Split over union law reaches Wis. court race

By: Associated Press//April 6, 2011//

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By Todd Richmond
Associated Press

Madison, WI (AP) — A little-known prosecutor who tapped voter unrest in a race to unseat a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice has taken a slight lead as late election returns trickle in.

JoAnne Kloppenburg leads Justice David Prosser on Wednesday morning by just 369 votes of the nearly 1.5 million cast. Ninety-nine percent of precincts have reported results.

The election that turned into a referendum on Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s polarizing proposal restricting union rights remains too close to call.

Turnout shattered predictions, fueled largely by the efforts to make the election more about Walker and the union fight than the officially nonpartisan Supreme Court race itself.

Kloppenburg’s supporters worked to make the election about Walker’s anti-union law whose passage is widely expected to be decided by the state Supreme Court.

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