On Tuesday, the Dane County Democratic Party held a sham straw poll at a well-attended candidate forum, prior to Q&A, and excluding all non-Party members. Wisconsin Eye has coverage of the event.
In a brilliant stroke of tone deafness, the Dane Dems decided to follow the Publishers Clearing House marketing model rather than use this as an opportunity to illustrate what inclusive democracy actually looks like. Attendees were urged to “vote” in the straw poll, but the franchise was only available to paid and signed-up members of the [Dane] Democratic Party. So much for that big tent thing....so much for having any curiosity about what is in the minds of undecided, independent voters....much less any remorseful Republicans....who might help the cause but won’t just vote for any candidate the DPW pukes up.
To ensure that no new information would inadvertently issue from this forum, the straw poll was conducted before and during the candidate Q&A, rather than after. This effectively reduced the likelihood that anyone’s candidate preference might be unduly influenced by actually listening to the candidates and watching how they handled themselves in front of actual people.
Curiouser yet, Dane County chapter Chair Mike Basford actually asked members who “only came to vote” to do so before the forum and then to leave so others could fit in the too-small room. Is it customary here in the heart of the nation’s “Laboratory of Democracy” to come to a candidate forum to cast a perfunctory vote and then hightail it out of there without hearing the candidates?
The message? Join ranks, don't be critical, ignore outside opinions. This insider approach translates to winning a state-wide race how?
Kathleen Falk appeared to be the favorite after a straw poll landed her in first place.....Despite the unequal division of votes, crowd members had plenty of enthusiasm for the latter two [Vinehout and LaFollette], with several shouts of “thank you” erupting for La Follette’s decision to delay publishing Act 10, and many of the loudest rounds of applause reserved for Vinehout.
Dane County Democratic Party Chair Mike Basford highlighted... that more than 800,000 voters who voted in 2008 didn’t vote in 2010....and Democrats only needed to inspire a small fraction of those voters to stand a chance of winning..... "if you don’t vote, you get Scott Walker.”
You couldn't possibly send a more conflicted message of inclusion, Mike. But thanks for explaining how we got here - You demonstrate Party-based exclusivity, excluded independents don't vote, and we get Scott Walker. Is that really a strategy worth repeating?
Vinehout and LaFollette had relevant, detailed answers to each one of the questions put to them, while Barrett and Falk only really answered a few. Instead, they used some of their two-minute segments to talk about their past records as elected officials, to relate personal anecdotes about a tangential issue, or to comment directly on Scott Walker’s record. Indeed, it seemed like Barrett and Falk were using the forum as a warm-up for debates with Walker rather than for discussing policy differences amongst themselves.
Results of the straw poll in which only paid-up members of Dane Dems were allowed to vote were announced shortly after the event ended. Most people voted before the event began.... A total of 259 votes were cast, which means about 150 of the attendees didn’t [get to] vote. The dozen or so Vinehout supporters..... were not able to vote because they aren’t members of Dane Dems.
Results of the straw poll in which only paid-up members of Dane Dems were allowed to vote:
Falk – 45%
Barrett – 36%
Vinehout – 18%
LaFollette – 1 %
Straw poll at The People’s Legislature, attended by progressive Democrats not affiliated with either of the two major parties:
Vinehout - 49.6%
Falk - 18.8%
Barca -17.0%
LaFollette - 8.5%
Barrett – 2.6%
I'd love to be filled with enthusiasm right now. I'd love to vote for any one of these highly-qualified candidates, and I will vote for whoever emerges from the primary. But I've developed an aversion to doing anything which feels like I'm being forced, coerced or tricked into. It's an extension of a lifetime of learning to always question assumptions in the scientific world, and to always question authority in the social world.
My decision to vote for the candidate up against Walker has long since been made, but what's at stake now is how many others I can convince to join me. That takes enthusiasm, and for me that takes certainty - not certainty in the outcome, but in the process. I'll fight for the right underdog anytime. But enthusiasm is almost impossible to sustain while an open mind is inundating itself with questions arising from inconsistencies, and events like this one are inconsistent with the spirit of inclusion needed in Wisconsin during this campaign.
DPW, if you can't sustain my enthusiasm, how can you or I win those less-likely-to-vote independents Mike Basford admits we "needed to inspire"? Not by staging a closed poll at an event open to and purported to inform the public, that's for certain. Better get your actions in line with your message, and do that very quickly.