Wisconsin Recalls

Dem Incumbents Win Last Two Wisconsin Recalls, GOP Holds Slim Senate Majority

Eric Kleefeld | August 16, 2011, 11:01PM

The Wisconsin state Senate recalls of 2011 -- in which tens of millions of dollars and countless man-hours were spent, almost resembling Congressional races -- are officially over. Tuesday night, Democratic incumbents Jim Holperin and Robert Wirch fended off their Republican challengers, for a final state Senate margin of 17 Republicans to 16 Democrats, just shy of the Dems' original goal of taking control of the chamber via recalls.

The Associated Press has projected both Holperin and Wirch as the winners in their respective races. With 78% of precincts reporting in Holperin's race, he led Republican opponent Kim Simac by 54%-46%. With 99% reporting in Wirch's race, he won by a margin of 57%-43%.

Holperin was always considered the most vulnerable Democrat. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's rankings of the state Senate districts shows, Holperin represents the most Republican-leaning district that is currently held by a Democrat. It voted 57.4%-40.8% for Scott Walker in the Republican wave of 2010, though before that Barack Obama carried it 52.7%-45.7% during the 2008 Democratic wave. But in the end, he pulled through the challenge, and by a wider margin than his original 51%-49% election to the seat in 2008.

Another fun fact: This was Holperin's second recall of his political career. Back in 1990, then-state Rep. Holperin faced a recall election in a backlash over the more local issue of newly-reinstated Native American spearfishing rights. Holperin won that election, later went on to be state Tourism Secretary, and in 2008 was narrowly elected to the state Senate by 51%-49% in an open-seat race, to succeed a retiring Democrat.

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Ambassadorships

Obama Names Top Campaign Bundler To Ambassador Spot

Christina Bellantoni | November 30, 2009, 6:45PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama tonight named another top donor to a plum diplomatic post.

In an evening release with several other nominations, Obama said he would appoint attorney Allan Katz to be ambassador to Portugal. Like all ambassadorships, it is subject to senate confirmation.

Katz, a former City Commissioner from Tallahassee, Florida, pulled together more than $500,000 in donations to the Obama campaign as one of the Democrat's top "bundlers."

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