February 1, 2012

Tim Cullen drops out of the recall-Walker race after he fails to raise a decent amount of money.

Wisconsin State Journal reports:
Cullen, a moderate who once served a top position in Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson's administration, said he wants to try to bring the two parties together. But he said a recall election against Walker would be a "non-stop political war."

"The person who comes out of that race is going to be in a terrible position to bring this state together," the 67-year-old Cullen said. "I came to Madison as a centrist and I discovered there was no center."

Cullen also faced a nearly insurmountable financial disadvantaged [sic]. He had raised just over $11,000 last year while Walker raised more than $12 million.
The recall is such a mess. Now, the only one left is former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. I wonder where she is on the money continuum between $11,000 and $12 million. Is there any serious person out there who believes the recall will be successful?

43 comments:

chickelit said...

Is there any serious person out there who believes the recall will be successful?

I guess that rules out garage mahal.

next?

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Serious? No, not serious.

buffalo said...

hey, are there any legs to this campaigning on public time scandal thing?

buffalo said...

I swear I'm not garage in disguise ...

Chip S. said...

Is there any serious person out there who believes the recall will be successful?

Scott Walker?

Tim said...

"Is there any serious person out there who believes the recall will be successful?"

No.

StoughtonSconnie said...

Falk has about $26,000 on hand. The national unions and big money dem donors (read Wall Street and Hollywood) that finance every large-scale democrat initiative are waiting on their marching orders from the White House. Unless a big name (Feingold) gets in, that money aint flowin'. To my mind, that's why the dems pushed for a million signatures on the recall petitions, to try to force Feingold's hand.

Joanna said...

My Madison friends are pretty much convinced that Walker will lose. Everyone I know from elsewhere in the state, not so much.

wv: retall

edutcher said...

Ann, you sound like Hatma...

Oh, NO!!!!!!

John Stodder said...

Garage seems to have gone to bed so I'll try to fill in for him. (ahem). Walker is really nervous! John Doe is scary! He's going to prison. One million signatures. You don't know what you're talking about Stodder!

Petunia said...

I think Patrick nailed it.

The recall types submitted about 150,000 sheets, some with ten spaces for signatures and some with five. They claimed 1,000,000 signatures. That's about 6.5 per page.

I've scanned about 1,000 pages and very few of them are full, with a lot having just one or two signatures. I'd be very surprised if there really are 1,000,000 signatures, but that's a nice round number and the media ran with it, and now it's entered the mythology.

And that number is without checking the validity of any of the signatures, and I saw a lot that could be challenged, and reports of outright fraud are starting to surface.

No wonder the recallers didn't want the sheets released to the public, and just wanted the election certified.

kjbe said...

Joanna, I'm not so convinced. I would have like to have seen Cullen name Dale Schultz as his running mate. I could have maybe gotten behind that.

Jason said...

Cullen, a moderate who once served a top position in Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson's administration, said he wants to try to bring the two parties together. But he said a recall election against Walker would be a "non-stop political war."

Cullen wants to "bring the two parties together", but yet had no problem bringing the Wisconsin state government to a screeching halt by hiding in Illinois for 3 months.

These Dems are all the same. They are all about "bringing people together", as long as those people agree with the Dems positions.

This is a "non-stop political war", using Cullen's words, because the left in this state wants to spend $10 million in taxpayer money in a do-over election because they are unhappy they lost the last one.

Jim said...

The Walker recall reminds me of the famous graph of the size of Napoleon's army as he fought across Germany, into Russia, and then retreating home with an Army much smaller than the one he left with. This will be an enormous, dispiriting loss for the progressives.

David A. Carlson said...

who ever does throw their hat in the ring could get lucky if this Milw. scandal of Walkers gets some legs

Original Mike said...

Stodder - You forgot about the secret router.

buffalo said...

Did ya'll see the news about Arizona's PEU reform - reported by HotAir.com to be way more than ours. Maybe the unions will have to spend their money there instead of here?

Anonymous said...

"like Hatma..."

A little confused at first but I assume you meant Tippy McHatboy.

