Category: Wisconsin

WISCONSIN, MARYLAND REPUBLICAN PRIMARY RESULTS HQ

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UPDATE 10:50 p.m. ET: Chris Moody of Yahoo News writes about Santorum’s campaign in Wisconsin, which included visits to seven bowling alleys and more than a few beers:

He has arguably been one of the hardest working candidates in the race, having labored his way up from the bottom of the polls when he held events in Iowa that literally no one showed up for, to becoming the lead rival to the frontrunner. The man has only taken five days off the campaign trail since last summer, and spent most of that time eking his way along financially. With weak organization to speak of and an entourage that consisted of little more than the candidate and a friend with a Dodge Ram, Santorum went from being the candidate who could hardly get his name on the ballot in some states to becoming a household name.

Chris, you’re wrong: Santorum is not “arguably . . . one of the hardest working candidates,” he is the hardest working candidate, period. There is no argument. Nobody has out-worked this guy, and if it wasn’t for his hard work, he never would have won Iowa, let alone Missouri, Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Dakota, Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

UPDATE 10:40 p.m. ET: In my local congressional district, Maryland’s 6th, incumbent Republican Rep. Roscoe Bartlett survives with 45% against 21% for David Brinkley, one of seven GOP challengers on the ballot.

In Wisconsin, it’s Romney 42%, Santorum 38% with 65% of precincts reporting. Remember that Romney spent more than $3 million airing attack ads against Santorum in Wisconsin, outspending the Santorum campaign 4-to-1 in advertising.

UPDATE 10:30 p.m. ET: Some good news: In the Maryland GOP Senate primary, with 60% of precincts reporting, Dan Bongino leads with 32% to 29% for Richard Douglas. A total of 10 candidates on the ballot in that primary, the winner facing Democrat Ben Cardin.

UPDATE 10:20 p.m. ET: Latest from Wisconsin: Romney 43% to Santorum’s 38%, with 42% of precincts reporting.

UPDATE 10:15 p.m. ET: Notice that Michelle Malkin directs her readers to “Latest MSM coverage of the D.C. and Maryland results here” — the link is to MSNBC. Their coverage of the Repubican presidential campaign has arguably been more fair and balanced than the Romney News Network.

Malkin endorsed Santorum in January.

BTW, according to an analysis by the New Yorker, when all is said and done, Romney will fall short of the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch.

Linked by Bob Belvedere at the Camp of the Saints — thanks!

UPDATE 9:50 p.m. ET: Fox News cut away from Rick Santorum’s speech tonight after a couple of minutes. With 19% of precincts reporting now in Wisconsin, it’s Romney 42%, Santorum 39%. The networks have already called Wisconsin for Romney, who is now giving an extraordinarily lame victory speech in Milwaukee.

Excuse the long delay in reporting. Got a late deadline tonight, so I took a brief nap.

UPDATE 8:30 p.m. ET: In early results in the Maryland GOP Senate primary, Dan Bongino leads Richard Douglas 34%-26% so far.

UPDATE 8:20 p.m. ET: The networks called Maryland for Mitt Romney as soon as the polls closed. With  5% of precincts reporting, it’s Romney 53%, Santorum 27% in Maryland.

PREVIOUSLY (7:56 p.m. ET)

Today, after covering the Republican primary campaign for months, I finally got to vote in a primary, casting my ballot here in Maryland for Rick Santorum and U.S. Senate candidate Dan Bongino.

Of course, Maryland is a very liberal state and, as such, is considered a shoo-in for the former governor of Massachusetts, so Mitt Romney will pick up 37 delegates in a state he’s got zero chance of winning in November. Because he’s inevitable! And electable!

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET in Maryland. Meanwhile, all eyes will be on Wisconsin, where polls close at 8 p.m. Central, 9 p.m ET. If you’re a Santorum supporter in Wisconsin, make sure you vote. If you’re a Romney supporter in Wisconsin, don’t bother — he’s a shoo-in! Inevitable! Electable! All that crap the talking heads on Fox News say!

