Michael Bersin Posts

Wisconsin recall election breaks state's political spending records
Published: 12:44 PM 06/04/2012

....Many high-dollar donations have come from anti-union billionaires including Dick DeVos, David Koch, and Sheldon Adelson. Walker's top three contributors contributed more money to his campaign than Barrett's campaign has collected overall....

[emphasis added]

Via Twitter:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler
A victory tonight for fiscal responsibility and job creation. May it spread from Wisconsin across the nation. 9:28 PM - 5 Jun 12

Seriously?

Wisconsin Recall Election - total raised:  

Walker, Scott [R] $30,505,082.66
Barrett, Tom [D] $3,938,574.59
Trivedi, Hariprasad $120,089.63

[emphasis added]

If corporations were people and could vote it would have been a landslide. Oh, wait...

Missouri is not Wisconsin and the Koch Brothers probably aren't willing to spend it all on every Congressional race. Probably.

Turning left.

Hopeful thinking. Photo: Mark in Denver

We're all Mayans now. Either that, or it's a parking permit.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: it continues to roll in (June 1, 2012)

Campaign Finance: it continues to roll in - part 2 (June 4, 2012)

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C001135 06/04/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI GV Village, LLC 3027 W. Country Music Boulevard Suite B Branson MO 65616 6/2/2012 $10,000.00

C001135 06/04/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Mike Hamra 1855 S. Ingram Mill Road Springfield MO 65804 Hamra Management Restaurant Executive 6/2/2012 $6,000.00

C001135 06/04/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Davis, Ketchmark, McCreight & Ivers, PC 11161 Overbrook Road Suite 210 Leawood KS 66211 6/2/2012 $25,000.00

C001135 06/04/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI South Oaks Centre, Inc. 1414 E. Primrose Street Suite 100 Springfield MO 65804 6/2/2012 $6,000.00

C001135 06/04/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Medical Holdings, Ltd. PO Box 3068 Fort Smith AR 72913 6/2/2012 $25,000.00

C001135 06/04/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Michael Morton 415 Rogers Avenue Fort Smith AR 72901 Central Arkansas Nursing Center Nursing Home Owner 6/2/2012 $25,000.00

C001135 06/04/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Brad L Bradshaw 1904 S. Shady Hill Lane Springfield MO 65809 Brad Bradshaw MD, JC, LLC Attorney 6/2/2012 $6,500.00

C001135 06/04/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Cornerstone Health Care, Inc. 222 S. First Street Rogers AR 72756 6/2/2012 $25,000.00

C001135 06/04/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Rita A Baron 1855 S. Ingram Mill Road Suite 201 Springfield MO 65804 Baron Design & Associates Architect 6/2/2012 $6,000.00

[emphasis added]

There'll be a need for much more.

Not to worry.

Previously: It's the record, stoopid.... (May 31, 2012)

The Obama 2012 campaign has a new ad out:

Barack Obama: I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message.

Announcer: It started like this.

[Massachusetts 2002]

Mitt Romney: I speak the language of business. I know how jobs are created.

Announcer: But it ended like this. One of the worst economic records in the country.

[Romney's economic record one of the worst in the country - Boston Globe, 7/29/07]

When Mitt Romney was Governor, Massachusetts lost 40,000 manufacturing jobs.

[Lost 40,000 manufacturing jobs -Bureau of Labor Statistics]

A rate twice the national average.

[Twice the national average -Bureau of Labor Statistics]

And fell to forty-seventh in job creation. Fourth from the bottom.

Instead of hiring workers from his own state, Romney outsourced call center jobs to India.

[Outsourced jobs to India - Boston Globe, 5/1/12]

He cut taxes for millionaires like himself.

[Cut taxes for millionaires -Associated Press, 11/18/05, 12/8/05]

While raising them on the middle class.

[Raised taxes and fees on middle class - Boston Globe, 9/27/06]

And left the state two point six billion deeper in debt.

[$2.6 billion more in debt - Massachusetts Treasurer]

So now, when Mitt Romney talks about what he'd do as President.

Mitt Romney: I know what it takes to create jobs.

[Get the facts at RomneyEconomics.com]

Announcer: Remember, we've heard it all before.

Mitt Romney: I know how jobs are created.

[Romney's economic record: one of the worst in the country - Boston Globe, 7/29/07]

Announcer: Romney economics, it didn't work then, and it won't work now.

