Dave Blaska must be proud. His legacy of lunacy on the County Board has apparently immortalized him. Not only did County Board President Scott McDonnell reference Blaska's 2006 loss during this year's victory speech at the Argus Bar, but more than a few sources wanted me to forward their condolences to my crackpot colleague, whose election predictions were so far off that the Dane County Association of Political Pundits is now considering stripping the Blaska Policy Research Center of its "stately" status.
From what the liberals were telling me last night, Blaska's candidates might not have done so hot because they spent way too much time listening to people like Blaska. For instance, county politco Mike Basford, who managed two progressive campaigns himself, told me that the Glenn Beck nuts, dubbed the 9/12 project, got involved in both the 12th and 18th districts on the Northside.
The Realtors Association was a particular target of derision from Democrats, and Kathleen Falk's Chief of Staff Topf Wells told me that the Realtors, who endorsed nearly all the conservative candidates in the elections, have become the de facto Republican Party of Dane County (the GOP does not currently endorse). Liberals contended that the shoreland zoning issue that conservative candidates and the Realtors brought up was a scare tactic based on an imaginary issue. Later, when discussing low voter turnout with McDonnell, the board president told me that the advantage of spring elections is that the voters are smart and informed, and hence less likely to buy into false advertising.