Rick Santorum will have his election night event in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mars, Pa. The next round of primaries is three weeks away, April 24, and if Santorum can win his home state of Pennsylvania, he’s still in the game, no matter what the Fox News talking heads say. Santorum has already announced his Wednesday campaign schedule in Pennsyvania.

BREAKING: Police Arrest Suspect in Planned Parenthood Bombing

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A man with a criminal record — he was out on probation — has been taken into custody in connection with the incident in Grand Chute, the Appleton (Wisc.) Post-Crescent reports:

Police say they have identified the person who placed a homemade explosive device that went off Sunday and damaged Planned Parenthood’s Gillett Street clinic.
Police said today they identified the man after reviewing surveillance footage.
The man was booked into the Outagamie County Jail on Monday evening on a probation violation. No charges have yet been referred to prosecutors. . . .
Police say a witness saw a white sport-utility vehicle leave Planned Parenthood at the same time flames were seen coming from the building.
Detectives corroborated that information through security video, which also showed distinctive markings on the vehicle.
Investigators learned a similar vehicle was involved in a crash in a neighboring community after the Planned Parent incident was reported and was towed from the scene. . . .

UPDATE: The same information is reported by Green Bay’s WLUK-TV, but no name of the suspect yet. If we have any readers in Wisconsin — especially Outagamie County — who can help provide information in the comments, your assistance would be appreciated.

UPDATE II: The Green Bay Press Gazette runs the same story as the Appleton paper (both are part of the Gannett chain) and still no name of the suspect anywhere online?

UPDATE III: Just spoke to Sharon Froberg, an assistant editor at the Appleton Post-Crescent, who says their policy is not to name suspects until they have been charged. Their cops reporter is working to track down the suspect’s age, etc., and also to find out what he was on probation for, Ms. Froberg says. The newspaper’s staff have noticed the increased traffic to their site and are working to update the story as soon as possible.

UPDATE IV: Here is the manifest of inmates currently held at the Outagamie County Jail, which lists the following male inmates booked into the jail since 7 p.m. Sunday:

BASTIAN, FREDERICK DANIEL M W 4/2/2012 2:32:00 PM
BELGUM, JUSTIN JAMES M W 4/1/2012 7:55:00 PM
COOPER, JEREMY MICHAEL M I 4/3/2012 12:47:00 PM
FELTON, TIMOTHY DWAYNE M B 4/2/2012 5:05:00 PM
GRADY, FRANCIS GERALD M W 4/3/2012 1:19:00 AM
JACKELS, ROBERT LEE M W 4/2/2012 10:12:00 PM
JOHNSON, TROY LEON M W 4/3/2012 12:32:00 PM
KHATIB, KAMEL MOHAMED M A 4/2/2012 1:30:00 PM
LESKO, ROBERT WYATT M W 4/2/2012 10:35:00 AM
ROBINSON, ANDREW ALEXANDER M B 4/2/2012 12:16:00 PM
SIRTOFF, SCOTT JAMES M W 4/3/2012 12:21:00 PM
STAPLES, SIDNEY SCOTT M B 4/2/2012 3:19:00 PM
TODOROV, HRISTO RUMENOV M W 4/2/2012 12:15:00 PM
VANCE, CHARLES ADRIEN M W 4/2/2012 6:50:00 PM
VANDENBERG, RANDY JOSEPH M W 4/2/2012 12:26:00 PM

So it would seem the suspect must be one of the 15 names on this list.

UPDATE V: An Associated Press story repeats what we already know, and there is this additional tidbit at Huffington Post:

Police located the suspect on Sunday night and have detained him at Outagamie County Jail. They did not release details about his age or appearance and said no charges have been filed.

UPDATE VI: This is perhaps as good a time as any to remind readers that I first became aware of this crime while watching Ed Schultz on MSNBC depict it as part of the Republican “War on Women.”

