right now hold 257 to the GOP’s 178.  If the GOP wins 40 seats at minimum to win the House this is considered a 10 percent gain for the GOP.   If the Dems lose 40 seats and the majority it is considered to be a 10 point drop.  Using the British formula, this is considered to be a one percent swing by dividing the ten point gain for the GOP by the ten point loss for the Dems.

This YouTube video below explains the cool BBC Swingometer gadget:

Union Thug Chris Liebenthal

Chris “Capper” Liebenthal has used some of the liberal hate that Charlie Sykes has described earlier this week on his blog in trying to discredit the award I won from Americans for Prosperity for Best Blog Coverage of the 2009 National Defending the American Dream Summit.

I want to take this chance and respond to a couple lies this paid union thug has talked about me winning this award.  First, I was notified by Americans for Prosperity staff out in Washington, DC earlier this week that I was named the award’s recipient.  Second, for Capper to call me a “blogging school dropout” is far from the truth.  For him to use this gross understatement to compare me to Scott Walker is nothing but a no-good wide left lie.

The award I won from Americans for Prosperity was an award I competed for with other bloggers across the United States who took time away from their everyday lives to come to Arlington, Virginia on October 2nd and 3rd.  There are many great conservative bloggers in every part of the nation, however I am honored that the Americans for Prosperity foundation has selected me for this honor.

Liebenthal’s lies perpetuated towards me is an example of a person who has used his power and position to engage in rude and vile attacks towards Conservatives. Charlie Sykes has pointed it out towards his male chauvinist pig remarks towards Governor Palin and her son with Down Syndrome.   The Hispanic Conservative has already pointed out that he is out of control with his lies towards Scott Walker.    Badger Blogger knows that his group Milwaukee County First is actually an arm that puts his friends in the unions first before taxpayers.  These are examples of how Liebenthal will keep stretching the truth to satisfy his thugs in action at AFSCME.

As we await the announcement if Kevin Conroy or Tom Barrett will be running as the major candidate on the Democrat side for Governor, there will be one thing that will be posing a big scare to either candidate is the results of the 2009 Virginia Governor’s election.   James Wigderson does a nice job explaining that there could be the possibility the results in Virginia could scare Tom Barrett. Regardless if Conroy or Barrett run they will be dealt with the Virginia nightmare in seeing Creigh Deeds surrender the largest defeat of any Governor candidate ever in the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

When looking at the two big states this year which are Virginia and New Jersey, Virginia is considered to be the biggest blow for the Democrats because they had put high hopes in flipping the state blue as Obama won Virginia by 7 points in 2008.  Fast forward one year later and a twenty-five point swing happened in which Republican candidate Bob McDonnell won Virginia and set a new state record for most votes ever won by a winning Governor candidate.  Despite Obama won Wisconsin by fourteen points last year  by the margin of 56 to 42 percent, there could be the possibility of the same swing happening in favor of Scott Walker like Virginia Republicans had this year.  A larger swing could happen in favor of Wisconsin Republicans that could exceed 30 points or more counting in last year’s result and a possible double digit victory for Scott Walker.

Despite no one in the Wisconsin Democrat leadership wants to admit that their party is in trouble, the Virginia factor will be the reason that either Tom Barrett or Kevin Conroy may have nightmares dealing with the devastating defeat Democrats had recently.   Despite Kevin Conroy may have private sector experience, he will have to defend on behalf of his party a failed stimulus package for Wisconsin.   This comes after a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation found that fudged up job counts were nothing but a smoke screen for Democrats defending the failed policy. For Tom Barrett, he will be dealt with intense scrutiny from Milwaukee civil rights groups on the MPS mayoral takeover and the major possibility of not winning endorsements from firefighting and law enforcement organizations for his handling of the law enforcement section of the new City of Milwaukee budget.  The issue of furloughing cops would not sit well with any of the major law enforcement organizations in Wisconsin.

