Wednesday Open Thread

Welcome to your Wednesday open thread. *peaks out* Is it safe yet?

Yesterday former Virginia governor and current DNC Chair Tim Kaine announced he’s running for the Senate seat of Jim Webb. The new chair of the DNC will be Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

With the announcement today that current DNC Chair Tim Kaine is running for the Senate in Virginia comes news that Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz will replace him.

Wasserman Schultz, 44, brings some significant assets to the table. Besides the obvious fact that she’s a woman, she’s also a proven fundraiser and a skilled on-air surrogate. A breast cancer survivor, she is also a close friend of Rep. Gabby Giffords.

Personally, I think this is an inspired choice. She’s young and dynamic and is great on TV. I think she’s one of the people that can bridge gaps between different Democratic factions. She won’t be the first woman to head a party committee, but she will be the first to be elected by a full committee vote.

Yesterday was the closely watched Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. Well, it will be weeks if not months before anyone can declare victory. Incumbent David Prosser holds a razor-thin 365 vote lead over Joann Kloppenburg with 99% reporting. There are still some outstanding districts in Democrat-leaning districts to be counted.

Here’s where we’re at: there are, per the AP, 34 precincts outstanding. However, Dunn County has all precincts reporting on it website, and it helps KloJo close to a 356 vote deficit. Crawford and Dane counties are completed reported.

So precinct wise, here’s what’s left:

6 in Ashland
1 in Jefferson
1 in Juneau
12 in Milwaukee
8 in Sauk
1 in Taylor

Turnout was high in Madison and in deep red Waukesha. It’s quite an accomplishment for the unknown Kloppenburg to potentially defeat longtime incumbent Prosser. I think it’s clear that the surge of Koch money in the last 2 weeks probably saved Prosser’s bacon. Supposedly this is the most expensive Supreme Court battle in Wisconsin history, with more than $3.5M in outside money being spent on the race. In the other watched race in Wisconsin, Democrat Adele beat Republican legislator Stone to capture Walker’s old job as Milwaukee County Executive.