Democrats are over-stating the importance of their defeat of two Republican backed constitutional amendments in this week’s primary. It doesn’t mean everything they want to think it does, but it doesn’t mean nothing.
I honestly had no idea how that was going to turn out and I didn’t care much. I voted against the amendments, which would have given the GOP-controlled legislature power over spending federal emergency aid money, because I thought any governor would be in a better position to get emergency money out quickly as opposed to any legislature. I didn’t care that the current governor was a Democrat. I would have voted the same way if the governor were Scott Walker or Tommy Thompson.
But partisan Democrats saw this in terms of who occupied these offices now. They saw it as what it was, which was an attempt by Republicans to curtail the powers of a Democratic governor. If Walker or Thompson had been in office the Republicans would have thought the governor should have had the sole authority to spend every dime.
In any event, it was such an insider, low-profile issue that I thought the amendments might pass simply because the idea that a governor should be checked by a legislature made sense in a civics class sort of way. And had it passed, frankly, the world would not have come to an end.
What I discounted was how much the argument that this would, in fact, result in the destruction of our environment and the suffering of orphans would get out there. I saw these arguments in letters to the editor and there were some lawn signs in my liberal neighborhood. I knew the Conservation Voters and the League of Women Voters were against it. I knew the Democrats were organizing. But just because there’s a few lawn signs on Monroe Street that doesn’t necessarily say anything about what’s going on in the rest of the state.
Turns out there was a lot going on. Opponents of the amendments spent around $3 million while supporters spent only $260,000. So, when you’re outspent 12-to-one you get these kind of results. And when you add the fact that primaries for county executive and a bunch of legislative races boosted turnout in Dane County you can see how that further skewed the results.
Hence, my argument that Democrats are overplaying this.
But here’s the thing. How did Republicans and their allied groups let themselves get outspent 12-to-one? I mean this was their initiative. How could they plop it on the ballot and then just walk away? Worse, how could they open the door for Democrats to use this as training camp for the fall election? It wasn’t just a defeat for the GOP. It actually served as a gift to the other side.
So, what’s significant to me isn’t the actual results. News flash: Harris will not defeat Trump by a 57% to 43% margin. What’s significant is that the Democrats were so well organized and raised so much money while the Republicans didn’t show up for their own ballgame.
The Democrats and pundits in the know have long said that the Democrats’ ground game under Ben Wikler has been far superior to the other guys. Sure looks like it to me. And in a close race come November this could make all the difference.
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