Voters are turning against Republican governors

[Derechos]

Source: The Daily Beast

Less than a year after a cadre of Republican firebrands swept into statehouses from Ohio to Florida to Wisconsin, voters are turning on them. John Avlon on what this means for 2012.

The cycle of over-reach and backlash is in over-drive these days—with significant implications for the 2012 presidential election. In pivotal swing-states where voters narrowly elected Republican governors in 2010—like Florida and Ohio (with 47 electoral votes between them)—evidence of buyer's remorse is piling up fast.

The latest sign: on Tuesday, Alvin Brown became the first Democrat elected mayor of Jacksonville—Florida's largest city—in 20 years.

Just seven months ago, Republicans swept the Sunshine State with Tea Party-backed candidate Rick Scott winning the governor's office with a 1.2 percent margin of victory.

But instead of consolidating support by reaching out and winning over the reasonable edge of the opposition, as popular past Republican governors like Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist have done, Scott continued with his campaign posture of refusing to talk to the press. He canceled a $2 billion federal high-speed rail project and is seeking to delay (and functionally deny) implementation of an anti-gerrymandering reform ballot referendum overwhelmingly passed in 2010.

Now Rick Scott finds himself the least popular newly elected governor in Florida history. It's not just a matter of the honeymoon being over—this looks like a drunken Vegas marriage heading for a shotgun divorce.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-19/republican-governor-popularity-plummets-from-ohios-kasich-to-floridas-scott-to-wisconsins-walker/?cid=hp:mainpromo8#

[elocs]

1. Here in Wisconsin we could have stopped Walker from ever being elected,

but too many Democrats stayed home and Feingold was defeated as well.

[tabbycat31]

4. Walker's day will come

I'm pretty confident he can be recalled and I am willing to head back to WI in November to make that a possibility (I just came off a state senate recall campaign there).

[iwishiwas]

8. yes, some of us did. But many also got out and encouraged

others to vote.

[Drale]

2. Man do I love when evil burns itself out

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. I hope this translates into BIG gains for us in 2012.

Hopefully the buyer's remorse will continue till then, and positively affect our chances then.

If Rick Scott continues to behave like the asshole he is, then it'll be easy for the people of Florida to get on his case...

Recommended.

[jp11]

10. Me too, but if democrats don't 'put up' the cycle will continue.

[somone]

5. The fuckers should all be raptured tomorrow

or thrown in jail

[janet118]

6. Wisconsin & Ohio better get crackin' . . .

Getting those new voter IDs out to Democrats, especially students, new residents and the elderly. Maybe it will end up biting them in the ass if a strong grassroots effort gets more Dems qualified to vote than Repugs. Of course, Dems still have to get their butts to the polls.

[nonperson]

7. "a drunken Vegas marriage heading for a shotgun divorce"

Perfect analogy.

I'm surprised the article failed to mention Chris Christie:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55236.html

Chris Christie disapproval climbs back home in New Jersey

[Mr. Jefferson]

9. The cycle continues...