[Approved by Barack Obama.  Paid for by Obama for America.]

Going back to the policies of the dubya era is not a particularly attractive option.  

Previously: Campaign Finance: it continues to roll in (June 1, 2012)

Yesterday, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C001135 06/03/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Joseph Ryan Hamilton 778 S. Pearson Drive Springfield MO 65809 Hamilton Properties Vice President 6/1/2012 $6,000.00

C001135 06/03/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Douglas Hamilton 778 S. Pearson Drive Springfield MO 65809 Hamilton Contracting Real Estate Developer 6/1/2012 $6,000.00

[emphasis added]

There'll be a need for much more.

Uh, yep.

In 2004:

Official Election Returns
State of Missouri Primary Election
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
As announced by the Board of State Canvassers
on Friday, September 03, 2004

Constitutional Amendment 2  
Marriage Definition
Yes 1,055,771 70.6%
No 439,529 29.4%
Total Votes   1,495,300

Remember, it was a primary and turnout was nowhere near that of a general election. It did result in this:

Missouri Constitution
Article I
BILL OF RIGHTS
Section 33

Marriage, validity and recognition.

Section 33. That to be valid and recognized in this state, a marriage shall exist only between a man and a woman.

(Adopted August 3, 2004)

Public Policy Polling (PPP) released additional results [pdf] of a survey of 602 Missouri voters interviewed from May 24th to May 27th. The margin of error for the poll is 4.0%.

Q2 Do you think same-sex marriage should be legal or illegal?

Legal 36%
Illegal 52%
Not sure 12%

Q3 Which of the following best describes your opinion on gay marriage: gay couples should be allowed to legally marry, or gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not legally marry, or there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship?

Gay couples should be allowed to legally marry 31%
Gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not marry 32%
There should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship 33%
Not sure 4%

Civil unions or same sex marriage are at 63% in the poll.

The next question should have been: "Should the state should dictate any religious denomination's recognition of marriage between consenting adults?" I bet the results would have been really interesting.

Civil union or marriage, what would be the difference, a choice of words?

Eight years. Think of the possibility of continuing change over the next few years.

In 2004:

Official Election Returns

State of Missouri Primary Election

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

As announced by the Board of State Canvassers

on Friday, September 03, 2004

Constitutional Amendment 2  

Marriage Definition

Yes 1,055,771 70.6%

No 439,529 29.4%

Total Votes   1,495,300

Remember, it was a primary and turnout was nowhere near that of a general election. It did result in this:

Missouri Constitution

Article I

BILL OF RIGHTS

Section 33

Marriage, validity and recognition.

Section 33. That to be valid and recognized in this state, a marriage shall exist only between a man and a woman.

(Adopted August 3, 2004)

Public Policy Polling (PPP) released additional results [pdf] of a survey of 602 Missouri voters interviewed from May 24th to May 27th. The margin of error for the poll is 4.0%.

Q2 Do you think same-sex marriage should be legal or illegal?

Legal 36%

Illegal 52%

Not sure 12%

Q3 Which of the following best describes your opinion on gay marriage: gay couples should be allowed to legally marry, or gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not legally marry, or there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship?

Gay couples should be allowed to legally marry 31%

Gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not marry 32%

There should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship 33%

Not sure 4%

Civil unions or same sex marriage are at 63% in the poll.

The next question should have been: "Should the state should dictate any religious denomination's recognition of marriage between consenting adults?" I bet the results would have been really interesting.

Civil union or marriage, what would be the difference, a choice of words?

Eight years. Think of the possibility of continuing change over the next few years.

A fighting Democrat:

You got that right.

A fighting Democrat:

You got that right.

Public Policy Polling (PPP) released additional results of a survey of 602 Missouri voters interviewed from May 24th to May 27th. The margin of error for the poll is 4.0%.

The presidential race is close. Anyone think that Jasper County will make the difference?

Missouri a toss up for President

Voters in Missouri are not real happy with their choices for President. They don't like Barack Obama. But they don't, as evidenced by the Republican primary results in the state, like Mitt Romney either. That has the state looking closely contested again for this fall just as it was in 2008....

The numbers [pdf]:

Q3 If the candidates for President this year were Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, who would you vote for?

Barack Obama 45%

Mitt Romney 44%

Undecided 11%

And then there's this:

....Blunt is one of the most unpopular Senators in the country with only 32% of voters approving of him to 46% who disapprove. Missouri is the only state in our polling where both Senators have a net approval of -10 or worse....

