Milwaukee Election Analysis

The polls have been closed ten whole minutes, and they're giving me nothing!

In the meantime, I'll make predictions:
Mayor: Barrett (but it will be within five points)
County Exec: Walker (cue the Darth Vader music)
Court of Appeals: Schudson (sadly--I agree with everything they said here about Schudson and his opponent, Joan Kessler)

Update 1, 8:30: Early returns--in the 1% range--show Schudson and Walker both routing. But City of Milwaukee returns are not in yet, and we tend to be a more liberal lot.

Update 2, 9:15: The Schudson-Kessler is turning into a barn-burner: 31% in, and it's 52-48. Barrett's up 60-40 with about a third in. Walker is at 59-41 with 36% reporting. More local to me, my county supervisor pick, Richard Nyklewicz, is cruising to a victory, but my choice for my alderperson, Lori Lutzka, is down 59-41 to Orange Sign Man (long story there).

Update 3, 9:50: I'm calling my aldermanic district for Orange Sign Man, Tony Zielinski--it's still 59-41 with nearly 90% in. Sigh. I'll also call my county supervisor district race--with 91% in, Nyklewicz has a 58-42 lead. The mayor's race is proving me wrong about the closeness: Barrett's at 59% with 72% reporting. On the County Executive front, I hate to say it but Walker is also at 59% with more than 70% in. The appeals court race is the only interesting race I'm watching--just 115 votes (out of ~160,000) separates the two, and Kessler's on the winning side right now; yay!

Update 4, 10:30: The press is calling the county executive race for Walker. Well, say goodbye to the county parks, affordable bus rides, mental health services, and an easy ride for Governor Jim Doyle in 2006 . . .

Kessler and Schudson are still neck-and-neck. Schudson is 300 votes up (out of 170,000) with 87% reporting. This one may keep me up all night!

The press is not so quick to call it for Barrett: The lead is getting smaller, currently 57-43 with 81% reporting. Depending on what wards are still out, it may yet get to that 5% I predicted, but I don't think Pratt's got much of a chance.

That leaves me wondering two things: One, what kind of exit polling data are we going to get? In other words, what was turnout, and did votes break down along racial lines? Second, will Pratt jump into the race for Jerry Kleczka's seat?