Wisconsin Analysis

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Northeast Wisconsin hearts Obama

Obama nearly swept the northeast quadrant of the state, winning every county except Florence and Vilas in the sparsely-populated extreme north.  Obama winning any of Waupaca, Waushara, or Calumet counties would in and of itself be a surprise, but him sweeping all three is shocking.

Calumet was probably carried on the strength of the Fox Valley (Appleton) metro expansion into the county's northwest corner.  Communities such as Darboy have exploded recently.   Growth in this area appears to favor the Democrats.  But how Calumet can go Obama while Sheboygan goes McCain is stunning, which brings us to...

Milwaukee exurbia: New Rabid Right Fortress

Waukesha, Washington, and Ozaukee counties all went >60% for McCain.  This is the land of megachurches, McMansions and Jim Sensenbrenner.  Oddly enough, Obama appears to have come very close to winning Walworth County, which has gone Republican every presidential election since the Civil War (except 1912 when TR split the vote).  Walworth is home to Lake Geneva and Country Clubbers, whose sympathies may be shifting.

The really big story in Wisconsin, though, is that Obama made huge gains among eastern rural voters.  Waupaca, Waushara, and Calumet are all as eastern rural as you can get, and other than Clinton winning Waushara in '92 and LBJ winning Calumet in '64, have always gone GOP.  This is the land that gave us Joseph Freakin' McCarthy. 

Without the eastern rural voting bloc, Republicans simply cannot win here.  Ever.

[ill ind]

Beef

  I was born and raised in Waupaca County Wisconsin.

When I logged on their website and saw those results, I nearly fell out of my chair.  It certainly wasn't the African American population that brought Waupaca County into Obama's column.  AA population is .17%

I looked through the precinct results and found that McCain carried almost all of the rural townships in Waupaca County, while Obama caried the cities--New London, Waupaca, and Clintonville (old hometown) very handily.

Old Jay Sturm who used to lead the county GOP must have been doing backflips in his grave to see a black man tie McCain in his company town of Manawa.

Incidentally, McCarthy did live in Manawa for a while too.  He also practiced law at Shawano, and Shawano County also flipped to Obama too.

Waupaca County last went for aDemocrat in 1936 when FDR dispatched Landon.

Unbelievable!!!

ill_ind