For Republicans who responded to Patch's latest survey of political insiders, Tuesday night's presidential debate was all about Libya and moderator Candy Crowley.
For the Democratic insiders, it was all about "binders full of women."
Those were the highlights of the second forum between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney — at least according to the party influencers who took part in Patch's "Red Wisconsin" and "Blue Wisconsin" surveys.
When asked what one moment will stand out in the minds of liberals and progressives in Wisconsin, the top response was the comment Romney made while talking about his record of hiring women when he was governor of Massachusetts.
"The 'binders full of women' comment will go viral," one Democratic insider accurately predicted shortly after the debate ended.
Libya confrontation also stood out
Several of the Democrats who responded to the survey also said the sparring between Obama and Romney over when the president first stated that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya was a terrorist act was one of the highlights of the debate. As Obama and Romney argued, Crowley stepped in to say the president did say it was an act of terror the day after the attack.
"The moment that will stand out is when Candy Crowley did a live 'fact check' on Mitt Romney's Libya comments, and proved that he was lying," one Democratic insider said.
That encounter overwhelmingly topped the list of the Republican influencers as the moment that will stand out the most — but for a different reason.
The most memorable moment, one Republican said, was "Candy Crowley overstepping her role as moderator and then lying on behalf of Obama in the name of 'fact-checking.'"
Added another: "Obama bold-faced lied to the American people about his comments in the Rose Garden regarding Benghazi the day after the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya."
Another insider was more direct: "Obama is lying about the coverup of the murder of our ambassador in Libya."
So, who won?
When Tuesday's debate ended, Patch sent its "Blue Wisconsin" and "Red Wisconsin" surveys to more than 150 influential members of both parties who have agreed to be regularly polled between now and the Nov. 6 election. The panel includes party leaders, elected officials, talk show hosts and prominent political bloggers.
Of the 39 influential Republicans who responded, 23 percent said Romney won the debate by a wide margin, while 56 percent said he won by a slim margin. Fifteen percent were neutral and 5 percent (two respondents) said Obama won by a slim margin.
Of the 30 Democrats who responded, 90 percent said Obama won by a wide margin and 10 percent said he won by a slim margin.
Other findings from the unscientific survey:
- Although they thought Romney had a better performance, Republicans overwhelmingly said Obama would be declared the "winner" by the national media. 61 percent of those surveyed said the president would be declared the winner, while 13 percent said it would be Romney.
- Among Democrats, 97 percent said Obama would be called the winner by the national media.
- Six in 10 of Republicans thought that Romney's performance would help him get more votes in Wisconsin, while 2 percent disagreed with that statement.
- Among Democrats, 90 percent said they thought Obama's performance would help him in Wisconsin and 10 percent said it would have no effect.
Patch will be conducting "Red Wisconsin" and "Blue Wisconsin" surveys between now and the election in hopes of determining the true sentiment of active members of both parties in the Badger State. Not everyone who agreed to be part of our survey panels participated in this survey.
Participants in Patch's Red Wisconsin Survey are:
Jim Bender, president of School Choice Wisconsin, former chief of staff for Assembly Republican Leader Jeff Fitzgerald; Bill Berdan, first vice chairman, Wauwatosa Republicans; Keith Best, public relations chairman for Waukesha County Republicans; Bob Bradley, party activist; Charles Brey, field director for state Assembly candidate Tracy Herron; Tracy Brodd, Republican campaign worker; Paul Bucher, former Waukesha County district attorney and candidate for Wisconsin attorney general; Roy Catron, Tea Party activist; Andrew Cegielski, former Milwaukee County Board candidate; Sara Conrad, party activist; Bill Cosh, spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources; Michael Crowley, Waukesha County supervisor; Jake Curtis, former state Assembly candidate; Lou D'Abbraccio, board member, Racine County Republican Party; Brian Dey, Racine County Tea Party member; Fred Dooley, conservative blogger; Steven Duckhorn, former Republican candidate for Milwaukee County sheriff; Bill Folk, chairman of Racine County Republican