Dead Heat in Wisconsin Supreme Court Election

[TacticalPeek]

Source: NYT


By MONICA DAVEY

DELAFIELD, Wis. — A contest for the Wisconsin Supreme Court that some voters viewed as a referendum on the state’s Republican leaders and their cuts to collective bargaining remained locked in a virtual tie in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

Until emotions boiled over in the state capital weeks ago on questions over labor unions, public workers and budget cutting, Justice David T. Prosser, who was seen by some as part of a conservative majority on the court, had been widely expected to coast to a second 10-year term.

But election officials reported an extremely tight race as the night wore on, with a higher than expected turnout: Justice Prosser was in a dead heat with JoAnne Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general who was not widely known through the state before this race. With 99 percent of the vote reported, the pair were separated by fewer than 600 votes from among more than 1.4 million cast. The leader had flipped again and again throughout the night.

. . .

Whatever the final result, some Democrats and union supporters here said the results — and the showing of Ms. Kloppenburg, who has never been a judge — should serve as a warning to Mr. Walker and Republican lawmakers as they carve out more of their agenda.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/us/politics/07wisconsin.html