Within the last two hours, we have recieved several reports from people within WI Senate District 10.  They are all Democrats and have all recieved the same robocall from the "Right to Life" group with the phone number 703-410-3201. The call says the people have time to vote absentee, " your absentee ballot is in the mail."  BLATENT LIE and election fraud at its worst.  Of course if they are sued afterward - the damage was already done.  We spreading the word and asking someone to tape it at least.  For all of you in other parts of the country - this is what happens when people start to take back their rights...as many of you know all too well...and have been at this much longer.  This has been a very steep learning curve for me.

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We have begun the highly organized GOTV promoting Democratic challengers in six districts with Republican Senators who have been recalled.  Tomorrow is the first of two voting days in the.  July 12 was meant to be the general election, but the GOP has decided to run registered Republicans as Democrats against all of the challengers pushing the general back to Aug. 9.  The GOP has asserted that “protest candidates” will enable “our candidates more time to campaign.”  However, we receiced this robocall yesterday instructing me to vote for the fake Democrat if I am “sick of liberals trying to steal elections with this recall.”  This is another blatent attempt to silences hundreds of thousands of constituents who expected a clean election.  This also enables the GOP to have another month (before we oust them) to push through a redistricting plan that will give them the voting advantage for the next 10 years in WI.

In Senate District 10, ousted (R) incumbent Sen. Harsdorf and (D) challenger Shelly Moore have been marching with their respected groups in parades all over the district.  Parades in each town are just one part of community gatherings, or “Fun Fests” with vendors, carnivals, and bands.  They are highly attended by the communities and are the first and only times some constituents are able to see the candidates, and their supporters, with their own eyes.

These parades have emboldened and encouraged us.  See for yourself here.  Not only do the number of Shelly Moore parade marchers dwarf Harsdorf’s numbers, but the (vocal) crowd overwhelmingly supports us when we pass.  Harsdorf supporters are among them are mostly silent and stone-faced as we walk by, with only one or two negative comments each parade.  Moore has attended nearly every parade and shakes hands up and down the crowd of the entire route.  Supporters have created an elaborate float with intricate artwork which travels to every parade.  A grassroots man has emblazoned Moore’s name on his bright red truck and he pulls the float in every single parade across the district.  The float blares music now, a switch from our organized cheers when the crowd feedback was that chanting was “too Madison.” Moore supporters have made huge signs for us to carry, we ring cow bells, hand out candy, chant important dates, and volunteers wear a diversity of red shirts (color of the solidarity/people’s movement).  We have children in strollers and elders with canes.  Our numbers have doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled Harsdorf’s in every parade.

All photos by Bill Campbell from Hudson, WI. Moore is dressed in green. 

notice the Harsdorf supporter with the sign on the left

Harsdorf’s parade has been dubbed “The Death March” because of the absolute contrast of their operation.  There are no handmade signs, no float, no music, no candy, no shaking hands, and no words of any kind.  Silence.  Harsdorf seems a bit disconnected, Stepford Wife-ish, as she walks directly down the middle of the road.  She is “protected” by supporters on all sides.  She just smiles and waves no matter what the response from the crowd.  Her supporters are all lent identical blue shirts with neon yellow lettering upon arrival.  They are stripped of them when they leave and the t-shirts travel to the next town to outfit those marchers.  Harsdorf recently tried shaking hands and handing out candy at the last parade of the season.  Now I understand the reluctance before.  Parade watchers were refusing both.  One man wouldn’t shake her hand saying, “I know who you are.” A woman said to her, “My daughter doesn’t want your candy, but she’ll take her money for her school back.”

Brutal.

River Falls, one of the boldest cities in the district and also a college town, had some interesting developments in their parade.  Both Moore and Harsdorf live in RF, so the biggest number of supporters (about 150/80) for each woman was marching that day.  Several people were positioned throughout the crowd.  They would unfurl signs as Harsdorf walked by, “Sheila – When are the debates?”  The Harsdorf camp pledged 3 debates but has since then been elusive about the dates and has been non-committal.  Someone jumped out of the crowd with a microphone in her face asking, “When are the debates that you pledged to?”  Two bold young women walked in front of the Harsdorf parade with signs reading, “Sen. Harsdorf voted againstRiver Falls.”  To add insult to injury, the Harsdorf float was followed by a porta-potty from a local septic company.  Someone in the crowd shouted to that following, “Hey!  business must really be picking up!"

Sheila Harsdorf and crew are in blue shirts behind them 

Double Brutal.

Frustratingly, the main newspapers of the district are all owned by a Republican from North Dakota.  Many of us are very disappointed with the lack of real news in our district, but the “opinion” section allows voices from The Solidarity movement.  Plus, every paper in the district’s online segment now features my blog, WI Voices, in which I interview constituents who are affected by the policies of Walker/Harsdorf. Harsdorf’s blog is often displayed near mine.  We are both under the “areavoices” section of Rivertowns.net.

Yesterday was our first Get Out The Vote day in our city.  We had 16 volunteers and we knocked on 625 doors.  We made sure that people know where to vote and helped them make a plan to make it to the polls on Tuesday if they haven’t already voted early.  We leave door hangers with all pertinent information if they are not home.  Same thing today.  Tomorrow, on voting day, we will have an organized group knocking doors, driving people to the polls, and crossing off voters after they’ve voted.

If the GOP is successful in turning out their voters for a fake Democrat and our voters stay home -  then if the road ends here.  But I'm praying for that we have another month of work to do before the Aug. 9 general election.