Wednesday Open Thread

Welcome to your Wednesday open thread. This week seems to be moving really fast. It’s already Wednesday?

We didn’t discuss this yesterday, but there were some elections. In Wisconsin, there were Democratic primaries where Republicans ran as Democrats to slow down the recall process. All the real Dems won pretty easily, with one race closer than expected.

With the vast majority of the precincts now in, all six official Democrats have been projected as the winners by the Associated Press. Only one primary, for the 10th District (GOP Sen. Sheila Harsdorf), has turned out to be tight or seriously contested, with official Dem candidate Shelly Moore winning by a margin of 54%-46%.

The other Dem primaries are nowhere near that close: Nancy Nusbaum is winning the primary for the 2nd District (Sen. Robert Cowles) by 65%-35%; Sandy Pasch is winning the 8th District (Sen. Alberta Darling) by 67%-33%; Fred Clark is winning the 14th District (Sen. Luther Olsen) by 67%-33%; Jessica King is winning the 18th District (Sen. Randy Hopper) by 68%-32%; and Jennifer Shilling is winning the 32nd District (Sen. Dan Kapanke) by 70%-30%.

The GOP gained additional time to pass their agenda through the legislature before the recalls are complete. They passed a very Republican-friendly redistricting plan through while they still had time.

There was also a special election in Califormia’s CA-36 Congressional seat. Republicans said to watch this race because they thought they might have a chance for a D to R switch. The Democrat, Janice Hahn, won by 9%.

Here is a bizarre story out of Arizona (where else?). A state legislator is accused of pointing a loaded weapon at a reporter (a pink Luger pistol).

In the piece, Ruelas writes that during the interview in the state Senate lounge, Klein pulled out her gun and pointed it at his chest. Here’s the key exchange:

“Oh, it’s so cute,” Klein said, as she unzipped the loaded Ruger from its carrying case to show a reporter and photographer. She was sitting on a leather couch in a lounge, just outside the Senate chamber.

She showed off the laser sighting by pointing the red beam at the reporter’s chest. The gun has no safety, she said, but there was no need to worry.

“I just didn’t have my hand on the trigger,” she said.

Her excuse now is that she was just showing off her pistol and the reporter walked in front of the laser sight. Yeah, right. What a clown.