My humble thoughts on education, politics and sports as well as reaction to those talking heads on the radio.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Baseball notes
The Cubs sign Alphonso Soriano. Guess the Nationals should have traded him when they had the chance...
The Brewers remain the frontrunner in the Dave Roberts sweepstakes. A step up from Brady Clark and he's perfect for Tony Gwynn Jr. to learn from.
The Brewers are discussing a Kevin Mench for righthander Rodrigo Lopez. Lopez was 9-18 last year but does have two 15 game winning seasons under his belt. Anything for Mench is an upgrade right now.
This is an opportune time for Coach McCarthy to "officially" take over this Packer team. Brett has had a nice year... but this is as bad a a pro QB has ever looked for a half. It HAS to be one of his lingering injuries. The game is basically over... time to see if the kid can change the momentum.
UPDATE... Coach won't get the chance to make his mark. An injury to Brett makes the decision for him. Let's see what the second half brings...
UPDATE 2... OK, so that didn't work so well. How's Brett's elbow?
I cannot begin to tell you how wrong I was. Iowa would steamroll them. The dream season, gone because of the Stocco injury.
I'm not sure if I just thought Donovan was THAT bad or if my dislike of Hartland Arrowhead entered into the equation... but this kid saved the day. Alumni still talk glowingly of Matt Schabert and his heroics against Ohio State. But this was even better. This wasn't a pass... or even a quarter. This kid hung in there for the entire game, never giving up that big mistake that would turn the game around.
It wasn't like PJ Hill simply took the game over. Donovan HAD to play well for the Badgers to win and play well he did.
Congratulations to Senator Joe Lieberman on his reelection to the Senate. I only wish he would have reconsidered his quick decision to caucus with the Democrats, even if only for a while.
Shouldn't the Dems have been forced to think about their disloyalty, their disregard for history and their sheer stupidity before being given a "Get out of Jail" card from Lieberman? Here's a guy who agreed to take up his party's flag and balance the Presidential ballot with Al Gore. Here's a guy who took a pummeling and attempted character assasination from Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the circus on behalf of the "party". And yet his own collegues, upset with one stance Joe took, threw him to the wolves. Take a look at some of the recent comments made...
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who campaigned in Connecticut for Lamont, said he and fellow Democrats were not holding any grudges against Lieberman, who won a fourth term last week. "We're all pros," Kerry said. "We're all adults and we're friends ... We're glad he's caucusing with us, and you move on."
Well how appropriate, Sen. Kerry, that YOU aren't holding any grudges against Lieberman. How did this guy ever become a Presidential nominee? First, he tries to single-handedly give the election back to the Republicans with his stupid joke, then he says this? Is his 15 minutes of fame about up yet?
Lieberman, who wants to be identified as an "Independent Democrat," said he was welcomed back to the party fold at a luncheon caucus by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who likened Democrats to a family and said families occasionally go through crises.
Yes, Senator Reid, families go through crises. But most families don't try to eat their own. You should be ashamed of yourself and your party... and Sen. Lieberman's decision to caucus with you should shame you even more.
"Not a single Republican senator or political operative has called to ask me if I would consider switching and organizing with the Republicans," he said. "I really appreciate that and they respect who I am and that I gave my word."
Sounds like at least one side understands the term loyalty...
The Recess Supervisor has an outstanding analysis of the state of the Republican legislators here.
It will be interesting to see if our friends on talk radio remain true to their convictions over the past few years. Long before Chuck Chvala became the focus of the airwaves for his pay for play antics Sykes, Belling and Wagner hammered him day in and day out for being an obstructionist. All he does is block legislation, they complained. He's a one man wrecking crew of the democratic process.
Think they'll launch the same attacks if and when the Assembly starts obstructing legislation???
