As of 11:15 p.m., with about 74% of the votes counted, Wisconsin Governor Scott was ahead of Scott Barrett by roughly a 56-44 margin. Late-arriving votes from Democrat-heavy areas of Milwaukee and Dane Counties seemed likely to narrow the margin to perhaps 10 points. (UPDATE: Because heavier margins of support for Barrett in those two counties, the final margin was 6.9%, roughly the same as Barack Obama's 7.4% margin in 2008, which was never labeled a "survival" or "narrow" or anything similar.)
The headlines currently at CNN (HT to a NewsBusters tipster) and the Associated Press both act as if Walker squeaked by. Pics follow the jump.
First, CNN:
Now, AP, featuring sore loser Scott Bauer:
As usual, and as noted earlier today, Bauer persists with the "eliminated union rights for most public workers" falsehood.
Readers can rest assured that had Barrett won by even a single vote, the press would have considered it something like a "crushing mandate."
In another example of media accuracy, CNN's home-page headline for tonight's NBA playoff game reads: "Live: Pivotal Game 3 for Celtics, Heat." For those who don't follow sports much, it's really Game 5.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
