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Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., John K., Michael D., and Geoff Carter
Plugged-in bots may have noticed that there’s been something of a seismic event in the Democratic primary race for Wisconsin Governor.
Yeah, David Crowley and Missy Hughes withdrew. Yawn.
The real news is the revelation that Sarah Rodriguez’s campaign, unbeknownst to the candidate, is basically out of money. The campaign manager, upon whom the candidate seems to have exclusively depended, turns out to be incompetent and a liar. When the campaign tried to order a $1M ad buy, the check bounced. Turns out that the manager has been double counting revenue and undercounting expenditures. Instead of $1.5M in the bank, they’ve got $200,000.
Other Dem candidates have been quick to pounce. Their claim, and it’s hard to argue with it, is that this is a disqualifying failure of judgment. The Democratic rivals are going to hammer it. And should Rodriguez somehow win the primary, Nazi Tom Tiffany will be sure to make it his number one issue.
Assuming Rodriguez bites the dust, that leaves Tom Brennan, Kelda Roys, Mandela Barnes, and Mandami acolyte Francesca Hong. None of these candidates have all that impressive of a record. Hong is milking the socialistic fervor of the far left.
They often talk about voting for the candidate who “looks like you”. Well, for me, that’s boring Brennan. I think that Tiffany would murder Hong or Barnes.
Thoughts on the race?
-MM
I’m not particularly hopeful about the chances of any of the democrats in the running now, nor am I proud of my stance on this, because I’m for whoever can defeat the probable republican nominee- that frickin weirdo, Tom Tiffany.
Ugh, if he wins, Wisconsin would have to suffer with a half-baked Trump clone as Governor. Looks like Rodriguez is toast, Hong’s socialist stance is intriguing, but it will be a tough sell outside of Madison and Riverwest. Barnes might have a chance. Idk.
DC
Same thoughts as MM. I’m woefully uninformed. Here’s my extent, from friends speak:
- Wisco won’t vote for a young blonde from central Wisconsin (Roys)
- Hong: too AOC for Wisco.
- Barnes: too non-Caucasian for racist Wisco. He also lost to RoJo…so I’m sure there’s plenty of “not that guy again”.
- Brennan: Just one data point. One set of friends heard him speak in person and put his sign in their yard. Joel, btw not Tom…was Tom a local weatherman…Reds anchor? Thom Brennaman)
- So I’ll vote for Joel.
- Biden won Wisco, Hillary, K and Barnes all lost.
Sidenote: Aka Russia, Wisco allows unlimited terms for gov. Might Tony have a change of heart after Sarah’s blunder?
-d.
Ok. Good point about Barnes and his losing streak. I’ll take a closer look at that weatherman guy – I mean his brother, also known as what’s-his-face.
-DC
Ba-ding, Rodriguez has dropped out.
I am NOT for giving Mandela another chance. Mandela vs Tiffany is a replay of Mandela vs RoJo.
Wisconsin ain’t Brooklyn, as Dave points out, so Hong is too far out there. Interestingly, there was a “leak” from the Tiffany campaign a couple months ago, stating how scared they were of the AOC Mandami raw energy of Hong. My older brother pointed out that this was probably a stunt. The bros at Tiffany HQ trying to boost who they REALLY thought was their weakest opponent.
And Kelda Roys has not broken through at all.
So maybe it comes down to the “safe white guy”. Ya know, who do we really trust on the nightly news? The kindly weather guy! So it could work.
-MM
The Wisconsin Democratic primary is upon us. Will Sconnie join the socialist Democrat crowd in the left lane or stick to the middle of the road?
It’s a fairly stark choice on paper, but perhaps the policy outcomes in 4 years won’t really be that different. Paraphrasing Bono, politics is the art of the possible, not the impossible.
I like many of Hong’s ideas and proposals. They seem like the logical way forward for our state. I wish she would focus more on “sewer socialist” ideas and leave the wacky (in my view) ideas like defunding the police and banning Thanksgiving out of the conversation. As a state and country we need to move forward with progressive ideas that make a difference for the other 80% of us.
Of course it’s a big gamble with independent voters and the Tiffany crowd shouting COMMUNIST! (What a cop out).
It would be easier to vote for Crowley in the short term and possibly in the general election. Of course, dems need to win the governorship first and foremost. It will be an interesting ride.
Talk amongst yourselves.
BTW, I thought I would share this chat GPT assisted rendering of how I feel when I’m ranting about Trump.
-JK
BTW, I thought I would share this chat GPT assisted rendering of how I feel when I’m ranting about Trump.
Generated with AI Chat GPT 2026 JK as Aqualung
-JK
I’ve decided it is like storming the castle. We have to look at this decades from now and say, yeah, Hong didn’t win, but she bent the hinges for so and so to break through in 2030.
But maybe the deplorables will be overconfident—given Tiffany’s gender mutilation Wong attack ads and/or are too busy installing their rolling coals kits and don’t vote.