Party;Elisabeth Friesen, Republican activist; Jesse Garza, chairman, St. Croix County Republican Party; Mark Green, senior director of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania and former congressman; Chris Haines, longtime campaign volunteer and former GOP campaign manager; Deb Hawley Jordahl, conservative strategist and consultant; John Hiller, co-chair of Scott Walker's transition team as governor; Sandra Hollander, member of Mitt Romney's “Juntos con Romney” leadership team; Ethan Hollenberger, former chairman of the College Republicans at Marquette University and staff member on several legislative campaigns; Mark Honadel, state reprsentative, 21st District; Marguerite Ingold, party activist; Valerie Johnson, former GOP fundraiser and staffer for various campaigns; Thomas J. Keeley, political consultant; Scott Kelly, communications director for former state Sen. Van Wanggaard; Cindy Kilkenny, conservative blogger; Rik Kluessendorf, attorney and former state Assembly candidate; Dan Knodl, state representative, 24th District; Tif Koehler, campaign volunteer and civic leader; Johnny Koremenos, regional field director for Tommy Thompson campaign; Gordon Lang, member of North Shore Republicans; Chris Larsen, trustee in Village of Sturtevant Trustee; Noelle Lorraine, field coordinator for Americans for Prosperity; John P. Macy, first vice chairman of Waukesha County Republican Party; Kathleen Madden, Waukesha County Clerk of Circuit Court; Ginny Marschman, party activist; Jessica McBride, conservative columnist; Bill McCoshen political consultant and; former cabinet secretary for Gov. Tommy Thompson; Joe Medina, party activist; Randy Melchert, field director for Mark Neumann's campaign; Gerald Mellone, Brookfield alderman; Ryan Morgan, conservative blogger; Dean Munday, conservative blogger; Mark Neumann, U.S. Senate candidate and former congressman; Kelly O'Brien, founder of Shorewood Citizens for Responsible Government; Eric Wm. Olsen, conservative activist; Nick Oliver, state Assembly candidate, 22nd District; Victoria Ostry, treasurer of the Wisconsin Federation of Republican Women.; Rick Owen, Brookfield alderman; Monnine Parnitzke, party activist; Steve Ponto, mayor of Brookfield; Don Pridemore, state representative, 99th District; Paris Procopis, grassroots activist; Jim Pugh, director of public relations and issue management for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce; Denise Rate, Tea Party member; Bob Reddin, Brookfield alderman and executive director, Jobs First Coalition; Pam Reeves, treasurer, Waukesha County Republicans; Joe Rice, former county supervisor and member of North Shore Republicans Executive Committee; Nate Ristow, candidate for 13th District State Assembly; Brandon Rosner, Wisconsin Republican consultant; Bill Savage, aide to state Rep. Don Pridemore and officer of Menomonee Falls Taxpayers Association; Jim Schaefer, Muskego-Norway School Board president; Josh Schimek, conservative blogger; JB Schmidt, conservative blogger; Christian Schneider, senior fellow at Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and former policy analyst for Wisconsin State Legislature; Ashley Schultz, state director of the Recall Action Fund; Nick Schweitzer, Libertarian pundit and blogger; Tim Schwister, former State Assembly candidate; Dan Sebring, vice chairman, Milwaukee County Republicans and candidate for 4th Congressional District; Cathy Stepp, Wisconsin Natural Resources secretary and former state senator; Jeff Stone, state representative, 82nd District; Jonathan Strasburg, attorney; Dave Swarthout, board member, 1st Congressional District Republicans; Charles Sykes, conservative talk show host for WTMJ Radio; Steve Taylor, Milwaukee County supervisor; Jenny Toftness, executive director of the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee; Greg Torres, Jefferson County supervisor; Jim Villa, former chief of staff to County Executive Scott Walker and Alberta Darling; current CEO of Commercial Association of REALTORS® Wisconsin; Robin Vos, state representative; 63rd District; Dan Vrakas, Waukesha County Executive; Yash Wadhwa, former State Assembly candidate; Jeff Wagner, conservative talk show host, WTMJ Radio; Tom Weatherston, candidate for 62nd Assembly District and Village of Caledonia trustee; Steve Welcenbach, head of the Menomonee Falls Taxpayers Association and Tea Party activist; Todd Welch, Wisconsin state coordinator at Campaign for Liberty; James Wigderson, conservative blogger and columnist for Waukesha Freeman; Eddie Willing, conservative columnist in Racine County and executive director of FoundersIntent.org; Chris Wright, Sturtevant village trustee and former candidate for State Assembly; Phil Ziegler, CEO of InPro Inc. and party activist.