As to Wisconsin and their apparently abundant sore loser population, it makes one wonder. For the supposedly nuanced, discerning, and hyper-educated folk on the left who enjoy preening about their self-inferred superiority, they spend a lot of time gnashing their teeth and acting out in angry paroxysms of rage. Rationality, I guess, is an aspirational value, not something to be pursued in this life. As Ann said many times, (paraphrasing) they lost the election fair and square, there are more elections scheduled at regular intervals and they should prepare and fight those as they come. Barring some great violation of the law, which there hasn't been, this whole episode just makes them look self-centered and petty. "It's not over until we win!" Yeah, that's mature.

SukieTawdry said...

I'm not even sure it will come off.

And have you heard what Brewer & Co are planning for Arizona? Better the unions stop flogging this dead horse and turn their attention elsewhere.

Jason said...

And have you heard what Brewer & Co are planning for Arizona? Better the unions stop flogging this dead horse and turn their attention elsewhere.

Corralling public sector unions is going to be the cornerstone of any kind of economic recovery in this country. Other states have seen what Wisconsin has done and how its worked, and now the roadmap has been set. Its why the unions fought so hard to defeat it here...they dont want to dare see that cutting their power really doesnt change much of anything, except make states realize how much cash they waste each year.

All you have to do is look around. The states that have done it are doing well. The states that havent (i.e. Illinois, California) are going into the toilet.

Ralph L said...

So Cullen has been culled.
Call Kathleen.

Chuck66 said...

He says he is a centrists, and sounds like one, yet he ran away and hid in Illinois because his union masters told him to. But I suppose he was just a soldier following orders.

SteveR said...

I won't underestimate the desperation of the anti-Walker faction. So a recall, involving just about any candidate, will be heavily supported and a Walker recall positive vote not outside the realm of possibility.

Combine idealogs like garage and the lying doctors, dimwits like most of the protesters and the union influence, and there will be a close vote.

Chuck66 said...

"My Madison friends are pretty much convinced that Walker will lose."

How did Nixon win? I don't know anyone who voted for him.

Chuck66 said...

About 10 years ago, I was in a discussion with a gal from a family of gov't employees. She said they all vote Democrat since that party gives gov't employees what they want. She challenged me to do otherwise if I worked for the government.

My reply was that if you give the government workers everything they want, eventually the gravy train will run out. They would be better off voting Republican, to maintain the free stuff for current employees, vs spending too much, which will end things for everyone.

Its better to give free stuff for a few people, but then cap it, than to give the world away to everyone.

People will realize this soon with colleges and with illegal immigrants.

garage mahal said...

Walker told fake David Koch that Cullen was the "only reasonable" one of the Dem 14. Happy to move on myself.

@Kit
Tony Schultz would be even better. Yeah? What a contrast between a populist farmer from Athens and a selfish puke like Walker.


So the John Doe Writers Block is chronic, A-House? Is it really really tough law?

Chuck66 said...

Just checked the Wisc State Journal....this summes up the 99%...


yipes said on: February 1, 2012, 9:16 pm
Freddie, the bitter liberal story is all too common in the Kangaroo Court of Madison.
It goes as follows: I went to UW, smoked weed for 4 years, bar tended at the Plaza, got a few too many tattoos, marched on the capital for ...whatever, but somehow I didn't wind up as CEO of Google.
BUSH MUST BE AT FAULT!!!!!!!!! IT'S ALL HIS FAULT!!
Damn the conservatives!!!!
Morons. It's getting Read more: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/cullen-says-no-to-running-in-walker-recall-race/article_1ce62680-4cf9-11e1-a104-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=comments#ixzz1lCCZqXGs

Gospace said...

"About 10 years ago, I was in a discussion with a gal from a family of gov't employees. She said they all vote Democrat since that party gives gov't employees what they want. She challenged me to do otherwise if I worked for the government."

I worked for the state government (NY) for 14 years. Now working for the Feds. Spent 21 years active duty. I've voted a straight Republican ticket every election since my 18th b-day.

Why have I worked for state and federal government sicne leaving active duty? The pay. I met the qualification standards for the jobs. And the benefits are great.

I understand that the situation cannot last. But, I didn't negotiate of legislate any of the benefits I'm getting- I'm taking advantage of them while I can.

Kirk Parker said...

Jim,

Here's that famous graphic.