That must be some teabagger buyer's remorse.

The past few days, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C001135 05/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P., d/b/a AT&T Missouri One AT&T Center Room 4200 Saint Louis MO 63101 5/29/2012 $25,000.00

C001135 06/01/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI International Union of Operating Engineers EPEC 1125 17th Street, NW Washington DC 20036 5/30/2012 $20,000.00

C001135 06/01/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI World Wide Technology Holding Co., Inc. 60 Weldon Parkway Saint Louis MO 63043 5/30/2012 $8,300.00

[emphasis adds]

There'll be a need for much more.

...it would be their perfect world.

The money flows in the Attorney General race.

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C121046 05/31/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR ED MARTIN David Humphreys PO Box 4050 Joplin MO 64803 Tamko Building Products Executive 5/31/2012 $250,000.00

[emphasis added]

Think of it as wealth redistribution to the republican right wingnut campaign consultant industrial complex.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: fear can be a powerful incentive (February 18, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Attorney General - pro forma endorsements don't seem to matter (March 7, 2012)

Campaign Finance: fear can be a powerful incentive - part 2 (March 8, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Ed Martin (r) has another really bad week (March 15, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Après Ed, le déluge (March 25, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Après Ed, le déluge - part 2 (March 29, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Après Ed, le déluge - part 3 (March 31, 2012)

"...It didn't work here so I'm not quite sure why he thinks it might work nationally..."

For republicans, that's a feature, not a bug.

The Obama campaign has a new video on Mitt Romney's (r) record in Massachusetts:

The transcript:

[2002]

[Mitt Romney ran for Governor of Massachusetts...

and he made a lost of promises.]

Mitt Romney (r): ...We're gonna have a stronger economy because I'm gonna be governor...

...I have experience in the private sector...

...I know how jobs are created and how jobs are lost...

...I'm gonna work tirelessly as governor, bring more good jobs to Massachusetts...

...I know how to solve a budget problem...

...I stand very clearly for lowering, uh, the taxes...

[Sound familiar?]

[Here's Romney now.]...

...[2011]

...Jobs and the economy is what I know...

...I spent my life in the private sector...

...I know why jobs come and why they go...

...My number one job will be to see that America once again is number one in job creation...

[2012]

...I will finally get America on track to have a balanced budget...

..I will cut marginal taxes across the board...

[So what can we expect from a Romney presidency?]

...people want to know what I stand for, they can look at my record as governor...

John Barret: ...Mitt Romney was not an effective leader in Massachusetts. And the proof is in the pudding...

Jay Kaufman: ...I had worked only under Republican governors...

...and I worked really well with all of the others, but there was really not much working with Mitt Romney...  

Rob Dolan: When Governor Romney became governor of Massachusetts many of the issues that our country faces were at our door step, high debt, the need for jobs, the need to support a working middle class. There were great opportunities and there was great hope that Governor Romney could deliver. He didn't deliver...

[Jobs]

[2002]    

Mitt Romney: ...We need a job revolution, we need to have more jobs in Massachusetts, more good jobs. That's the key to our future...

Karen Spilka: There was that promise, uh, and hope that Romney would deliver with jobs and grow the economy here in Massachusetts and that did not materialize.    

Jack Yunits: ...Massachusetts growth stopped, companies stopped coming, that new jobs were not being created....

Jeffrey Sanchez: ...We knew that we were losing manufacturing jobs and he never found any solutions to try and figure out how do we keep them...

...By the time that Romney left office we were forty-seventh in the nation in terms of job growth...      

Rob Dolan: During Mitt Romney's tenure as governor wages dropped five percent his first two years which really had a very negative effect throughout Massachusetts...  

[Taxes & Fees]

[2002]

Mitt Romney: ...I will fight to keep our tax rate, not going up, but to keep it where it is and then bring it down by the end of my first term...

Jay Kaufman: What we heard from Mitt Romney during the campaign was the no new taxes pledge...

...And he found very quickly once he was in office that he couldn't deliver on any services without having sufficient resources, so he raised our taxes by raising our fees...

Rob Dolan: ...But a rose by any other name is absolutely still a rose. Fees are an increase out of the pockets of every Massachusetts resident. That's a tax. Let's call it what it is...

Carl Sciortino: ...Struggling working families, they were paying more under his administration. They're paying at the Department of Motor vehicles, they're paying for marriage fess and burial fees...

