Wisconsin to show how Dem state rates Dems

[maddezmom]

Wisconsin to show how Dem state rates Dems

By John Nichols
February 4, 2004


When Wisconsin votes on Feb. 17, it will be the first reliably Democratic state to hold a high-stakes, high-turnout open primary of the sort that sent John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton on their way to past Democratic nominations and the presidency.

Backers of front-runner John Kerry, who followed up on his Iowa and New Hampshire victories of last month with wins last night in Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota, Delaware and Missouri, say that fact bodes well for him.

But the candidates who still hope to upset the Kerry juggernaut seem just as enthusiastic about Wisconsin's primary.

"It's a little like New Hampshire and Iowa. Everyone has to compete if they're serious," Howard Dean says of Wisconsin, the state where he hopes to revitalize his flagging campaign after losses in Iowa and New Hampshire and all seven of last night's primary and caucus states.
~snip~

more:http://www.madison.com/captimes/news/stories/67370.php

[HereSince1628]

1. Wisconsin a reliably democratic state? Looks pretty purple

As a Wisconsinite I think that calling this state blue is a bit misleading...

In the last eleven presidential elections Wisconsin went democratic 6 times. Which places it in a tie for 9th lace (or 12th, if you handle ties as a central value)with 6 other states with respect to frequency of being democratic in the past 40+ years.

In 2000 Gore got 47.8 percent of the vote.

A reliably democratic state? There aren't many, but NY, MA, HI, MD, CT, ignoring some recent lapses, MN and WV too.

[bobthedrummer]

2. After 14 years of Tommy the man who sold the world Thompson

and the worst political corruption cases in modern WI. history breaking out just prior to the 2002 election that restored a Democrat to Governorship who had to deal with a $4bn budget shortfall-amidst all this I'm hoping we get back to our clean progressive traditions.
ABB.
This is an extremely important primary coming up 2-17.
VOTE.

[Cheesehead]

3. I tend to trust John Nichols' judgement

The state overall is pretty evenly divided in numbers of Dems vs. Reps but the Dems are pretty progressive, and pretty angry. I look for Kucinich to do well here and Clark has had a strong TV presence here in the Northeastern quadrant. I think it's going to be a very interesting contest.