Either Democrat candidate in Wisconsin will have to deal with the number one issue that transcended the race in Virginia which is the economy.  With the possibility of national unemployment rising to twelve percent next year, they will have to defend their party’s failed record on the economy.  Either candidate  must convince to the voters that they are not connected to Jim Doyle .  This is evidenced by the outgoing Governor’s support with independent voters plummeting over the last year according to polls conducted by SurveyUSA. Independent voters in Virginia turned out for McDonnell on a two to one margin over his Democratic challenger Creigh Deeds. With many independent voters across the nation feeling buyer’s remorse towards the 2008 election, either Barrett or Conroy may have a very difficult time selling their platform to independents that are skeptical towards the Democrat agenda.

No matter how Wisconsin Democrat Party Chairman Mike Tate may go to the Creigh Deeds playbook for failure to attack Scott Walker, either Barrett or Conroy must deal with the fact that Mike Tate could be a big liability in this election.  Tate may disregard what happened in Virginia this year in which their state party leadership used deceptive messaging in attempting to derail Bob McDonnell.  The empty suit, slick talking Chairman through his rhetoric may have either Kevin Conroy or Tom Barrett be rendered as another Creigh Deeds in the making  if Chairman Tate continues down that path.    These reasons are why what happened in Virginia will come back to haunt any major Democrat candidate in 2010.

Mike Tate-DPW Chairman

There is another sign the Democrats are desperate in Wisconsin and again slick talking Democrat Party of Wisconsin Chairman Mike Tate is yapping it again. This time it is now talking about Scott Walker and Sarah Palin meeting together when the former Alaskan Governor was in Wisconsin last week.  This comes as a way for Tate to distract the fact that the independent Pew Research Center report found his party guilty as charged of serious fiscal mismanagement  in which Wisconsin is one of the top ten fiscally irresponsible states in America.

Tate is acting more like his shoe size than his age by complaining about reports in Time Magazine and JSOnline that the Milwaukee County Executive is seeking Sarah Palin’s endorsement for Governor.  Tate also rants about Scott Walker being a extreme right wing candidate pandering to what he called an extreme base if he gets Palin’s endorsement.

Well, this is an example of Mike Tate using the Creigh Deeds playbook that failed Democrats in Virginia.  This means that Tate wants to take the message off the focus of what next year’s election should be is the Wisconsin economy.  This means that Tate is attempting to switch the focus on Scott Walker and whoever endorses him to escape the fact that the Democrats in state government are responsible for putting Wisconsin in economic ruin.  Did you care to look at the vote tally in Virginia Chairman Tate when Mr. Deeds used that similar tactic?  That resulted in the largest margin of victory ever for a winning Governor candidate in Virginia and it was Republican Bob McDonnell who thumped Mr. Deeds by 18 points.

This is a classic example from the Democrat playbook when Mike Tate continues to reward his party for engaging in fiscal irresponsibility and being confronted by evidence that shows his party guilty as charged of fiscal mismanagement.  Next year, the voters of Wisconsin will send a clear message to Chairman Tate like the voters did in Virginia this November and saying that next year’s election is all about “its the economy, stupid.”

The Chief, a wannabe ND Fighting Sioux?

The Chief, who is a liberal blogger from Oshkosh thinks my post about Mark Neumann earlier this week should be dismissed as hilarious comedy because I labeled him a career politician.

I got some news for you Chief, Neumann qualifies as career politician for these reasons:

• Neumann sided with liberal, radical Republicans like Jim Jeffords of Vermont, Bob Livingston of Louisiana, and the RINO establishment during his entire tenure in Congress.  Despite he may tout his private sector experience all he wants, voting with establishment Republicans and saying you have private sector experience is a political double negative.
• Neumann made a career of eight years in total running full time for elective office in which he was unsuccessful in three out of the five times he ran for office.  That is losing the Wisconsin-1 Congress seat in 1990 and 1992 and losing the Senate seat to Feingold in 1998.
• Neumann is back this time running for Governor at the blessing of old guard Republicans such as Jim Klauser, former Administration Secretary under Tommy Thompson.  Also, add on former state party chairmen like Rick Graber who have made a career of singing the praises of Mark Neumann.  Those old guard Republicans are career politicians too.

