Although Hillary Clinton received the most votes among the 511 individuals who voted in the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW) Convention straw poll, Hillary received only a plurality of the vote in the straw poll, with progressives mostly united around Bernie Sanders, who came in a surprisingly close (even to a Sanders supporter like myself) second place.
Here are the results of the Wisconsin Democratic presidential straw poll:
- 1st – Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of New York – 252 (49.32%)
- 2nd – U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont – 208 (40.70%)
- T-3rd – Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware – 16 (3.13%)
- T-3rd – Former Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland – 16 (3.13%)
- 5th – Former U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia – 8 (1.57%)
- 6th – Former Governor Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island – 5 (0.98%)
- 7th – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (write-in) – 4 (0.78%)
- 8th – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack of Iowa (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
Of the 511 straw poll voters, 1 voter, or 0.20% of the total straw poll electorate, did not cast a valid vote for any candidate or write-in candidate in the presidential portion of the straw poll. Of the candidates who received at least one vote, Clinton, Sanders, O’Malley, and Chafee are officially running for the Democratic presidential nomination. A total of 8 candidates received at least one vote. Percentages given for each candidate’s vote total are percentages of the total straw poll electorate.
To say the least, this is the first real sign of trouble for the Hillary Clinton campaign in regards to the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Despite being perceived as the heavy favorite to win the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary couldn’t even get a majority of the vote in the Wisconsin Democratic straw poll, whose electorate usually consists of Democratic diehards in Wisconsin. More importantly, the Wisconsin straw poll shows that Bernie’s campaign is gaining momentum in a huge way, as he received over 40% of the vote despite a near-blackout of Bernie’s campaign by the corporate media and the political establishment in this country.
The Wisconsin Democratic convention straw poll also featured a gubernatorial straw poll, in which no candidate came even close to a majority of the vote, although there is currently a very strong preference for a gubernatorial candidate from the western part of Wisconsin among many of the Wisconsin Democrats who participated in the straw poll. Here are the results of the gubernatorial straw poll, which also saw 511 ballots cast:
- 1st – State Senator Kathleen Vinehout of Alma – 149 (29.16%)
- 2nd – State Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling of La Crosse – 89 (17.42%)
- 3rd – U.S. Representative Ron Kind of La Crosse – 85 (16.63%)
- 4th – State Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca of Kenosha – 64 (12.52%)
- 5th – Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson of Kaukauna – 55 (10.76%)
- 6th – Dane County Executive Joe Parisi of Madison – 11 (2.15%)
- T-7th – Former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk of Madison (write-in) – 3 (0.59%)
- T-7th – Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold of Middleton (write-in) – 3 (0.59%)
- T-7th – State Senator Chris Larson of Milwaukee (write-in) – 3 (0.59%)
- T-7th – State Assembly Assistant Minority Leader Katrina Shankland of Stevens Point (write-in) – 3 (0.59%)
- T-11th – Business executive Kevin Conroy of Madison (write-in) – 2 (0.39%)
- T-11th – Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ of Jefferson (write-in) – 2 (0.39%)
- T-11th – Former Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Mike Tate of Milwaukee (write-in) – 2 (0.39%)
- T-11th – State Representative Chris Taylor of Madison (write-in) – 2 (0.39%)
- T-11th – State Senator Lena Taylor of Milwaukee (write-in) – 2 (0.39%)
- T-16th – State Representative Mandela Barnes of Milwaukee (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
- T-16th – Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
- T-16th – Madison Metropolitan School Board Member Mary Burke of Madison (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
- T-16th – Mayor John Dickert of Racine (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
- T-16th – State Senator Dave Hansen of Green Bay (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
- T-16th – Political activist Mike McCabe of Madison (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
- T-16th – U.S. Representative Gwen Moore of Milwaukee (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
- T-16th – Mayor Justin Nickels of Manitowoc (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
- T-16th – U.S. Representative Mark Pocan of Town of Vermont (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
- T-16th – Manufacturers’ sales representative Neal Plotkin of Milwaukee (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
- T-16th – State Representative Dana Wachs of Eau Claire (write-in) – 1 (0.20%)
Of the 511 straw poll voters, 25 voters, or 4.89% of the total electorate, did not cast a valid vote for any candidate or write-in candidate in the gubernatorial portion of the straw poll. I am unsure about which municipalities Joe Parisi and Mike Tate live in; as a result, I listed either the county seat of their home county (for Parisi) or their birthplace (for Tate). Some sources list Mark Pocan as living in either Madison or Black Earth; Pocan’s campaign website lists him as a resident of the Town of Vermont in Dane County. WisPolitics.com misspelled the name of Justin Nickels on their online results sheet; they listed Nickels as “Justin Nichols”, likely due to the individual who wrote-in Nickels misspelling his last name. The only information I could find about anyone from Wisconsin named Neal Plotkin is from a 2012 article in The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle that listed Plotkin as a manufacturers’ sales representative from Milwaukee, so this is presumably the Neal Plotkin that the individual cast a write-in vote for. A total of 26 candidates received at least one vote. Percentages given for each candidate’s vote total are percentages of the total straw poll electorate.
