2026 Midterm Elections
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The Heartland Calls For Republicans To Find Their Foundation
The conservative-leaning Chicago Tribune editorial board (a truly worthwhile daily use of time with solid writing and sharp ideas to balance a day’s input of viewpoints) opined today the feckless Republican Party is simply unable to find its spine and slap down Donald Trump. Trump also campaigned heavily on tackling inflation and the cost of… Continue reading
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The Midterm Mistake Machine: Republicans Keep Creating Their Own Problems
The official White House document for the new AI safety agreement contains a prominent typographical error, misspelling Donald Trump’s title as “President of the Unites States” instead of “United States”. As of Wednesday morning, the glaring error remained uncorrected. This is not a scandal or a headline story. The irony, however, is almost too perfect… Continue reading
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Iowa’s Farm Woes Will Echo At The Ballot Box
Tim Russert famously used a handheld whiteboard to map out potential Electoral College outcomes. To emphasize exactly which state would decide the winner in 2000, he scribbled the iconic phrase: “Florida, Florida, Florida”. Since June of this year, without a whiteboard or a television show, I repeated one state to friends and folks who engage… Continue reading
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A Red Menace Going Out, Blue Wave Approaching
Today it was very apparent, after only a few minutes of reading columns and newsletters, just how damaged the Republican Party is as the November midterm elections near. Time magazine ended a column with this stark statement from a GOP operative. A simmering fear is that the trendlines may get even worse in the coming… Continue reading
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Why America Can’t Risk “Another Chance” For Trump and His GOP Congress
JD Vance has been making the rounds asking the country to give the Trump White House and congressional Republicans “another chance.” I cannot fathom the extent of his hutzpah, but there he is on television, pleading with voters for more time to enact GOP plans and plots on the nation. “Another chance” is a tidy… Continue reading
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Minority Leaders Don’t Get To Be Purists, Dianne Hesselbein Is A Leader in Wisconsin
State Senator Dianne Hesselbein represents a district covering West Madison, Middleton, Verona, Waunakee, and villages across northwest Dane County. She’s also the Democratic minority leader and did not face a primary challenger in August. Nathan Kalmoe is running a write-in campaign against her this November. If she prevails at the polls, she will become the… Continue reading
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Three Black Governors in 250 Years, Will Progress Break Open In Midterms?
It may seem odd to say that I was glad when Barack Obama was elected president in November 2008 because he looked like me. I knew someone in my age group (he is one year older than I am) would be in the White House shaping policy. That really mattered to me. Our nation should… Continue reading
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Independent Voters Make Wisconsin’s Governor Primary Into A Late-Night Caffeinated Nail‑Biter
(I posted this column as the flash drives in Milwaukee were being transported back to the central count location before being returned to the county courthouse to have results announced.) Close election nights are democracy at its most caffeinated. (Pardon me for that cheap line.) But after the nailbiter of an uber-close precinct-by-precinct count of… Continue reading
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Pollsters Blew Michigan By Misreading Independents, Wisconsin Might Be Next
The way independent voters align in Wisconsin’s August 11th primary and in the fall’s midterm election will make or break many a candidate. All we had to do this week was look at Michigan’s U.S. Senate primary to witness the heavy influence of the middle-of-the-road voters who refuse to wear a party jersey in a… Continue reading
