There's a downside to starting a two-month recall petition drive in mid-November in Wisconsin. Sometimes it snows. A lot.
On Tuesday, Democrats plan to turn in petitions by the truckload to try to force a recall election of Gov. Scott Walker. The effort follows the governor's move last year to strip public workers of union bargaining rights.
A heavy snowstorm late this week had most Wisconsin residents more occupied with shoveling than with knocking on doors. Recall petition circulators in the heavily Democratic city of Madison, for the most part, disappeared.
But that's partly because Democrats say the effort is all but over. They have no doubt they'll turn in more than enough signatures to force a recall election.
"I feel very confident we'll be able to hit or come near our goal of 720,000 signatures that we've stated publicly," state Democratic Party chair Mike Tate says.
If he's right, it means Democrats would blow past the required 540,000 signatures needed to force a recall.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee political science professor Mordecai Lee says it's an impressive number, given the high threshold needed to force a recall in Wisconsin. Petitioners have to get signatures from 25 percent of everyone who cast a vote in the last race for governor.
Lee says it shows this has become more than just a fight over the governor's collective bargaining law.
"This is not just the signatures of people who are directly affected by it and are unhappy," he says, "but this is also the signatures of people who are in support of the recall for ideological reasons, for political reasons, for party reasons, for reasons of their values."
Recall Supporters Confident, But Wis. GOP Has Sway : NPR
On Tuesday, Democrats plan to turn in petitions by the truckload to try to force a recall election of Gov. Scott Walker. The effort follows the governor's move last year to strip public workers of union bargaining rights.
A heavy snowstorm late this week had most Wisconsin residents more occupied with shoveling than with knocking on doors. Recall petition circulators in the heavily Democratic city of Madison, for the most part, disappeared.
But that's partly because Democrats say the effort is all but over. They have no doubt they'll turn in more than enough signatures to force a recall election.
"I feel very confident we'll be able to hit or come near our goal of 720,000 signatures that we've stated publicly," state Democratic Party chair Mike Tate says.
If he's right, it means Democrats would blow past the required 540,000 signatures needed to force a recall.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee political science professor Mordecai Lee says it's an impressive number, given the high threshold needed to force a recall in Wisconsin. Petitioners have to get signatures from 25 percent of everyone who cast a vote in the last race for governor.
Lee says it shows this has become more than just a fight over the governor's collective bargaining law.
"This is not just the signatures of people who are directly affected by it and are unhappy," he says, "but this is also the signatures of people who are in support of the recall for ideological reasons, for political reasons, for party reasons, for reasons of their values."
Recall Supporters Confident, But Wis. GOP Has Sway : NPR