Nice try Chief, but from your assumptions here I can consider you a wannabe for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux right here in Badgers country.

Marlin Schneider (D-WI Rapids)

Just today, career politician Marlin Schneider and Amy Sue Vruwink asked the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board to investigate an event held by Students for Walker at UW-Stevens Point.

In a report published by the La Crosse Tribune, UW System spokesperson David Giroux said that UW system attorneys found no illegal wrongdoing when asked about the matter.

This is the latest frivolous attempt by desperate Democrats in Wisconsin trying to derail Scott Walker’s campaign for Governor.   Earlier this summer, slick talking DPW Chairman Mike Tate lodged a frivolous complaint to the Government Accountability Board about the Milwaukee County Executive’s ride. Mike Tate in his phantom complaint to the GAB claimed that the motorcycle ride was a campaign event with AirTran being a sponsor.  In reality, the event was basically nothing but an official event to promote Milwaukee County tourism.  Also, the Milwaukee County Ethics Board gave Scott Walker their blessing before the event when asked about the AirTran sponsorship.

This latest publicity grab is nothing but desperation out of a Democrat party in disarray looking to switch the political landscape and score some quick political points.   With this example and Mark Neumann’s publicity stunt shows that Walker is in a good position while the opposition is desperate.

Sean Duffy (R-WI)

Soon on the North Shore Exponent, it will be getting center right bloggers across Wisconsin and America united for one purpose involving the Wisconsin-7 Congressional District. That purpose is to send Dave Obey to retirement.

There will be an exciting initiative coming soon as people will be united to send the author of the failed stimulus bill into his retirement and uniting their support behind Sean Duffy.

The mood around WI-7 is that people are realizing that there is a need for a big change. People up in WI-7 know that Dave Obey is not the person that best represents their interests. For many years Dave Obey has been an absolute jerk to the people he represents. This year in the heat of the health care battle, Mr. Obey has refused to meet with the people of his district face to face. When Americans for Prosperity gave Mr. Obey an invitation to speak at the historic Rothschild Pavilion in August, he refused.

For the first time in a long time, Republicans and Conservatives have a chance to win WI-7. Sean Duffy is the candidate that can finally beat David Obey and send him into retirement. This is why with one of the best political environments conservatives have in a long time that we need to be united behind Sean Duffy.

If you are sick of the bailouts and the failed stimulus, support the candidate that will knock out the author of the biggest generational theft in American history. No matter where you live in Wisconsin or across the nation you are invited.

Check back soon for more details

As someone who has had three family members serve our nation in uniform, I want to take some time to say thank you to our men and women who fight for our freedoms.

I have had a uncle serve in the Marines, and had one cousin serve in the Navy while another served in the Army.

Last year, my cousin who served in the Army SPC Nathaniel Heiden received an honorable medical discharge from the Army. SPC Heiden served in Operation Iraqi Freedom before back problems cut his tour of duty short. I am very thankful that he came back home safe and proud to call him one of our own heroes right here in Wisconsin. Nathan, thank you for your service to this nation and best wishes for good health in the years ahead.

Also, on this Veterans Day I want to say to a good friend of mine Chris Blair of Appleton who is stationed at Camp Liberty that thoughts and prayers are with you. Blair graduated from West Point in 2008 and played college hockey for the Army Black Knights. Blair went to where I went to high school at Appleton North and was an excellent hockey player for Appleton United which is the team for Appleton East, North, and West. Blair is in the beginning of a 8 year service commitment after graduating from West Point. Despite he will not play in the NHL ending his hockey career last year, I know that Blair in the best of his ability will use the lessons he has learned on the rink to protect our naton. Thank you Chris for your sacrifice and for your service.

As the Fort Hood tragedy trumps this Veteran’s Day it has made us think seriously again about what these people do to protect us half a world away. For those who lost someone and remembering them on this day, thoughts and prayers are with you. For those fighting, we are thinking about you. Let us not forget today on Veteran’s Day.