Wisconsin is home to the Circus World Museum (it is in Baraboo where the Ringling Bros. Circus was founded).
Now it appears as if it will be home to yet another political circus that could drag into the summer months.
From a park on Madison’s North side, a defiant Joanne Kloppenburg announced Wednesday that she’s requesting a statewide recount in the Supreme Court race. The official canvass of the statewide results indicated she lost to incumbent Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser by more than 7,300 votes.
The campaign of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser issued a swift and stinging response immediately following Kloppenburg’s news conference.
“We learned something this afternoon from JoAnne Kloppenburg. Apparently nothing will stop her from going ahead and wasting taxpayers hard‐earned money to discover what election officials did on April 5th – that Justice David Prosser was reelected.
“We’ve now had a statewide canvass and four separate examinations of the canvass in one county. The record books show the largest number of votes turned in state history on a recount is 489. Their losing margin now stands at fifteen times that.
“And now, ironically, less than 24 hours after the Government Accountability Board concluded that the April 5th canvass in Waukesha County was correct, she today insists that it needs further examination.
“With the official canvass showing her down by over 7,300 votes, the only way she can achieve her nakedly political goal is to do one thing: challenge and disenfranchise thousands of Wisconsin citizens who exercised their right to vote April 5th and believed this election over. Justice Prosser’s recount team will work diligently in the weeks and months ahead to protect the votes of Wisconsin citizens at the same time Ms. Kloppenburg’s campaign works to take them away.”
Clearly, it’s on.
“Too many questions hang over this election, and we appreciate JoAnne Kloppenburg’s diligence in standing up for the integrity of our elections,” Marty Beil said in a statement released shortly after Kloppenburg spoke.
Who is Beil and why does he appreciate Kloppenburg putting Wisconsin through a recall?
He’s the head of the state employees’ chapter of AFSCME.
I’ll politely refrain from any jokes about contortionists, high wire acts, clowns or elephant dung.
But note this. The day after the election, Kloppenburg thought she was up by 204 votes based on unofficial tallies by the media. She declared victory.
Now, after the official statewide canvass shows she lost by more than 35 times that margin? Well, it’s just too close to call.
Step right up, folks. The circus is about to begin.