Patch's Blue Wisconsin Survey participants are:
Kelley Albrecht, candidate for 63rd State Assembly District; Mandela Barnes, candidate for 11th State Assembly District; Ron Biendseil, vice chair for membership, Dane County Democratic Party; Tammy Bockhorst, membership secretary/membership chair, Milwaukee County Democratic Party; Randy Bryce, candidate for 62nd State Assembly District; Brian Carlson, liberal blogger; Sachin Chheda, chair, Milwaukee County Democratic Party; Jeff Christensen, chair, 5th Congressional District Democrats; Mark Conforti, chief negotiator for the Fox Point-Bayside Teachers Association; Rick Congdon, former judge and former chair, Democratic Party of Waukesha County; Deb Dassow, progressive and labor activist, and semi-retired educator; Victor Drover, liberal blogger; Dale Dulberger, party activist; Perry Duman, candidate for the 60th State Assembly District; Brett Eckstein, Democratic attorney; Waring R. Fincke, vice chair, Washington County Democratic Party; Stephanie Findley, chair, 4th Congressional District Democrats; Kelly Gallaher, founding member, Community for Change; Heather Geyer, liberal columnist; Ginny Goode, Grassroots North Shore; Darcy Gustavsson, party activist; Kristin Hansen, neighborhood team leader, Obama for America and co-host, Drinking Liberally Waukesha; Robert Hansen, co-chair of Progressive Democrats of America in Milwaukee County; John Heckenlively, secretary, 1st Congressional District Democrats; Kelly Herda, treasurer, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Women's Caucus and political consultant; Robert Heule, Region 5 Chair, Democratic Party of Milwaukee County; Peter Knudsen, legislative aide and longtime Democratic staffer; Marga Krumins, candidate for 97th State Assembly District and associate chair Democratic Party of Wisconsin Women’s Caucus; Bill Kurtz, candidate for 21st Assembly District; John Lehman, state senator, 21st District; Matthew Lowe, youth outreach director, Waukesha County Democratic Party; Fran Martin, election observer for the Democratic Party and appeared in Wangaard recall ads; Tom Michalski, Oak Creek alderman; Bridget Moen, chair, Democratic Party of Ozaukee County; Meg Moen, treasure, Democratic Party of Ozaukee County; Rick Moze, party activist; Lisa Mux liberal blogger, and co-founder and co-host of Drinking Liberally Waukesha; Thad Nation, political consultant and former aide to Gov. Jim Doyle; Larry Nelson, former Waukesha mayor, current County Board supervisor and delegate to Democratic National Convention; Jason Patzfahl, liberal blogger and founding member of the Progressive 28th Political Action Committee; Jeffrey Perzan , attorney and party activist; Colin Plese, Shorewood School Board member; John Pokrandt, candidate for 13th State Assembly District; Steven Potter, communications aide, state Democratic Party; Jason Rae, Democratic National Committee member; Aaron Robertson, party activist; Chris Rockwood, candidate for 14th State Assembly District; Kristopher Rowe, party activist; Keith Schmitz, member, State Democratic Platform Committee and founding member, Grassroots North Shore; Richard Schwalb, party activist; Erin Sievert, chairwoman, Jefferson County Democrats; Kathleen Slamka, party activist; Eilene Stevens, party activist; Mike Tate, chair , Democratic Party of Wisconsin; Melissa Ugland, business owner and party activist; Sarah Wagner, community activist for Wisconsin Jobs Now; Jamie Wall, candidate for 8th Congressional District; Jim Ward, candidate, 28th State Senate District; Jane Witt, chair of Racine County Democrats; and Graeme Zielinski, communications director, Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Tammy Baldwin @TammyBaldwinWI Way to go! MT @annaesumi Today I get to vote for the first time! I'm so excited it gets to be for @TammyBaldwinWI & @BarackObama! #earlyvote
Your answer fails to address my point. When wages are artificially set higher than the actual value of the work, companies will find ways to avoid paying the higher wage. It does no good to raise wages if people are going to lose their jobs...
Vote early, vote often.
National governments are concerned about their economies; private businesses are not. Economists measure the state of the economy not by wealth accumulation, but by what is called money flow. Money flow is simply a look at how well the cash is circulating throughout your community. The more money flowing, the more people benefit from it. When money is hoarded, then less and less people benefit from it. On CNBC today the corporate forecasts for the upcoming year was terrible. There is a worldwide decline in demand. Lack of money flow is catching up to the private sector. They failed to see that the state of the economies and their own businesses are in fact intertwined. Robert Reich, Clinton's former labor secretary, saw this coming last winter. The private sector's greed is coming home to roost.
Unlike some, I know this is humor. ; )
http://mountpleasant.patch.com/blog_posts/hoffas-top-10-horror-movie-songs And don't forget to leave a comment!