Because we do not yet know the name of the suspect, nor any information about his motive, it is impossible at this point to say whether the alleged bomber is actually a Republican. Meanwhile, TPM Muckraker notes the mystery surrounding the unnamed man:

Authorities have not released many details of the person they arrested except to say he was a man and was currently being held in a local jail on a probation violation. They stopped short of calling him a suspect in the bombing.

Uh, yeah. Hasn’t been charged, but they say he and his SUV with “distinctive markings” match video at the crime scene. Call me crazy, but I’ve got a hunch maybe the perp’s not a Republican.

UPDATE VII: Now a Memeorandum thread. I’ll be looking forward to the “Republican War on Women” update on MSNBC tonight.

UPDATE VIII: Wisconsin Radio Network interviews the police chief, and gets this: The suspect was involved in a crash in the nearby town of Kaukauna about an hour after the report of the incident at Planned Parenthood. The white SUV “had very distinctive markings,” said Grand Chute Police Chief Greg Peterson, and the suspect had “physical characteristics that were similar in nature . . . general physical characteristics” that matched the surveillance video at the Planned Parenthood office.

Why Is the U.S. Justice Department Monitoring the Wisconsin Primary?

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Dan Collins at The Conservatory calls attention to a news item:

The U.S. Justice Department says it is dispatching observers to watch over Wisconsin’s presidential primary on Tuesday.
The Justice Department said Monday its poll watchers will be in Milwaukee to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights laws.

Did I miss something? Is Milwaukee in 2012 like Selma in 1965?

Are Romneyites trying to intimidate Santorum voters in Wisconsin? As if all those endorsements and more than $3 million in attack ads weren’t enough to do the trick?

First, there was that made-for-MSNBC bombing at Planned Parenthood — a “small device” that caused “minimal damage” at an empty office — and now, for the first time in the 2012 campaign, the Justice Department decides that a primary election requires federal election monitors?

Why Wisconsin? Why now?

The word you’re looking for is “shenanigans.”

Question the Timing: Planned Parenthood Bombing Before Wisconsin Primary?

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Watching MSNBC can be a weird experience. About 3 a.m., unable to sleep, I was flipping around the channels and happened onto Ed Schultz — who reminds me of every mean drunk I ever knew — going on and on about the alleged Republican “War on Women.”

I had the sound muted on the TV (because my wife was asleep) and what I was watching made no sense. What the heck was this about?

Why was there a Planned Parenthood logo at the bottom corner of the screen with the word, “FBI”? And why were they showing a statement by Rick Santorum condemning violence? Curious, I got up and did a Google search and found this Associated Press story:

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. — Police say a homemade explosive device damaged a Planned Parenthood clinic in eastern Wisconsin.
Authorities say someone placed the small device on an outside window sill about 7:40 p.m. Sunday at the clinic in Grand Chute, near Appleton.
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin CEO Teri Huyck said in a statement that there was minimal damage to an exam room and that the clinic will reopen Tuesday. No one was in the building at the time.

That’s all there is to it. A “small device” that did “minimal damage” at an empty office — in Wisconsin, two days before the Republican primary.

So while this is enough to make Ed Schultz devote his Monday show to haranguing us about a Republican “War on Women,” I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe this was actually some kind of hoax.

The FBI is investigating, and I’ll be eager to learn the result of their investigation because — call me a crazy conspiracy theorist — it seems rather illogical that if some kind of Cheesehead Misogynist Militia wanted to terrorize women, they’d do so with a “small device,” causing “minimal damage” at an empty office.

TWO DAYS BEFORE THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY.

You catching my drift here?

Anyway, I hope the FBI cracks this case quickly, because MSNBC is achieving new heights of absurdity in playing connect-the-dots with this rather oddly timed incident, jumping to outlandish conclusions without any evidentiary basis. Here is Michelle Goldberg on “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Again, call me crazy for suspecting that this is some kind of hoax, but the logic just doesn’t work. If this was actually done by an anti-abortion extremist, wouldn’t this person realize that they were committing a federal crime? And if you were going to commit a federal crime, would you risk imprisonment for a “small device” that did “minimal damage”?

TWO DAYS BEFORE THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY?

