In list order…

Winners

1. Wow did Mark Pocan run away with his race. I thought he’d win, but wow, did he run away with it. I’m so surprised that I just wrote two sentences that said almost the same thing because Wow did Mark Pocan run away…[you know the rest]

While some people might think that Kelda Roys’ negative ads backfired, and they probably did, I think when a candidate runs up that kind of margin, there was really nothing she could have done to win.

2. Milwaukee progressives!

Progressive candidates pulled off a series of wins in Milwaukee Dem primaries Tuesday, including knocking off incumbent Reps. Jason Fields and Peggy Krusick.

Various Dem sources also indicated Nikiya Harris has won the 6th SD, beating state Rep. Elizabeth Coggs for the seat of the retiring state Sen. Spencer Coggs.

The sources also indicated Sandy Pasch will win the 10th AD, La Tonya Johnson will win the 17th and Evan Goyke will win the 18th. In the 7th Dan Riemer bested Krusick, while Mandela Barnes beat Fields in the 11th.

3. Candidates who don’t smoke “rocks.” David VanderLeest wins the Republican primary for the 90th Assembly District. If you don’t get the reference, once upon a time Mr. VanderLeest ran against Democrat Dave Hansen in a recall election. During this election he said:

“I read a social services report yesterday that says I smoke crack,” said VanderLeest, during an interview on Joy Cardin of Wisconsin Public Radio. “None of it’s true. I don’t smoke rocks, and that’s the truth.”

4. Scott McDonell – That was a tough race, but Scott pulled it off in the end. Good job to all the candidates in the race, even if it was a bit contentious at the end.

Losers

1. School vouchers. Hardcore school voucher support Rep. Jason Fields lost in a Democratic primary despite receiving heavy right-wing support. Check this out:

The pro-voucher American Federation for Children sent out mailers backing Fields and blasting Republicans despit the group’s history of supporting GOP candidates. In all, the group spent over $100,000 in primaries in Milwaukee, but none of the candidates it backed won.

A 100,000 dollars! For a state legislative primary! How impressive is Mandela Barnes’ victory over Jason Fields? Pretty impressive if you ask me.

2. Race Baiting. Seriously, what was going on here…

State Rep. Elizabeth Coggs, the Milwaukee Democrat running in the August primary for state senator, urged a gathering of mostly black voters Saturday to “vote for someone that looks like you.”

The remark by Coggs, who is African-American, evoked both cheers and shouts of protest from the audience and from some of the other primary candidates who were invited to speak at the Community Brainstorming Conference at St. Matthew CME Church.

“That’s just wrong,” shouted Mandela Barnes, who is also African-American and is running against incumbent Jason Fields in the 11th Assembly District primary. Fields also is black.

Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) said Coggs’ statement was aimed at her. Pasch, who is white, is running in Coggs’ current 10th Assembly District; the three other candidates in that primary are all African-American.

Zach over at BloggingBlue sums the first two points up nicely:

I guess the moral of the story when it comes to the failed campaigns of Jason Fields, Elizabeth Coggs, Jarrett Fields, and Millie Coby is elections are won and lost through hard work and good ideas, not through race-baiting and a reliance on the generosity of Scott Jensen.

3. Mark Neumann – Yeah, it’s over.

Puzzlement

1. Did Joe Wineke send out any mailers? I received two mailers for Sondy Pope Roberts, who won the 80th Assembly Democratic primary, to the previous home owner. I received nothing from Joe. Hm.