WI Senator Cowles (R-Green Bay) has represented the conservative 2nd district for over 20 years, hasn't had a challenger since 2004 and just got slapped with over 26,000 recall signatures...over 10,000 more than what they needed.
Ding, Ding, Ding... New Record! The recall petition for Cowles was 166% of the signatures needed, while the other 5 Republican recall petitions were only 140% - 150% of what was needed.
The Plum Line
Wow. In a sign that Wisconsin Democrats can still claim momentum in the recall wars, Dems today filed the signatures to trigger a recall election against a sixth Wisconsin GOP state senator — and this time, they filed an astonishing 166 percent of the number required, the highest yet.
So, any Democrats out there looking for someone to organize their ground game? Think Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate! Kudos to Tate, union organizers, and thousands of volunteers.
Wisconsin Dems have organized a fantastic recall campaign, have a line up of great challengers for the recall elections, and (thanks in large parts to DKOS) have a big edge with cash on hand.
Keep the Pressure on! Donate now...
Petitions still out:
Recall Grothman Facebook Page
Recall Lazich Facebook Page
Democratic Recalls:
These are the Democratic Senators facing recall challenges (petitions filed).
Dave Hansen
Jim Holperin Act Blue
Bob Wirch
Republican Recalls:
These are the candidates running against current Republican Senators in recall elections.
Jessica King Running against Hopper
Fred Clark running against Luther Olsen
Jennifer Shilling is running against Kapanke
Democratic challengers have not yet been announced in these recall elections:
Darling, Cowles, Harsdorf
Update (5:21 Central)
Yesterday, the recall efforts against Democrat Mark Miller failed. However, the committee out of Utah still had time to collect signatures. The group that failed on Thursday could consolidate with the Utah group and still have a chance of having success.
Per Jeff Horn with the Committee to Recall Mark Miller
There had been a possibility that the group would consolidate with another recall effort against Miller, launched by the Utah-based American Patriot Recall Coalition, and use a May 4 deadline that group had to collect enough signatures. But Horn wrote in an email this morning that volunteers decided not to consolidate with the coalition.
"We did this because we feel that the APRC is a front group for either wrecking conservative causes or for simple money making," he said in the email.
A recent article in the Deseret News of Salt Lake City, Utah, raised numerous questions about Dan Baltes, the head of the coalition. The story reported on time he served in the Idaho prison system in the 1980s and '90s under a different name, for grand theft, forgery and writing bad checks.
OK, so some small kudos to Jeff Horn and his volunteers for this decision.