OK, maybe Wisconsin is home to America’s lamest anti-abortion extremists. It’s possible. Can’t rule that out.

At the same time, however, we know for a fact that Wisconsin is home to some particularly stupid Democrats. Remember the Democrats who slashed the tires of Republican get-out-the-vote vehicles in 2004?

After a three-month investigation, Sowande Omokunde, the son of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, Michael Pratt, the son of former Milwaukee Mayor Marvin Pratt, Lewis Caldwell, and Lavelle Mohammad, from Milwaukee, and Justin Howell, from Racine, were each charged with a felony count of criminal damage to property.

Notice that it took a three-month investigation before there were any charges filed in that case. It may be months before we have any idea who committed this crime at the Planned Parenthood office, and therefore all this “War on Women” hype on MSNBC is ridiculously premature. Via Steve Ertelt at Life News, here is Rick Santorum’s statement:

“Violence is never the answer, and I will always condemn any and all violent attacks against our fellow Americans.  In this country, we resolve our differences through political discussion and free and fair elections — never by violence. This upcoming election is about restoring freedom and liberty in America, and a key part of that is to restore a culture that values human life and the dignity of all Americans.  While we can and should work to defund Planned Parenthood and push back against government mandates that force Americans and religious institution to violate their faith, violence against our fellow citizens has no place in a freedom-loving America.”

Violence is never the answer, and neither is voting for moderates from Massachusetts. On, Wisconsin! Vote for Rick Santorum!

UPDATE: Why Is the U.S. Justice Department Monitoring the Wisconsin Primary?

UPDATE II: Police Arrest Suspect in Planned Parenthood Bombing — and at this point, police are refusing to name the suspect.

Ron Paul Supporter Challenges Romney Over Mormon Doctrine in Wisconsin

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Did no one else see this coming?

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was confronted at a town hall meeting here Monday by a young man who read from a book of scripture published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and asked Romney whether he agreed with his church’s one-time belief that interracial marriage was a sin. . . .
The questioner, Bret Hatch, 28, a local supporter of Rep. Ron Paul’s, read from typed notes as he asked Romney whether he agreed with a verse from Moses 7:8 from the “Pearl of Great Price.”

You can read the relevant chapter of the Mormon “Book of Moses” and see for yourself what it says. And you may remember that I previously predicted what is now beginning to happen: As long as the media and the Democrats (but I repeat myself) saw the GOP nomination being in doubt, Romney’s status as a bishop in the LDS church was treated as off-limits, except when it was used as a club to clobber evangelical Christian voters for their supposed anti-Mormon prejudice.

By contast, recall how often Rick Santorum’s support for Catholic doctrine — especially his church’s opposition to artificial contraception — was a frequent subject of mainstream media “controversy.”

Now that Democrats are near-certain that Romney is the nominee, however, the media is going to start covering Mitt’s Mormonism in a very serious way — “Oh, look, he’s a fringe kook!” — as if this were an entirely legitimate topic of political discussion.

Again, by contrast, remember that the preachings of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, in whose pews Barack Obama sat for 20 years, were quickly dismissed by the media as irrelevant, and anyone who called attention to Obama’s having briefly attended a Muslim school in Indonesia was condemned as a crackpot conspiracy theorist.

Those Republicans who have joined the “Roll Over for Romney” movement, asserting that Mitt is not only “inevitable” as the nominee but also the most “electable” of the GOP candidates, will likely get a brutal lesson in absolute ruthlessness, as the Left will not hesitate to exploit religious bigotry when it suits their purposes.

Perhaps the voters of Wisconsin can save us from this fate:

Even as you read this, Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign is going all-out to win the Wisconsin Republican primary. It’s important to make that point up front, because if you permit yourself to be hypnotized by media coverage of the campaign, you will helplessly succumb to the belief that the fight for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination is all over but the shouting. There are many people who want to convince Republican voters in Wisconsin and elsewhere that Mitt Romney is the “inevitable” nominee, and not all of them are in the paid employment of the Romney campaign or his super-PAC.
Between the official campaign and its allied “Restore Our Future” super-PAC, pro-Romney forces have unloaded more than $3 million in advertising in Wisconsin, but what they’ve spent attacking Santorum is dwarfed in value by the network airtime devoted to promoting the message of Romney’s inevitability. It is remarkable to observe how this appeal to bandwagon psychology has actually intensified since Santorum won the March 24 Louisiana primary by a whopping 22 points. . . .