While the race for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Wisconsin hasn’t really begun to take shape three and a half years from the next gubernatorial election in Wisconsin, there is already a strong preference for a candidate from the western part of Wisconsin. While Kathleen Vinehout got a plurality of the straw poll vote, she didn’t even come close to a majority of the vote, and the top three candidates, which received a combined 63.21% of the vote, all come from the western part of Wisconsin.
If I had been a Wisconsin resident, a delegate to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin convention, and a participant in the straw poll, I would have voted for Bernie Sanders in the presidential portion of the straw poll and would have wrote-in Lori Compas in the gubernatorial portion of the straw poll (I would never write-in my own name in a straw poll, even though I would be open to the idea of running for Governor of Wisconsin in 2018 if I move to Wisconsin before 2018). Of the candidates who received at least one vote in the gubernatorial portion of the straw poll, I have a favorable opinion of Parisi, Feingold, Shankland, Chris Taylor, Barnes, Hansen, McCabe, Moore, and Pocan, with McCabe, the head of the progressive group Blue Jean Nation, being my favorite of those.
The Progressive Midwesterner 
Bernie Sanders can partially thank Jeff Smith for Sanders strong showing in the straw poll. In my view Jeff brought more true progressives to the convention than any other candidate, and if the DPW wants to keep them engaged going forward they had better realize that the DPW platform and resolutions are very progressive documents that express the will and desires of the membership. Jeff was the only candidate in the race that referred to these documents as core to what our messaging should be, and it’s the same message that Bernie Sanders has been trumpeting loudly across the country. I’m looking forward to what Sanders does from here.
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Nice work. I think a different Bernie has the line on the Gov’s race in 2018 (have to look ahead) explaining the Laning victory:
From Bernie Starzewski at Wisconsin Urban & Rural Progressive Coalition (Facebook)
On driving home rather silently suddenly a light went on!
Why would the party suddenly turn to an inexperienced (some would say failed) unknown to man the helm?
That’s when it struck me!
As the convention prepared to reconvene Kathleen appeared in the back of the room with a raft of supporters who were passing out Lanning signs to wave when the announcement was made. Obviously she knew something that no one else did.
This election had NOTHING to do about Martha Lanning. I was from the very first, about Kathleen Vinehout.
Vinehout was burned having attempted to run twice and the last time Mike Tate (the moron) blocked her replacing her with Mary Burke. She simply got burned by the now former chair and wanted to make certain that NOBODY ever stood in her way again.
So, what better strategy than to hand pick her own chair who would forever be beholden and could be directed at will for the next race for governor perhaps even fending off other potential competitors?
Now, dont get me wrong, I like KV. I supported her both times and was critical of Tate for the Burke debacle. But I never saw this coming. It is all quite clear now. Lanning may be the chair but owes that job to the masterful job that KV played behind the scenes to systematically discredit every other candidate who might have stood in the way of that control.
Im not sure how I feel about this yet and what effect it will have on other races for the legislature is unknown. But, that was what we saw, a masterful political power grab which for good or ill will impact the party for at least a decade. #
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