Mark Green has never been able to close that 4-8 point lead Jim Doyle has had all summer. It holds up one more day
Doyle 52% Green 47%
AG
Kathleen Falk seemed like the better candidate for the Dem's but she never really put together a solid campaign after the primary. An invisible candidate. The Democrats lose one they really shouldn't have lost
Van Hollen 51% Falk 49%
State Senate
Democrats pick up a seat or two. Sullivan beats Reynolds convincingly
Sullivan 53% Reynolds47%
State Assembly
Again, the Democrats pick up a couple of seats. The race in Waukesha will be interesting simply because the Republican hasn't done anything since the primary. It truly is deja vu of the mayoral race. The (R) next to Kramer's name should give him the win... but this is a good test of just how republican Waukesha actually is.
Kramer 54% Schmuki 46%
U.S. Senate
The most interesting story of election night. In no particular order...
In an unprecedented move, the Green campaign or the Waukesha County leaders of the Green campaign have completely given up following election laws and literally have 20-40 illegal signs placed in boulevards, median strips or rightof way strips in many of the major thoroughfares.
Campaigns have always placed a sign or two in a critical area that they know may not survive election day. But never has a campaign so brazenly broken the law the weekend before the election.
The whole sign patrol idea was a way to gauge who was following the rules. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect a candidate to take it to such an extreme...
I had the opportunity to spend a weekend in Manitowoc recently and found the town to be quite charming. The area's politics, however, seem to be quite mixed up. The following is what I have been able to put together from my short stay there and a brief scan of the area papers...
Democrat Bob Ziegelbauer, who is also the County Executive, won a democratic primary against Anne Woznicki , who claimed Bob could not handle both jobs at once (Ziegelbauer plans on keeping both). Shortly after winning the Democratic nomination, Ziegelbauer appeared in a John Gard commercial, endorsing the Republican for Congress.
Area Dem's, furious over this betrayal, pulled their support from Ziegelbauer and are urging felloe democrats to write in primary-loser Woznicki. Governor Doyle, on the other hand, continued to support Ziegelbauer on the campaign trail, calling his Gard endorsement an "area where we disagree".
The sign patrol was able to find a total of six Jim Sensenbrenner signs in the entire area... and four were illegally placed. (Nice percentage, Congressman) A couple of thoughts come to mind...
Did the signs illegally migrate across the sidewalk?
The sign patrol has been out scanning the countryside for illegal lawn signs in an attempt to get to the bottom of who really are the rulebreakers in this election cycle. In a world where negative campaigning always works, voters really only have two choices. They can blindly follow a party and only believe what they are told to believe... or they can try to extract the truth from all the distortions, exagerations and flat out lies. So... is Doyle a sleaze, Green a money launderer or Sullivan a vote felon? Perhaps a look at how often they break the law while trying to get elected will give us a better idea of the make up of the candidate. Without further ado, the new spottings...
Herron, seven new sightings (Lannon, College, College, College, Tess Corners, Tess Corners, Tess Corners) for a campaign total of 7
Newcomer, three new sightings (83,83,83) for a campaign total of 3
Ziperrer, two new sightings (K, Delafield) for a campaign total of 2
Trawicki, three new sightings (MD, MD, MD)for a campaign total of 10. (Why are his signs still up, anyway?)
Schimmel, thirteen new sightings (Bluemound, Brandybrook, Silvernail, Silvernail, Silvernail, Silvernail, Silvernail, Silvernail, College, College, College, Moreland, Moreland) for a campaign total of 15. (What is it with law enforcement being the biggest rulebreakers...)
Green, sixteen new sightings (27th, 83, Wisconsin, SS, Summit, Delafield, St. Paul, St. Paul, Memorial, Golf Hills, College, College, College, 43rd, 43rd, 83) for a total of 17
Doyle, six new sightings (DE, Brookfield, Lannon, College, College, College) for a total of 6 Falk, one sighting total (Lannon) In fairness to Van Hollen, however, the sign patrol saw a total of two Katie Falk signs all election cycle.
Van Hollen, two new sightings (Pilgrim, Wisconsin) for a campaign total of 5. ( A rather low number considering the number of signs he had out.)
Past posts give primary numbers for other candidates...
