Land of Confusion: Part IV - Monroe County

"This is the world we live in 
And these are the names we're given
Stand up and let's start showing
Just where our lives are going to"

Land of Confusion, Part IV: Monroe County

When I was a little kid I was always confused as to why Monroe was in Green County, but I digress. This installment of "Land of Confusion" looks at what has been a flip-flopping county: Monroe County. Monroe voted for Bush in 2004, which means that there certainly is a Republican contingent in this county that is healthy and been there for some time. But what gets me about Monroe County, and why I am putting it in the "Land of Confusion" is that this is a county who can turn out for Democrats. It's also right next to LaCrosse County and in it's TV market, which I think is so crucial for why Democrats lost in 2010 and 2012.

First visually, you can see how Monroe County is "red" and Republican in the 2004 Presidential Election.




Next, we will turn our focus to the numbers, and the 2006 Gubernatorial Election. What does the turnout in the Doyle - Green Election show us:

2006 Gubernatorial Election:

	Gubernatorial Candidate	Lt. Gubernatorial Candidate	Political Party	Popular Vote
	Jim Doyle	Barbara C. Lawton	Democratic	6,556	48.76%
	Mark Green	Jean Hundertmark	Republican	6,517	48.47%

Well first off, it shows us that we really aren't working with a whole lot of voters in this county, especially in the Gubernatorial Election. 13,073 voters, and an almost even split with only 39 votes separation. Hmm, but wait, what's that number on the 2004 map? I can kind of make it out, but it's small. Let's look at the Obama - McCain election:

2008 Presidential Election:

	Presidential Candidate	Vice Presidential Candidate	Political Party	Popular Vote
	Barack H. Obama	Joseph R. Biden, Jr.	Democratic	10,198	53.25%
	John S. McCain, III	Sarah Palin	Republican	8,666	45.25%

Healthy improvement of turnout! 18,864 total, and Democrats were able to improve by 3,642 votes. Nice work Obama messaging! But wait, let's look quickly at the 2004 numbers:

2004 Presidential Election:

	Presidential Candidate	Vice Presidential Candidate	Political Party	Popular Vote
	George W. Bush	Richard Cheney	Republican	10,375	53.06%
	John Kerry	John Edwards	Democratic	8,973	45.89%

Ouch.... What the hell happened between 2004 and 2008 for Democrats? Depressed Republican turnout in 2006, massive turnout in 2008... good work Democrats.

Now, I think we can tell what happened in the 2010 Gubernatorial Election:

	Gubernatorial Candidate	Lt. Gubernatorial Candidate	Political Party	Popular Vote
	Scott Walker	Rebecca Kleefisch	Republican	7,570	57.83%
	Tom Barrett	Tom Nelson	Democratic	5,199	39.72%

OUCH. What the hell happened? I mean, it's not like Republicans over-performed for Walker in 2010, but whoo-hoo, Democrats, where are you? I mean, you lost around 1,500 voters since the 2006 election, and good god, we lost 5,000 voters since 2008! That's 2 years, and 5,000 voters we lost in this county WHAT ARE WE DOING WRONG???

Now, let's see what 2012's Recall Election looks like:

Walker: 9,039 - 59.2%
Barrett: 6,086 - 39.8%

Good god, that's north of 2008 turnout for the Republican voters! Good lord, we couldn't even muster as many votes as Jim Doyle got in 2006! Monroe County is rural and a toss-up county. It's Republican, it's Democrat, it's high turnout, it's depressed turnout, it's everything. But you know what, we need to turn out those Obama (and hell, even those Kerry voters) if we EVER want to win statewide elections! We have to figure out how to flip these counties blue and not get trounced like June 5th, 2012.

We have issues in this county! This is the Land of Confusion!