Wisconsin Democrats Survives Recall Race,

Political News, Like the Weather, is Heating Up

In Wisconsin the first of nine scheduled recall races was won by an incumbent Democrat who survived with a strong 66% of the vote.   State Democratic Senator. Dave Hansen defeated Republican David VanderLeest. The recall elections against Republicans in Wisconsin are the result of the anti-union legislation passed by the Republican majority in the legislature and signed into law by Republican Governor Scott Walker.  The recall against Democrats was spurred by the fact that Democratic legislators temporarily left the state to prevent a vote being taken on the legislation.

Democrats should not be too encouraged, because the Republicans did not exactly field an ideal candidate,

Hansen entered his race with a major cash advantage, raising $318,000 since April, while VanderLeest raised $2,000. VanderLeest was also vulnerable because of a criminal record that included convictions in 2006 on two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct.

Associated Press file photo

State Sen. Dave Hansen, of Green Bay, speaks at a rally outside

the state Capitol in this March file photo.

Hansen won handily in a recall election on Tuesday to retain his Senate seat

At any rate, there is much more to come in Wisconsin from the 8 remaining races.  Stay tuned.