All the world’s press seems to think the Dem’s are having a moment—Mamdani the lighting rod…now El-Sayed in Michigan. I’m not sold. NY is NY and the other so-called “moments” have mostly been dem vs dem bake-offs. I’d love to see some serious change (save for Thanksgiving—the Packer-Lion game is sacred), but 2022 voting realities–Wisco turning red and Tammy just sneaking by—leave me highly dubious of a socialist tsunami.
I believe there is mega pent-up demand to lash out, get even. (That Aqualung cover captures it). This is fueling the hard left turn. Another example. Here in Madison we had a killing by a cop. I haven’t kept up with it, only read that the tasers were ineffective and the dude not only pulled a knife, but gashed a cop. He was shot dead. Is this basis for an encampment? Willy St was shut down for more than a week. People want a reason to scream. Often these uprisings are fueled by nefarious sources (looters, nihilists, obfuscators, or worse). But here in Madison, my sense is it was not. Rather, pent-up rage against the machine. And a pretty decent party. Everyone was using profanity.
-d.
Hey Bots,
Four days and counting. To me, this race is boiling down to the Democratic machine—money, PACs, institutional self-protections (in short, the status quo)—to ideas and policies that are resonating with the electorate. We were lucky enough to come up in a time when tuition, health care, and housing were affordable and our government was not run by a group of undereducated, sociopathic, misogynistic, and racist pirates. That’s all the younger segment of our electorate wants—what we had.
I think John is right, that we can’t preserve the status quo because we’re afraid of a new voice not being strong enough to prevail over the Republican machine. And the Democratic Socialists (why can’t they ever get branding right?) are doing well enough across the country to garner consideration as a genuine populist movement. Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan beat out the Democratic chosen one Haley Stevens. She had more money, more endorsements, and more recognition, yet he won. And he was not the only one. It seems that more money does not necessarily mean more votes anymore (at least things seem to be leaning that way). Trump’s attempts to smear leftists with the “communist” label is almost laughable. Who, besides the more elderly boomers among us, will equate that term with the red evils lurking to our east. That’s ancient history to most Americans. (I remember a Gen X woman interviewed about why she voted for Trump. After the reporter asked her why January 6th made a difference, she looked up and asked, “What happened January 6th?”)
I’m going with Hong. It’ll be a close race, but I think we need to stop playing “prevent defense” and go on the offensive. Will Crowley work for significant change? Will he overhaul law enforcement or health care? Maybe a tweak here or there. If we want significant change, we need to try something new. Besides, I like it when Hong actually answers questions instead of dancing around them. That in itself is refreshing.
G
Screeching tire sounds…
Go Crowley! Changed my mind at the last minute…shame on me for being so uninformed. Finally listened to both candidates interviewed (ignoring Brennan and Kelda for practicality reasons) and decided Crowley was more legit candidate. I was leaning toward Hong, under the “gotta keep stormin the castle” logic. Even if she loses this year, someone else will bust through…in some other election…sometime soon. The hinges weaken and we break down barriers, glass ceilings, …etc… I was at peace with that—despite the huge unelectability vs Tiffany concerns, but then I heard her speak and quickly came over to Crowley. I don’t dislike her, love the fact she is getting folks excited about voting, but the interview I saw, with CNN—friendly, ‘pointed’ questions, where she in effect, practiced her 180s on the statements she regrets: Thanksgiving, defunding the police… which Tiffany will (would’ve) scorched earth her on. She was “ok”, but it felt like a nightmare if she made it through to the next phase.
Whereas, Crowley has experience, is sharp, seems to joke a lot (a concern), but maybe that will make him likeable to the semi-racist voters out there, yet still grab the large demographic piece for which Francesca deserves credit.
So much for storming the castle.
Tight race: phew
Prediction markets immediately jacked Dems chances from 30 percentile to 70 percentile. I’m told that a fair amount of people in Vilas County don’t like TT.
-d.
Holy shit. Holy shit. What the hell happened? What is the matter with these pollsters? I’m losing faith in math and statistics.
Anyway, I think we’re okay. Crowley’s a decent candidate and I do think there is a lot of policy agreement–for the most part–between democrats. I don’t know if any of you read Francesca Hong’s statement on social media:
“The last 11 months have been one of the greatest joys of my life. Traveling the state, meeting people in churches and dive bars and bike races and dance parties and in their homes, and hearing about what matters most to them informed every decision we made on the trail. It will continue to inform the work we do— and ask our supporters to do— moving forward.
This campaign was not about getting one person into office. It is about building a movement for permanent affordability and a government that puts working people first. Our movement is strong, and the work isn’t done. I am overwhelmingly proud of our team and the work they have done to achieve that goal.
Congratulations to David Crowley and his team. I fully support him and look forward to working with him to defeat Congressman Tiffany in November.”
–Francesca Hong: https://www.facebook.com/FrancescaHongWI
This could be the best of both worlds. Maybe there is hope.
–G
“Holy Shit, what just happened?”. What a colossal miss by the pollsters. They also missed the MN Senate Dem primary by about 20% points. These pollsters might want to look into different lines of work.
MO
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