A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Polls

What a difference a week makes.  Last week, I wrote about how I was torn between Francesca Hong and Mandela Barnes, ultimately giving the edge to Barnes.

Then, today, a week later, Barnes dropped out of the race. The speculation is that the establishment's smear campaign kicked it in high gear in a futile effort to give the Zombie Crowley campaign some traction. I guess when he can't run on his track record, he can only build himself up by tearing everyone else down.

According to every poll I have seen, Hong is starting to pull away from the others in this race. Her lead is sure to grow a lot with Barnes's departure. Given that I was already torn, it was an easy decision to go full on for Hong to be governor.

I agree with her on almost every issue. She is for women's rights, workers' rights, and voters' rights. She not only wants to make things more affordable and improve everyone's quality of life, but she also has a plan on how to do these things.

Maybe most importantly, I know that Hong will not sell us out.  She will serve the people of Wisconsin, and not the big money or big corporations. That in itself is worth our votes. 

I will be gladly and proudly voting for Hong in the primary, and I hope you will join me.

You can learn more about Hong and how to help at her website.

A Tale Of Two Gubernatorial Races

It was the best of gubernatorial races; it was the worst of gubernatorial races.  

The nice thing about this year's gubernatorial race is that it was really easy to see the bad choices. Heck, they even sometimes took themselves out of the race. And now we have a zombie campaign of a guy who can't decide if he's in or out - or even who he really is.  

But it is also a very difficult choice because we are fortunate enough to have not one, but two, great candidates in Mandela Barnes and Francesca Hong.  They are both wonderfully progressive.  They both have very similar platforms, including making the rich finally pay their fair share of taxes; fully funding schools; universal childcare; making healthcare more affordable; and workers' rights.

There are only a few subtle differences between the two, and that is probably due more to semantics than to actual differences.  Hong is stronger on AI data centers, whereas Barnes is more focused on affordability issues and workers' rights.  

Before I go further, let me state this as clearly as I can: if either Hong or Barnes wins the primary, they will have my full support in the general election. I would be happy and eager to vote for either one. In fact, it would have been ideal if one of them ran for Lt. Governor. That would be the dream ticket of a lifetime.

But who to vote for in the primary?  I've thought about this long and hard, going back and forth between the two of them.  

I have finally decided to cast my ballot for Mandela Barnes.

Let me explain why. The only real difference between the two of them is experience. They are both fearless. They both are strong on their positions and can go toe to toe with Tom Trumpfany.

But the thing is, based on what I've seen, I think Hong will be able to stand her ground. However, I know that Barnes can do it.  Barnes has shown that time and again by standing up to Scott Walker and taking on Ron Johnson, coming within a breath of beating RoJo. Even Ben Wikler said that the DNC dropped the ball by not showing up for Barnes.

Furthermore, Barnes has shown he is unafraid of the establishment. He became a state rep by beating Jason Fields, who was known as Robin Vos's favorite Democrat. He also stepped up and ran against then State Senator Lena Taylor, who had sold out her constituents more times than I can count.  And he's had to deal with attacks from the Democratic establishment during this election cycle, even before he formally announced his campaign.

So, while I am voting for Mandela Barnes in the primary, I am ready to support either of these wonderful people in the general.

You can visit Hong's website here.

You can visit Barnes' website here.

PS: Both candidates are to be commended for running clean campaigns and not sniping at each other, which is more than can be said for the also-rans.

Who Are You Going To Believe - Right Wing Pundits Or Your Lying Eyes?

Tom Tiffany shoveling the BS

Last week, Jessie Opoien of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Tom Tiffany's campaign advisors had told him not to underestimate Francesca Hong: 

The memo compares Hong to other potential Democratic candidates Tiffany could face in the Nov. 3 general election, viewing her as someone whose nomination "virtually guarantees elevated Democratic enthusiasm and turnout in Dane County and the Milwaukee media market, where statewide races are decided."

In contrast, the memo expects "more moderate and establishment Democratic alternatives would likely produce lower base motivation and depressed turnout."

"Unlike more moderate or establishment Democrats, Hong energizes the progressive base in a way that could drive record Democratic turnout precisely when midterms historically favor the party out of power," the consultants wrote. "Her issues resonate broadly with working- and middle-class voters and have some crossover with our populist positions. Hong could bring some turnout advantages with positions that reach outside Democrats' core base."

All of which jives with what we have seen in Wisconsin and nationally in elections.  There has been a major - as in double digits - shift to the left.  After the SCOWIS election last month, it showed that even the counties that Justice-Elect Chris Taylor lost still shifted to the left.  

Nationally, the trend has been the same. Furthermore, often the winner is the person conventional wisdom said was too radical left to win, such as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Apparently, some people have missed these facts.

Right-wing hack James Widgerson jumped on the article, mocking it and trying to claim that the memo was a clever ruse by the Tiffany campaign to trick Opoien, her editors, and thousands of readers into voting for Hong.  

Bruce Murphy, editor of Urban Milwaukee, doubled down on the dumb:

In short, Opoien and the JS got snookered, no doubt promised exclusive access to this disinformation intended to convince Democratic voters, whose number one concern is choosing a candidate with the best chance of defeating Tiffany, that Hong was the one causing sleepless nights for Republicans. The paper was so proud of its scoop that it did two stories on this, the first suggesting Hong’s campaign was on the rise, with the secret GOP memo as a key exhibit, and the second entitled “What a leaked GOP memo says about the candidacy of Francesca Hong.”

If the memo was a trick from Tiffany's campaign, it backfired badly.

Keep in mind, Tiffany is the GOP's fourth-string candidate. In early 2025, WISGOP was desperately trying to recruit its favorite carpetbaggers, Tim Michels and Eric Hovde, to return to Wisconsin to run.  They were so persistent that Hovde felt it necessary to make a video telling them he wasn't running. Things were too nice in Laguna Beach. 

In the 2025 Republican state convention, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann beat Tiffany in a straw poll.  However, to be fair, Tiffany was still waiting for Fearless Leader Trump to give him permission to run.  Schoemann didn't drop out of the race until Trump endorsed Tiffany.  

The fact that Tiffany has squarely hitched his campaign to Trump, and Trump is polling worse than any president in history - See, he's number one at something! - It's no wonder that the Republicans are experiencing a severe enthusiasm gap. 

On the other hand, Hong's supporters are not showing any lack of enthusiasm whatsoever. The Tiffany memo - real or fake - is only going to add fuel to Hong's fire, which is something Tiffany doesn't need, but so richly deserves.