Carnifex said...

I'm sure someone will be forced to run against Gov. Walker if only because they have pushed it too far to back out now. Looking at the results from outside the state I would say that someone is going to be retired, or getting ready to retire because they're going to loss. They'll pull 52% of Madison, and maybe Milwaukee, but no where else in the state.(and I'm not sure they'll win in Milwaukee). The people driving this are the ideologues. There is no ground swell of opposition from the private citizens. Only from the union's, and their families.(and the students the teachers drag to these things) If I had a child dragged to a protest, they'd have to restrain me from beating the he!! out of the teacher.(I once walked into our office after getting some bad news on the phone and my boss said "Oh My God! Who's going to die?" He could tell just from my eyes. They turn black when I get very mad) My wife saw it happen once too. She had the same reaction.

MDIJim said...

Not from Wisconsin, but this has national implications. The whole idea was stupid.

If a million people did sign the recall petitions and no one runs, will those million people vote in the general elections? What does that say about 0bama's chances in a swing state?

OTOH, if someone does run, WI liberals are going to put a lot of time, effort, and $ into saving the unions' bacon. What will be left to help 0bama win a swing state?

fernstalbert said...

Oophs, thought the Walker recall was the "hill to die on" for the unions. Don't tell me the money was spent on the petition and nothing left for the candidate. Where's the money brothers and sisters? lol Cheers.

Automatic_Wing said...

Routers! Secret communications networks! Blog posting on government time! Arrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!

Scott M said...

"I came to Madison as a centrist and I discovered there was no center."

Is that the money quote or did he lift that from someone else?

Curious George said...

"Joanna said...My Madison friends are pretty much convinced that Walker will lose."

He will. By their standard. They are recalling the Governor of Madison. They will run a candidate to become the Governor of Madison.

"Kit said...
Joanna, I'm not so convinced. I would have like to have seen Cullen name Dale Schultz as his running mate. I could have maybe gotten behind that." This is absurd. Cullen cannot win the Governor of Madison contest. Not enough hate.

Brian Brown said...

This is funny:

garage mahal said...
(has anyone volunteered for Walker's thankless job yet?)

I'm in possession of some pretty interesting inside info on that. Again, sorry, wish I could tell you about it.

2/1/12 2:16 PM


I guess your "interesting information" was that Cullen isn't running!

damikesc said...

Its baffling that they didn't think far enough in advance to actually have a candidate in place. The Left can bring up O'Donnell all they want...at least a candidate existed there.

joated said...

At the very least the recall will preoduce a redistribution of wealth from the donors to the ad producers and airers.

Brian Brown said...

Interesting:

MADISON — If labor unions’ strength lies in numbers, a new report indicates unions’ most powerful days may be behind them.
Membership in organized labor unions dropped last year in Wisconsin by 16,000, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That left 13.3 percent of the employed population — 339,000 workers — represented by unions, down from 14.2 percent in 2010.

“I think at this point, we’ve gotten to the point where the unionization rates are so low that for many workers, they don’t have any exposure to unions and unions are not seen as a normal part of working lives,” said William Powell Jones, a University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor in history whose specialty is the history of the labor movement.
While labor unions gained members in 19 states last year, union membership nationally dropped from 11.9 percent of the employed population in 2010 to 11.8 percent in 2011, continuing a decades-long trend.



But of course in leftists land the "union movement" is making a comeback by interrupting speeches and banging drums!

Chef Mojo said...

That left 13.3 percent of the employed population — 339,000 workers — represented by unions, down from 14.2 percent in 2010.

Wow. If that keeps up at a constant rate, African-Americans will eventually outnumber union members in Wisconsin!

So, there's that at least.

Jim said...

Kirk @2:58 thanks.
Jim in OP, KS

Calypso Facto said...

That left 13.3 percent of the employed population — 339,000 workers — represented by unions, down from 14.2 percent in 2010.

And about half of those 339,000 unionized employees are in government. (420,000 workers, 37% unionized.) Still wonder why the unions are scared to death about state employee union entitlement reform in Wisconsin.

VekTor said...

I misread the headline as starting with "Tom Cullen", so my first thought was:

"M-O-O-N, that spells Walker Recall".