John Barret: ...Every fee that he put in place or increased impacted mainly the average middle income person...

Carl Sciortino: ...The only place that I remember Mitt Romney actually cutting taxes was for the two hundred and seventy-eight wealthiest families in our state...

[Debt]

[2002]

Mitt Romney: ...I've indicated what my position is on how to balance the budget and it's by cutting out waste and inefficiency and taking advantage of great efficiencies that I think we can capture...

Jay Kaufman: ...under the Romney administration we accumulated the greatest debt build up of any state in the country, that's after a campaign promise to do exactly the opposite...

Carl Sciortino: ...He used debt to pay for annual operations costs. That's like paying your, your rent on your credit card. And that was Mitt Romney's way of paying for the way we maintained our highways, the way we cleaned our streets. It was a really flawed way of addressing basic operations, was to go deeper and deeper into debt...

Rob Dolan:...Governor Romney's plan for America is the same plan that he sold to the people of Massachusetts in two thousand two, less government, less debt, better business, and less taxes. The result was the opposite, more fees, less business, more debt, bigger government here in Boston.  

John Barret:...He just did not get the job done. He just didn't walk the talk...

Carl Sciortino:...There are time when I watch Mitt Romney saying the exact same things now that he said here in Massachusetts in two thousand and two, in a robotic way that is completely hollow. It didn't work here so I'm not quite sure why he thinks it might work nationally...  

John Barret:...Romney economics doesn't work. It didn't work in Massachusetts and it's not gonna work in Washington...  

[RomneyEconomics.com]

It's the record, stoopid...

A billboard along Interstate 70 in Kansas.

Previously: PPP: Claire McCaskill, not particularly liked (February 1, 2012)

But, then, neither are the republican candidates - when people even know who they are...

Public Policy Polling [pdf] conducted a surveyed of 602 Missouri voters between May 24th and 27th. The margin of error 4.0%:

Q1 Do you approve or disapprove of Senator Claire McCaskill's job performance?

Approve 40%

Disapprove 50%

Not sure 10%

Q2 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Todd Akin?

Favorable 21%

Unfavorable 21%

Not sure 57%

Q3 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of John Brunner?

Favorable 20%

Unfavorable 23%

Not sure 58%

Q4 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Sarah Steelman?

Favorable 30%

Unfavorable 26%

Not sure 45%

Karl Rove's minions spent all that money and no one knows who their candidate is.

There's an interesting crosstab:

McCaskill Approval

Approve 40%

Disapprove 50%

Not sure 10%

Democrat

Approve 74%

Disapprove 13%

Not sure 12%

Republican

Approve 9%

Disapprove 83%

Not sure 9%

Independent/Other

Approve 35%

Disapprove 57%

Not sure 7%

[emphasis added]

Interesting. One quarter of self described Democrats are not in the approval column.

Toss Up in Missouri

....There's no more clarity for the general election than there is for the primary. Claire McCaskill is basically tied with all three of her competitors, leading Brunner 46-44, dead even with Steelman at 44, and down 45-44 to Akin. Little has changed since our last poll when all three match ups came down at 43-43....

So much for being in the center.

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission::

C121042 05/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR HEALTH AND EDUCATION Orscheln Management Co. 2000 US Hwy 63 South Moberly MO 65270 5/29/2012 $25,000.00

[emphasis added]

A Missouri company, instead of an out of state interest, contributing to an initiative campaign in Missouri. How refreshingly different.

C121042: Missourians For Health And Education

Po Box 412887 Committee Type: Campaign

Kansas City Mo 64141

(816) 820-8201 Established Date: 01/26/2012

Statutory Amendment To Chapters 149 & 196 Rsmo Relating To Tobacco Taxation & Regulation 11/06/2012 Tobacco Taxation & Regulation Statewide Support

[emphasis added]

Previously:
Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 14, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Initiative petitions on raising the tobacco tax (February 15, 2012)

Campaign Finance: cough, cough, hack, hack (April 10, 2012)

Campaign Finance: up in a cloud of smoke (April 20, 2012)

Campaign Finance: smoke gets in our eyes... (April 26, 2012)

Campaign Finance: stepping up to clear the air (May 25, 2012)

The shrill one:

....For the modern American right doesn't care about deficits, and never did. All that talk about debt was just an excuse for attacking Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and food stamps....

And an excuse to reduce Willard's tax rate to single digits.