Wauwatosa voters agree on Obama

Wauwatosa residents followed the state and the nation and favored Barack Obama for president by more than two percentage points, 50.6 percent to Mitt Romney's 48.2 percent, a margin close to the total vote across the United States.

Obama won 15,220 Wauwatosa votes, just 709 more than Romney.

Results remain unofficial until certified by a board of canvassers, which met after press deadline.

Democrat Tammy Baldwin won the Senate seat to be left vacant by Herb Kohl, drawing 51 percent of the statewide vote, compared to former Gov. Tommy Thompson's 46 percent. But in Wauwatosa, Baldwin finished second by 72 votes out of almost 30,000 cast.

U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner retained his seat in a landslide throughout his district with 68 percent of the vote. Tosans, though, gave him 55 percent of almost 27,000 votes cast. Democratic challenger Dave Heaster won 45 percent of city votes.

Democrat State Sen. Lena Taylor, whose 4th District includes a piece of northern Wauwatosa, easily won re-election with 87 percent of more than 75,000 votes cast in the district, beating Independent Dave King. In Wauwatosa, she prevailed with 586 votes to King's 388.

Republican Dale Kooyenga won re-election in the 14th Assembly District with 61 percent of the vote, but in the city, Democratic challenger Chris Rockwood beat Kooyenga by nearly 400 votes out of more than 15,000 cast. The 14th Assembly District encompasses the western half of Wauwatosa.

On the east side of the city, Republican Rob Hutton won the Assembly District 13 seat being vacated by Dave Cullen, beating Democrat John Pokrandt with 61 percent of the vote. In Wauwatosa, Pokrandt fared better, losing to Hutton by just more than 500 votes out of about 11,000 cast.

Turnout in Wauwatosa was strong, with 88.63 percent of registered voters showing up at the polls. That beat the last presidential election's turnout by two percentage points, Deputy City Clerk Susan Van Hoven said. Total ballots cast numbered 30,182, with about 9,100 of those absentee ballots, more than 2,000 more than in the 2008 presidential election.

Van Hoven said the absentee ballots, which are sealed in envelopes and require individual entry, added hours of labor. She said that last week absentee ballot handling went on until as late as 8 p.m. every night, and, on Friday, until 9 p.m. Clerk employees worked all day Saturday as well, she said.

Van Hoven said the election kept the office busy until 1 a.m Wednesday.