# Who should I vote for in the WI Republican primary? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 14, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732 "2012-03-14T12:16:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/41 "2012-03-15T17:02:59Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Considering that any reply, unless it came from Barry or Joe directly, would be a gross violation of [the Hatch Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatch_Act_of_1939), you won’t receive any feedback. Uh… what? Obama’s campaign staff are not on the federal payroll, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/42 "2012-03-15T17:11:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Uh… what? Obama’s campaign staff are not on the federal payroll, you know. CHECK YOU QUOTED POST. I do believe he indicated he emailed the White House, not Obama for America. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/43 "2012-03-15T23:59:22Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Thank you. That was bothering me. No, I meant he should vote for Ernest P. Whom. Slogan: “You Should Vote For Whom!” ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/44 "2012-03-16T00:39:15Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > You should stay the hell out of the Republican primary. You’re trying to game the system. Vote in the local Dem primary, or stay home. > [@Oakminster](#): > > Just because something can be done doesn’t make it right, ethical, or honorable. I agree on the 2nd point, narrowly. Personally, I dislike the primary pre-election system. I think it’s a terrible way of vetting candidates. No other nation in the world does this to choose their President, AFAIK. The smoke filled room system is still highly democratic, as voters get to choose in November. Even better would be to set aside the first-past-the-post/winner take all system - a multiparty system would give far more meaningful choices. But that’s a separate matter. By analogy, in the marketplace I judge products: I judge outcomes. I don’t pretend to know which crowd should lead the company, even if it’s a public one. That’s what HR and the Board of Directors do. There’s also the matter that BoyoJim isn’t gaming the system. The Republicans set the rules up. If they didn’t want Dems to vote in their primary they could have done so. The OP: You could vote in the Democratic primary. But that would be wrong. Either Santorum, Paul or Romney would lead a congressional party that is 100% composed of crazies or those afraid of being primaried by crazies. So they must be stopped. Vote for whomever is #2 in the polls, unless Romney is #2. In that scenario, vote for #1. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/45 "2012-03-16T02:00:02Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > You should stay the hell out of the Republican primary. You’re trying to game the system. Vote in the local Dem primary, or stay home. Bullshit. Vote for Santorum with a clear conscience. I’m tired of the Democrats coming to a gun fight with a knife. Fuck the GOP and the horse they rode in on. We, as Democrats, should pull every dirty trick that Carl “I hate democracy” Rove ever thought of. This is war and we damn well need to fight to win. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/46 "2012-03-16T02:12:39Z")
I’m voting for Ke$ha in the presidential primary in Illinois. Kesha isn’t even eligible because of her age, but she’s probably a lot [smarter than the real Republican candidates](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122610692). ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/47 "2012-03-16T02:20:02Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > We, as Democrats, should pull every dirty trick that Carl “I hate democracy” Rove ever thought of. This is war and we damn well need to fight to win. Look, I voted for Santorum in my primary (sorry, **Oakminster** … If only I had known Ke$ha was on the Illinois ballot…) but it’s a strange kind of democracy indeed, which I take you don’t hate given your epithet for Karl Rove, where citizens see themselves as at war with each other. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/48 "2012-03-16T02:47:04Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Look, I voted for Santorum in my primary (sorry, **Oakminster** … If only I had known Ke$ha was on the Illinois ballot…) but it’s a strange kind of democracy indeed, which I take you don’t hate given your epithet for Karl Rove, where citizens see themselves as at war with each other. I agree. It’s sad. That said, they\* started it and they have _no_ shame about using it. It’s time to fight fire with fire while we can still fight. Give them another 20 years and we won’t. \*“They” means the Republican Party apparatus. The Carl Roves et al. I know many individual Republicans who despise what their party has come to condone as acceptable political discourse (and I think Oak falls into that category). Unfortunately, they don’t actually seem to _do_ anything about it. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/49 "2012-03-16T02:52:52Z")
Minor pedantic note, but I think you’re referring to “Karl Rove”. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/50 "2012-03-16T14:00:04Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > CHECK YOU QUOTED POST. > > I do believe he indicated he emailed the White House, not Obama for America. So what? Are you saying that the WH can’t forward the e-mail to the campaign? ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/51 "2012-03-16T14:23:40Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Just because something can be done doesn’t make it right, ethical, or honorable. Rush Limbaugh was wrong with “Operation Chaos”, and the OP would be wrong to do what he proposes. I agree with **Oakminster** on this. It strikes me as a pretty lame justification to do this simply because the other side does it. When my brothers got me in trouble as a kid, that excuse did not work with my mother and it should not work now. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/52 "2012-03-16T14:34:39Z")
> [@DrumBum](#): > > I agree with **Oakminster** on this. It strikes me as a pretty lame justification to do this simply because the other side does it. When my brothers got me in trouble as a kid, that excuse did not work with my mother and it should not work now. Rush Limbaugh’s influence on 2008 was far less than what he thinks it was. When your opposition has shown that it will use any means necessary, you’d be a sucker not to employ the same philosophy. We can lose honorably and let the Republicans run the nation into the ground and turn it into a theocracy, or we can fight fire with fire and contest every inch of ground. I choose the latter- I will not bring a spork to a gunfight. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/53 "2012-03-16T15:29:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > So what? Are you saying that the WH can’t forward the e-mail to the campaign? Yes, that is what I am saying. [Here](http://www.osc.gov/haFederalLessRestrisctionandActivities.htm) is the Office of Special Counsel’s examples of prohibited activities for “less restricted” employees under the Hatch Act. By the by, while I am doing all this citing, perhaps you have something a little more persuasive than your mere hunch that forwarding an email asking for advice as to whom to vote for to a campaign headquarters is not, despite what it looks like on its face, partisan political activity? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/54 "2012-03-16T16:06:06Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Considering that any reply, unless it came from Barry or Joe directly, would be a gross violation of [the Hatch Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatch_Act_of_1939), you won’t receive any feedback. That is an excellent point which I had not considered, and I can’t imagine how you could be wrong about this. So I will send the same email to the campaign headquarters and see if there’s an answer. There hasn’t been any response so far. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/55 "2012-03-16T16:25:37Z")
Rather shocking to me, the Obama campaign website does not publish an email address for questions, though it does publish a phone number and PO box address for questions, both in Chicago. There is some kind of message board that is also part of it, but hell, I’ve already posted the question on a message board. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732/56 "2012-03-16T17:00:39Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Yes, that is what I am saying. [Here](http://www.osc.gov/haFederalLessRestrisctionandActivities.htm) is the Office of Special Counsel’s examples of prohibited activities for “less restricted” employees under the Hatch Act. > > By the by, while I am doing all this citing, perhaps you have something a little more persuasive than your mere hunch that forwarding an email asking for advice as to whom to vote for to a campaign headquarters is not, despite what it looks like on its face, partisan political activity? You want a citation for a question? I’ll take your word for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-should-i-vote-for-in-the-wi-republican-primary/615732.md?page=2)