* 51,861 - Number of people voted in the county. Turnout was 41.75 percent.
* 37,321 - Number of people who voted for Democrats
* 14,446 - Number of people who voted for Republicans
* Democratic totals:
Kucinich - 75
Clinton - 16,294
Biden - 13
Gravel - 16
Dodd - 17
Obama - 20,620
Edwards - 227
Richardson - 20
* Republican totals:
Hunter - 27
Thompson - 103
Tancredo - 9
Romney - 269
Paul - 618
Huckabee - 4,986
McCain - 8,337
Giuliani - 49
* 12,283 - Difference between Obama's and McCain's totals in Racine County
* 9,067-5,364 - Obama's margin of victory over Clinton in the City of Racine. Obama took about 62 percent of the city's vote.
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Here are the final unofficial returns, as reported by Racine County about 11:30 p.m. last night:
In the Democratic Primary:
Hillary Clinton: 16,294 votes, 43.65%
Barack Obama: 20,620 votes, 55.24%
In the Republican Primary:
Mike Huckabee 4,986 votes, 34.52%
John McCain: 8,337 votes, 57.72%
The county has 124,190 registered voters
51,861 votes were cast Tuesday
37,321 votes in the Democratic primary
14,446 votes in the Republican primary
Racine Unified School Board (top six advance to April election)
Carly-Anne Ravnikar 7,100
Dennis Wiser 11,906
David Thurwanger 5,090
Pamela Handrow 9,943
Melvin Hargrove 12,790
John Leiber 7,040
Karen Norton 11,776
The county's vote totals are being put online, as they are counted,
HERE.
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UPDATE: Both the J-S and the JT overestimated the crowds at both events. Jim Walczak, executive director of the Racine Civic Centre, wrote to tell us 1,430 people were let into Memorial Hall for Obama's visit. An additional 60 media were let in, for a grand total well below the J-S's reported number of 3,500.
As for the Brat Stop, Pete counted about 750 people. I counted about 300 in the balcony, but couldn't see how many people were on the floor. Pete tells me there were about 150 people sitting and standing on the floor in front of and behind Hillary, and a couple hundred more packed through the place. So there's pretty much no way the crowd got up to 1,500, and even 1,000 seems like a push. Also, the Obama rally was bigger than Hillary's stop, so if there were 1,500 at Obama, I'd say 750 sounds about right for Hillary.
ORIGINAL POST: The J-S is reporting that 3,500 people were let into Obama's event in Racine last week. That's three times the number I originally reported, in part because organizers said the crowd would be limited to 1,200.
The JT estimated 1,500 people attended Hillary's stop in Kenosha, which, again, feels about right compared to Obama (about half the crowd). There's no sourcing on the estimate, and the head of the Kenosha County Democrats estimated the crowd at 1,000.
I'm not sure how much we can read into the numbers. It's probably not fair to say Obama received three times the local support as Hillary. But we can say the crowds were vastly different. Obama's was diverse; Hillary's was 99 percent white. Hillary's was middle-aged on up; Obama's was young. Both were enthusiastic, but Hillary's venue led to a more raucous feeling, while Obama's venue felt more official/presidential.
Then there was the strange lack of security at Hillary's event. Media photographers didn't even have their equipment scanned, a common practice at these types of event. In this way, Obama felt like the establishment candidate, while Hillary felt like the upstart challenger.
This is all building toward Tuesday's primary. Wisconsin is important nationally, because Obama is looking for his ninth straight win, while Hillary is looking for momentum heading into the big states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. Whoever wins Wisconsin may well win the nomination.
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As an independent reporter, I'm learning that it's a lot more interesting (and fun) to cover events from the crowd than press row. There's nothing wrong with dedicated media entrances, unobstructed views and access to the candidates. But you lose something by accepting access from the officials you're covering to separate from the readers you're supposedly serving. Anyway, here was the view from the cheap seats at Hillary's visit at the Brat Stop (or as she called it, the Brat Shop):
Here's the line outside of the stop 90 minutes before Hillary is scheduled to speak. Yup, there's no line. It was somewhat concerning because Obama's line in Racine wrapped around the entire block. Then again, Obama's stop featured broken metal detectors that left us standing in brutal cold for over an hour. With Hillary, we walked straight in ... no metal detectors, though, which was weird.
It got crowded fast. So fast we got stuck in the balcony of the Brat Stop even though we were among the early arrivals. Organizers and volunteers seemed lost and couldn't even tell us where Hillary was going to speak. Most people figured she'd be on the stage, but nope, she was off to the side. When we tried to get back downstairs, the campaign kept us upstairs. While we waited, an older woman collapsed. After several calls for 9-1-1, a police officer arrived. The woman was OK, and I think she stayed to watch the speech.
While we waited, a bartender used a pool cue and her shoelaces to redirect a closed circuit camera while standing on a chair stacked on a table. The MacGyver-esque move was successful ...
Here was our clearest view of Sen. Clinton (it really was clear, the photo is just blurry).
Here was our view of where Hillary was speaking.
Hillary! (We handed our camera off for some closer shots).
One more of the former First Lady ...
Cool shot through the chandelier.
People standing on pool tables to catch a glimpse of Hillary. This sums up the event well.
RacinePost's own Pete Selkowe (second photographer from the left) using a press pass at the event. Yeah, we got credentials.
The crowd packed in for autographs and handshakes after Hillary's speech. We couldn't get real close, but we know someone who jumped a railing and got her autograph on a coffee card. Nice work!
This unfocused, dark photo was taken with camera overhead and random clicks. That's Hillary in the middle.
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The Real Debate Wisconsin blog pointed out this weekend that Republican presidential candidates raised $95,000 more from the Badger State than Democratic presidential candidates.
But what about here in Racine? When we vote with our wallets, what's the outcome?
So far in 2007, there's no contest. Checking the Federal Election Commission donation reports reveals two frontrunners, one in each party.
Among Democratic presidential hopefuls, Barack Obama received $7,500, with $3,800 coming from Jeff and Lisa Neubauer. Neubauer, former state party chairman, organized fund-raisers for Obama in the spring that netted $250,000. Far behind: Hillary Clinton and John Edwards each received $1,000. Everybody else on that crowded debate stage got zip.
Among Republicans, put your hands together for Mitt Romney, who received $6,100. Two-thirds of that came from Helen Johnson Leipold and her husband Craig (spending his Predators' windfall early?) Romney's closest competitor in the county is -- drumroll, please! -- a tie: Ron Paul received $4,600 from Sandra and Fred Young Jr. and Tommy Thompson got the same from Loraine and Charles Vignieri. Sam Brownback got $2,300 and John McCain $1,700. Alan Keyes (!) received $201.
Putting all that fund-raising to shame, however, was the S. C. Johnson & Son Inc. Political Action Committee, which received $43,275 in donations. There were six $5,000 checks from family and board members, and the rest from board, directors and employees in amounts ranging from $2,000 to $250.
And where is the SCJ PAC spending its money? So far this year, it has made 13 donations of $1,000 or $2,000 to House and Senate candidates around the U.S., in an eclectic variety of states like California, New Hampshire, Texas, Virginia, Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa and Maryland. The money was split equally between the two parties, although seven Republicans received donations vs. six Democrats. Only one Wisconsin pol has benefitted: U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, R-6th District (Oshkosh and Sheboygan), received $1,000.
Want to do your own search, find out who your neighbors are supporting? Start HERE and HERE.
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