The Results Are In!

Congratulations to Jim Sensenbrenner, who won the seat for the House for District Five. The Journal Sentinel's online website broke the news at about 9:00pm, only one hour after the polls closed. This means that probably not much will change for the Fifth District, considering Sensenbrenner has remained in his position for the past 30 years.  The results are as follows:

(November 02, 2010 - 09:15PM CT)

U.S. House - District 5 - General

Wisconsin - 54 of 389 Precincts Reporting - 14%

	Name	Party	Votes	Vote %
	Sensenbrenner , Jim (i)	GOP	33,888	72%
	Kolosso , Todd	Dem	11,090	24%
	Raymond , Robert	Ind	1,903	4%

Possible Winner?

I think that Jim Sensenbrenner will definitely be the winner of today's election.  Since he has been in the House position for 30 years, and has raised more money to campaign then his competition, I really don't think this will be a close race.  In addition, he also has the name recognition which voters will remember, since he has been in the position for so long.

What's at Stake?

Some of the most important issues discussed include: Health Care, Small Business, and Education.


Jim Sensenbrenner has the following views:
Health Care: Opposes government ran health care.  Individual choice and free market competition are what he thinks should occur, and he supports creating a new tax cut for those who purchase private health insurance.
Small Business: Has received the "Guardian of Small Business Award" and recognizes that the small businesses are the backbone of our economy.  Other than that, he really does not have a plan discussed.
Education: Thinks the federal government should play a minimal role in education, and that teachers and local school boards should do what is best fort the children in their area.

Todd Kolosso has the following views:
Health Care: Supports the idea of having a competitive insurance environment that gives people real choices and expanded health care coverage.
Small Business: This is something that Kolosso is passionate about, considering he is a small business owner himself.  If elected he plans to offer large and small companies the same insurance options as well as giving small business owners tax cuts.
Education: Thinks that the government should be involved to some extent in the topic of education.  In addition, federal grants should be given to help make repairs in school, and supply them with equipment they need.  Kolosso claims that federal grants would take some stress off of local tax payers.

All information was taken from the respective candidates websites, which explains their stance on certain issues.  Again, no information regarding these topics was found for the independent candidate.

Conventional Wisdom

To be honest, I was not too sure what Conventional Wisdom (CV) meant, I now know that it refers to explanations or ideas that are generally accepted by the public, regardless of any evidence.  I think that this race portrays conventional wisdom when dealing with Jim Sensenbrenner.  Many uneducated voters who vote for an incumbent, only do so because they do not know much about the other candidates.  Also, they think that having more experience makes them the most qualified for the job.  I think that this is not always the case and that people should not only vote, but know who they are voting for.  The media's frame for this race, as opposed to the other races in the state of Wisconsin, does not seem to be very large.  Most of the media attention has been focused on Walker, Johnson, Barrett, and Feingold, and not Sensenbrenner, Kolosso, or Raymond.  The whole idea that it is difficult to get someone out of office, after having them been there for so long seems like a realistic problem, leaving many to just continue to vote for that person.   

Voter Polls

According to jsonline.com, they are expecting a projected 50% of voters to vote in the election.  When trying to find specific statistics on the District Five election, numbers were difficult to come by. http://maps.google.com/intl/en_us/2010election/ratings.html is the best map I found that shows District Five expected outcomes for the election.  Not surprised to see that Jim Sensenbrenner is the candidate projected to win the the election.

The Journal Sentinel online also quoted the following: "The 5th Congressional District, Wisconsin's most Republican and the only one in the state to support John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008, covers Ozaukee and Washington counties and parts of Milwaukee, Waukesha and Jefferson counties." (http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/105317078.html) This once again reinforces that more than likely the Fifth District will continue to be represented by Republican Jim Sensenbrenner.

Amount/Type of Media Coverage for District Five

While researching information regarding the District Five Election, I have noticed that not a lot of media attention has been brought to these candidates.  I personally find this disappointing, because I think that Jim Sensenbrenner's 30 years in office, needs to be seriously considered.  This is not so much of a political party issue, rather I think it is time for someone else to come into office for the Fifth District, in order to get a new perspective on our area, and new ideas to improve it.  Most of the information regarding the candidates has been taken directly from their personal websites or OpenSecrets.org to show their spending.  I have not seen any commercials aired, or newpaper articles regarding the two candidates in this election.  Again, I think this all boils down to having an incumbent that is once again, expected to win the majority vote.

Corporate Spending and Interest Groups

For any campaign, something that I find interesting is where candidates receive monetary donations.  I think where a candidate receives money from, gives voters an idea of who supports the individual, possibly having an impact on who they vote for.  The following statistics, taken from OpenSecrets.org, reflect both Jim Sensenbrenner's and Todd Kolosso's budgets.

F. James Sensenbrenner Jr (R) * Raised: $375,670 Spent: $383,041 Cash on Hand: $398,981 Last Report: October 13, 2010 PAC contributions $203,389 (54%) Individual contributions $171,080 (46%) Candidate self-financing $0 (0%) Other $1,201 (0%)
Todd P. Kolosso (D) Raised: $174,580 Spent: $165,636 Cash on Hand: $14,367 Last Report: September 30, 2010 PAC contributions $0 (0%) Individual contributions $18,931 (11%) Candidate self-financing $155,648 (89%) Other $1 (0%)
Overall, I am not surprised to see the Sensenbrenner has raised more money, and therefore has more to spend, since he is the incumbent.  Also, the difference in amount that each candidate received from PAC, shows that Sensenbrenner is supported more by his fellow party, most likely due to his long term in office.  In addition, Sensenbrenner's contributors include mostly large companies, such as Bose and American Banker's Association, which have the ability to give more monetary support.  Unfortunately, no funding information was found on Independent candidate Robert Raymond.  As for interest groups regarding this particular election, both the Republican and Democrat candidates are pro-life on the topic of abortion.  Therefore, if an individual was adamant about being pro-choice, that could be possible get the Independent candidate some votes.  However when trying to find information on Raymond regarding this topic, I found no results.

