Not Just Another Weekend Up North

As most of my readers know, I have a trailer up in central Wisconsin where I like to go to unwind and recharge my batteries, so to speak.

The past two trips up have proven to be anything but relaxing, unfortunately.

Last month, I had to contend with a busted water pump, a septic tank inspection and a broken rib to name just a few of the "highlights" of that trip.

This past weekend, while neither as costly or as painful, also proved to be interesting.

As I was mowing the lawn (cutting the hay would be a more accurate term), I saw some neighbors who said that there was a rally that evening for Fred Clark.  They asked me to go along and I said sure.  They told me that Steve Kagen and "some woman" would also be there to speak.

When we arrived, the first person I saw was the "some woman," who turned out to be Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.  Since people were first arriving, I had a chance to chat with her for a few minutes.  I was quite impressed with her vision and her ability to explain it so there was no enigma or falseness, unlike Walker and his delusional belief that people will just get up one day and decide to drink the Kool-Aid of his economically suicidal budget.

Tammy did tell me that she has her organization ready to run a state wide campaign for US Senate to fill the retiring Herb Kohl's seat, but was also waiting to see what Russ Feingold might do.  I told her to stay in it regardless and that I thought she would do better than she might realize.

Fred Clark and Tammy Baldwin having a chat

 After doing some people watching and chatting with some of Clark's campaign staff, I wandered around the hall.  They had a phone banking volunteer schedule for all the way up to the August 9 recall election which was much fuller than I would have anticipated for a predominately Republican county.  It was nearly full!

When Fred Clark arrived, the entire hall broke out in ovation and they cheered him like a rock star coming on stage.

Steve Kagen getting the crowd fired up.

When the rally started, Steve Kagen started to get the crowd going by pointing out that Dems can win
in Waupaca County, as he had done.

Tammy Baldwin spoke next and told us how people in Washington were expressing sympathy for what the citizens in Wisconsin were going through and pointing out that the nation's eyes were upon us.  If we fail, they fear that the rest of the country could become a collection of corporate run states.

Fred then spoke and told the crowd how much he appreciated their support and assured us that as a farmer, a forester and a businessman, he does know how things work and what is important to the people in the area.  He added that those things held dear to the people did not include taking away rights or selling out to special interests.

On a side note, while I know the adage of how yard signs don't vote, there was a definite disparity in the number of Clark signs over those of his opponent, Luther Olson.   Where I saw scores of Clark signs, homemade and printed, small and large, I only saw four Olson signs. Three small ones in two yards and mid-sized one in an empty field, mostly obscured by the tall grass.

Between the signs, the crowd and the volunteer list, it is easy to see that there is an major enthusiasm gap going on up there. And it's quite understandably so.  Olson is unpopular with the Democrats and Independents for going along with what he even described as radical plan, taking people's rights, slashing funding to the schools and threatening the local economy by taking so much money out of circulation and into the hands of a few already super rich folks.  He is also in trouble with many of the Republicans because he was a staunch advocate for ethanol, seeing on how is family benefited a great deal from the higher cost of corn.

On the TV, Wisconsin Club for (Koch's bank account's) Growth is running a localized version of the ad they are running against Sandy Pasch and presumably all the other Democrats. Meanwhile, WeAreWisconsinPAC is running this hard hitting ad:



There are debates scheduled for the next three evenings in a row. If Saturday was any indication, I'd expect Clark to win those handily, like he should on August 9.