Quick transcript of key quotes from Judge Prosser’s press conference in Wisconsin just now:
“A funny thing happened to me on the way to my concession speech. The people of Wisconsin told me to tear it up and go back to work. Thank you Wisconsin.”
[. . .]
“Admittedly, the election was uncomfortably close. My opponent ran a very effective campaign. But now that all 72 counties have completed their canvasses, the result of the election is not in doubt.”
“A public office is a public trust. While I have certainly made misstatements and mistakes along the way, I have never broken the public trust. This proposition was challenged repeatedly and viciously throughout the campaign. My detractors set out to paint a false picture of who I am and what I believe. “
“Powerful forces, not always clearly identified, attempted to turn this election. . . into a referendum on the governor of Wisconsin. . . [As a result] the qualifications, experience, even the identity of my opponent became irrelevant. Fortunately the people of Wisconsin rejected this effort.”
“. . .”Conservative values [are] the way to address and ameliorate our many problems.”
UPDATE: Choking up, and drawing laughs, Prosser closed by saying “I presume this is my last campaign, and that my 15 minutes of celebrity will soon be over. Greta has stopped calling. I never got the invitation to the Royal Wedding. . . I must get back to the demanding work of the court as the people of Wisconsin have authorized me to do.”
He also referred to a three-person post-election legal team as his “Eisenhower”, “Bradley”, and “Marshall” and assured that they would have “every resource” necessary to deal with “any eventuality.” (A Prosser spokesman called a potential recount a “frivolous” and pointed out that the largest margin overturned by a recount was fewer than 500 votes. Prosser’s lead stands at over 7,000).