POLITICS - Republican Guerrilla Warfare in Wisconsin

Republican tactics in Wisconsin, typical "anything to win" cheating and lying.

"Democrats (Real Ones) Win Primaries" by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, New York Times 7/13/2011

Six Republican candidates posing as Democrats lost to genuine Democrats in primaries on Tuesday in Wisconsin. The voting was a prelude to the first in a series of recall elections singling out nine Wisconsin state senators for their positions on the divisive union rights restrictions of Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican.

The primary winners will now take on the incumbent Republicans on Aug. 9.

The Wisconsin Republican Party orchestrated the placement of the fake Democrats (Republicans prefer to call them protest candidates) on Tuesday’s ballot, thereby delaying the general election for a month. That gave the Republican incumbents more time to campaign and distance themselves from the turmoil over the union law that they voted to support in March.

Five of the six winners had at least 65 percent of the vote, based on unofficial results. A sixth had 54 percent.

There are four recall elections scheduled for the next five weeks. The six Republicans voted for Mr. Walker’s bill.

The stakes are big. If the Democrats gain three seats, they will take majority control away from the Republicans and be in a position to stop Mr. Walker and the Republicans’ agenda.

Republicans can vote in the Democratic races because Wisconsin has an open primary. But voters did not seem to be playing along with the Republicans.

In the suburban Milwaukee district of Senator Alberta Darling, a Republican, several dozen voters waited in line at Glendale City Hall about noon to choose between a Democrat, State Representative Sandy Pasch, and Gladys Huber, who was posing as a Democrat. Ms. Pasch won with 67 percent of the vote.