Political Party Involvement for District Five

It is not unusual for political parties to show support for their fellow party's candidates, in order to try and make sure that their specific member gets elected over the competition. However with the District Five election race, it does not look like either the Republican or Democrat parties are really stepping in to show support for Jim Sensenbrenner, or Todd Kolosso. In addition, I was unable to find any political party involvement that supported Independent candidate, Robert R. Raymond.

When looking at the Republican website I was unable to find anything for Jim Sensenbrenner regarding this election. After typing his name in the search bar, a few stories and posts came up, but the latest to date was back in September 2010! However when using OpenSecrets.org to review the spending on Sensenbrenner's campaign, it showed that $203,389 (54%) of his money came from PAC contributions, which is the political action committee.

As for Todd Kolosso political party involvement is even more sparse. Since Sensenbrenner has maintained his position for the past 30 years, it can be assumed that the Democrats are not expecting Kolosso to win over the seat. However when looking at the Democrats website, they do have a nice summary of all of their candidates, which was easy to find by state. This fact alone shows political party involvement in knowing who their candidates are, and supporting them.

No information was found regarding a political party supporting Independent candidate, Robert R. Raymond.

Meet James Sensenbrenner (Republican, incumbent)

F. James Sensenbrenner currently represents the Fifth District.  Sensenbrenner moved to Wisconsin from Chicago when he was a young child.  After attending Stanford University for his undergraduate in political science, Sensenbrenner earned his law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Sensenbrenner has held his current position since 1980, giving him 30 years of experience over his competitors.  Sensenbrenner is married and has two grown sons.

            I have yet to see a Sensenbrenner commercial; however, Sensenbrenner has gotten more publicity than both Raymond, and Kolosso combined.  On Sensenbrenner’s website there is a “Media Center” tab that makes it easy for any of his followers to track photos, news articles, and youtube videos that include Sensenbrenner himself.  In addition, Sensenbrenner is taking advantage of social networking sites, such as facebook to also keep others updated.  Something that I found interesting on Sensenbrenner’s website included a “Kids Page.”  Under this tab one would find links that connect to government websites about Wisconsin and fun facts.

            As far as spending is concerned, according to OpenSecrets.org on August 25, 2010, Sensenbrenner has spent $317,247 on his campaign.

Meet Robert Raymond (Independent)

Robert R. Raymond is the Independent candidate for District Five’s House of Representatives.  Robert R. Raymond has no experience in politics other than when he ran against incumbent Jim Sensenbrenner back in 2008.  Raymond was born in Milwaukee and resides in Shorewood.  He is currently divorced with two children.  Raymond attended University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but did not achieve a degree.  Raymond ran his own roofing business located in Milwaukee, but after 25 years it had to be shut down.  Raymond claims that finding competent workers was too difficult, and that he could not keep up with other companies who were hiring “illegal immigrants.” (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/pre-election/bios/1100.html?SITE=NPRELN&SECTION=PREELECTION&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)  Raymond is currently employed by Bernhoff Law Firm, which is also located in Milwaukee.

            Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find information on candidate Raymond, and he is not even listed on many of the political websites, which feature both of his rivals.  I was unable to find any information regarding spending, campaign strategies, as well as advertisements for Robert Raymond.

Meet Todd Kolosso (Democrat)

Todd Kolosso is the Democrat candidate for District Five’s House of Representative position.  Kolosso has strong community ties since he attended Slinger grade school, Marquette University High School, and then Marquette University College.  While in college Kolosso received the privilege of studying abroad in both Germany, and Austria.  He graduated Marquette College with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations.  Kolosso’s professional life includes creating a commercial real estate management company, while also owning and operating a small retail apparel company in Arizona.  Although Kolosso prides himself on the fact that he is a small businessman, working for other small business owners, he also finds time to be a board member at the Washington County Humane Society.

                    Different advertising strategies that Kolosso is using during this campaign include social networking.  Kolosso has links for Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube on his official website, which allows one to see what he is working on, and be updated on the latest news.  Kolosso also has a blog which posts different articles that he finds interesting; however, the blog has not been updated for a few weeks.  In addition, Kolosso and District Five incumbent, Jim Sensenbrenner, held a debate located in Mequon just yesterday.  Kolosso has pictures and video clips of the debate on his Facebook page.

                    After viewing Kolosso in two video clips and reading some comments, he seems to be very respectful of his other candidates.  As far as advertisements such as commercials go, I have not seen anything on television or online.  It seems like Kolosso is mostly trying to use social networking strategies to support his campaign.

            According to OpenSecrets.org, on August 25, 2010, the Kolosso campaign has spent $156,920 with 92% of his money being under the category of “candidate self financing.”

Vote!

Don't forget to vote in the primary elections on Tuesday, September 14th!  Every vote counts!