Read the rest at The American Spectator.

UPDATE: CNN, ABC News, Politico — see what I mean? Now that they think Romney’s clinched, this “issue” magically become legitimate.

Let’s just pray Rick Santorum’s phone-from-home get-out-the-vote volunteers can work some magic in Wisconsin.

Brutal: New Rick Santorum TV Ad Compares Mitt Romney to Barack Obama

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According to Politico, this new TV ad is now running in Wisconsin and will soon be running in Pennsylvania:

UPDATE: This ad appears to be part of a general effort by the Santorum campaign to put the focus squarely on health care, as the candidate also publishes an op-ed column in USA Today:

As the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, we Americans need to remember that we have the freedom to make choices for ourselves. We, not our government, choose the food to eat, the clothes to wear, the ideas to believe. “ObamaCare” is the opposite of freedom. Under ObamaCare, the government, not the individual, has freedom. We can do better.
Just ask the Congressional Budget Office. It forecast that as many as 20 million Americans could lose their employer-provided health insurance under ObamaCare, and that premium costs will rise over the next decade.
ObamaCare – based on RomneyCare, the plan Massachusetts adopted when Mitt Romney was governor – tells insurance companies which benefits their policies must offer and what range of prices they could charge. It requires that individuals buy conforming policies, and cuts $500 billion from Medicare. The Independent Payment Advisory Board will limit what treatments doctors can prescribe. . . .

Read the rest.

 
 


Newt Ally Says We’re Doomed

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Alexander Burns of Politico interviews longtime Newt Gingrich aide Rick Tyler, who is now in charge of the pro-Newt super PAC:

“Because I think ultimately, [Gingrich will] be proven right and if Mitt Romney is the nominee we will lose in the fall,” Tyler said. . . .
Romney has “pursued the politics of personal destruction.”
“You cannot win the presidency that way and you cannot win majorities that way,” the Gingrich booster said. “Our chances now of beating Barack Obama are dramatically diminished and our chances of winning the U.S. Senate are dramatically diminished.”

Meanwhile, I wonder, what will be the effect of Mitt Romney’s campaign on the fate of Scott Walker? We know that negative advertising depresses turnout, and Team Mitt is doing everything they can to stigmatize, demoralize and discourage Rick Santorum’s supporters.

Why do I suspect this bodes ill for Walker?

Satan Angered by New Poll Showing Santorum Ahead 34%-18% in Wisconsin

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va.
Stopped in here at McDonald’s and got online to discover that Satan’s plan to destroy America is now the top story in the country. This is why neutral objective journalist George Stephanopoulos interviewed neutral objective Mitt Romney supporter Chris Christie about the urgently relevant Satan issue today.

Stephanopoulos and Christie: What a team, huh?

Meanwhile, a new poll conducted by Marquette University shows Republican voters in Wisconsin are clearly anti-Satan:

Rick Santorum ………… 34%
Mitt Romney …………… 18%
Ron Paul ………………… 17%
Newt Gingrich …………. 12%

The poll of 424 likely Republican primary voters was conducted Feb. 16-19. Wisconsin’s GOP primary is April 3.

How did I learn about this poll? From a Rick Santorum campaign press release, which is not how neutral objective journalists like George Stephanopoulos get their news tips. Instead, they call up their friends at the Romney campaign, arrange an interview with one of Romney’s prominent supporters, and call that “news.”

Also, neutral objective journalists like George Stephanopoulos never drive to Ohio or stop at a McDonald’s in West Virginia to get lunch off the Dollar Menu and use the free WiFi.

Satan’s minions do it their way. I do it mine.
 





 
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