I have learned in my life that there are wonderful people in this world who operate in different modes, and some of these modes are not ones that our world in general deems successful. I know intelligent, caring people who cannot function in an office setting because of psychological disorders. There is no reasonable accommodation that will help them succeed. People like this are among those who end up on "the system." I believe that the vast majority of people want success and independence. Who wouldn't? But there are those that are unable to follow traditional paths. We as a society have to accept that, I think. There have been marginalized people in society since the dawn of social structure.
Bobfr @Our4thEstate #AdmitItMitt President Obama has enabled the 5th best performance of the stock market during any Presidency since 1900 http://twitpic.com/b6koe7
Politicians keep on talking about job creators and the problems that the suppliers are having. Wrong! The problem is with demand, and it will be like that for a long time to come.
Here in the US, Christmas will be coming soon--sales last year were up from the previous year, soon we will see if that trend continues, or if we have indeed run out of demand for product. I'm thinking that there will still be demand this year...
Actually, Anti, the burden is on Boffa. Boffa made the statement regarding INFLUENCE of Willard on Sensata, stating that he had virtually none. Then, attempted to show that, “See, Willard only has a few dollars in stock, ergo, he has no influence.” [Incredibly stupid statement and argument.] Then, he went on to cite how much money Willard – we will never really know – presumably has in Bain to support his silly argument. Boffa’s argument is Willard has little money in Bain therefore, he has little influence. You, attempt to tell me what sources I can cite? My argument goes to logic, past practices, Willard’s LIES, and how the business world really works; this has NOTHING to do with how much money [data] Willard has in Bain as there is no correlation between how much money Willard has invested in Bain and what his INFLUENCE on Bain may be. I have less than 100k invested in my brothers company, however, I could walk into that company at any time and on any day and get anyone terminated, mainly because I was deeply involved in their hiring, training methods and progression within the company. Money is not the only metric that bestows INFLUENCE! Boffa and you may think so, but that only speaks to your personal lack of values and comprehension of business. No issue is ONE cause motivation…
The bartender says - "I'm sorry we don't serve food here".
In other words you have NOTHING, no facts, no detail, not even one piece of circumstantial evidence that ties President Romney, oops, excuse me, Governor Romney to your accusations. Using your "logic" Jimmy Carter has considerable influence on BO's current policies and practices (actually based on the current economic fiasco, that one is believable).
1) 3.14159265359… this is DATA… 2) Data needs to be interpreted 3) YOU need to a develop a LOGICAL SKILL SET to INTERPRET DATA I gave you facts, Willard hiding his true investments in Bain; Willard created Bain and personally hired everyone at BAIN, Willard’s well known ultra-secrecy, and some anecdotal information regarding how business really works. Boffa gave me several links purporting to define what Willard “REPORTED” in various documents to be his current investments in Bain, which are dubious, and certainly not credible coming from that vomit pit called Willard’s mouth. From these questionable reports [DATA], based on Willard’s REPORTING, Boffa makes the illogical leap – Wishful Thinking – that this DATA “PROVES” that Willard does not have any influence in BAIN! This is a deeply flawed and grossly unsubstantiated conclusion, based solely on ONE element of DATA within the set. I am not surprised that LOGIC would be foreign to Republican’s; after all, this is the party of Wishful Thinking and, “rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." [aka: Richard Mourdock] The numbers at the start of my post are referenced as Pi. Seeing as you are obviously devoid of any capability to engage in LOGIC or a LOGICAL ANALYSIS, I can only say, please contact me again when you find the last digit of Pi…
So in other words, all you have is blind assumption, conjecture, supposition, speculation, conspiracy theories, etc. "... vomit pit called Willard’s mouth." Yeah, it's abundantly clear to all Patch readers that your comments are wholly logical and rational, and definitely not being swayed by any subjective emotional opinions/predispositions that you may have towards President-elect Romney. You're a sad, sad little man, aren't you?
Boffa, Boffa, Boffa, once again, more over-emotionalism and Wishful Thinking... There you go again... http://go.workersvoice.org/american-flag
1) 3.14159265359… this is DATA… 2) Data needs to be interpreted 3) YOU need to a develop a LOGICAL SKILL SET to INTERPRET DATA" Johnny, that was as condescending, and stupid, as BO's comment in the last debate about those things called aircraft carriers and submarines. Kind of funny how you jumped to #3-"YOU need to a develop a LOGICAL SKILL SET to INTERPRET DATA" without going through #1 or #2. Hoffa made a statement, provided facts and a link, then drew a conclusion (basically you are full of it) Johnny also wrote: "I gave you facts, Willard hiding his true investments in Bain;" You have done nothing to refute that statement other than "well your just plain wrong" Which once again Johnny, make you "just plain wrong"