Non-Sports: Union households in Wisconsin handed Walker the win yesterday

You could make this statement about any group that represented a significant portion of the electorate in yesterday’s Wisconsin recall election. This is especially true when some part of that group breaks one way or the other. You need not get a majority; only enough to make the difference.

When the key voting bloc is the one responsible for having the recall election called in the first place, it’s the height of cruel political irony.

The data show that had union households marched lockstep with their leadership and rejected the Governor accused of everything but eating the firstborn children of public employee union members, Milwaukee’s Tom Barrett would be making the news show rounds and the media would be trumpeting how the election was a victory for labor, Obama and the Democrat Party.

It was not to be, however.

In the screen snippet below, The numbers for Walker are on the left, Barrett in the middle and an independent candidate on the far right.

When 100% of the precincts were in, a total of 2,496,300 votes were cast for the two candidates, with 1,334,430 going to Walker and 1,161,870 going to Barrett.

The exit poll data show that the electorate consisted of approximately 33% union households and 38% of them voted for Walker.

Doing the math: 0.33 x 0.38 x 2,496,300 = 167,338

If those voters had gone with Barrett, the outcome would have been 1,329,208 votes for the Democrat challenger and 1,167,092 for Walker, representing a nearly 180-degree difference from the actual outcome.

So, if you happen to live in the Badger State and bump into a union member today, be sure and say THANKS.

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Non-Sports: Angry lefties flood twitter with death threats after Wisconsin vote UPDATE: Authorities investigating

Prepare to be disgusted.

Death threats after a recall election? Seriously?

Following Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker’s recall victory over former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, supporters of the challenger took to Twitter to openly call for his assassination. Warning, there is some seriously foul language at the link.

If you can stand to do so, scroll down to the part where goons also threaten Walker’s wife and children.

It should make you sick.

If you haven’t been following Wisconsin politics over the last two years, here are the Cliffs:

Walker beat Barrett in the 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial race. Wisconsin voters also handed control of the legislature to Republicans. Walker, who ran on a campaign platform of reducing spending and reducing influence of government employee unions, promptly began implementing the platform he was elected on.

Democrats and their public employee labor unions reacted violently, with near daily riots in the streets of Madison and Democrats in the legislature abandoning the state to prevent a legislative quorum needed to pass Walker’s austerity measures.

Those measure eventually passed anyway. The unions were denied collective bargaining ability (in many, but not all situations), state employees were required to contribute more of their own pay to pension and healthcare plans and some salaries were reduced. In the end, none of them lost their jobs.

In the process, Walker and the GOP legislature eliminated a $3.6 billion budget deficit and created a surplus. Property taxes went down for the first time in years. The unemployment rate in Wisconsin is about two points below the national average.

Yesterday’s recall vote was the last chance Wisconsin Democrats and their public employee union allies had to reverse the 2010 election and the legislation passed in its aftermath. They failed—miserably. Walker won decisively, 53% to 46% and drew hundreds of thousands more votes in the recall than he did in the general election.

A message was sent—when people pledge to make tough decisions during their campaign and follow through on their promises—they’ll be rewarded. The public is sick of a small, powerful segment of our society using unholy political alliances and thug tactics to to remain firmly attached to the public teat.

And when they lose, they get violent.

UPDATE: It looks like the authorities are taking these threats seriously.

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