Walker Update: ‘Who’s the turd?’ The Wisconsin supreme court election (Republican incumbent David Prosser is running against Dem-backed JoAnne Kloppenburg) is widely seen as some sort of muddled referendum on Gov. Scott Walker’s recent bill defanging public employee unions–largely because it’s expected that the court will ultimately need to decide whether to uphold the law against various legal challenges. But it turns out the Walker union case may be decided by the time the winning judge’s term begins on August 1. … There are also other issues in the race. … The two candidates recently had a debate (video) where, of course, they both boasted of their impartiality. It seems to have been the rare judicial debate that zeroed in on the question “Am I the turd?” … I can find no polling data that has been made public. Prosser got 55% in the primary, and Kloppenburg 25%, but bets are off in a low-turnout election where one side (organized labor) has an intense interest. …
P.S: If there were a left-wing MSM conspiracy in this country, you’d think it would conspire not to give this race publicity, for two reasons: 1) Low turnout helps the unions. The Dem/labor activists in Wisconsin will mobilize their troops whatever the national press says. But lots of national publicity might boost turnout of independents who would be less reliable anti-Prosser voters; 2) It would be highly embarrassing for the left if the MSM made a big deal of this judicial race and then Prosser won. The better union media strategy is to lay low nationally and then make a huge fuss–‘Scott Walker repudiated,’ etc.–only if Prosser loses. … And sure enough, there hasn’t been much national publicity about the race (though there has been a huge amount of publicity about a lower court judge’s decision blocking Walker’s law). Even Firedoglake seems to have gone silent. It’s lucky I’m not paranoid. …