Elections
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Haley Stevens Chose Sabotage In Michigan
Politics actually got darker and more toxic on Sunday. Many of us felt that was not even possible. Politics has always been a seriously rough-and-tumble business, filled with bruised egos, broken alliances, and hard feelings that sometimes linger long after Election Day. But sabotage? When I read about the Democratic primary loser in the Michigan… Continue reading
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Elections Are Not A Pause Button For UW Regents
Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson’s call to halt the search for the next Universities of Wisconsin president until a new governor and Legislature take office is not merely misguided. It reflects a troubling notion that government should stop working whenever election winds blow. Thompson and former UW system administrator James Langdon asked the Regents to… Continue reading
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David Crowley “Hasn’t Threatened Our Democracy” And The Civics Test For Wisconsin Voters
The Wisconsin State Journal‘s endorsement of David Crowley for governor ended with this line. We’re recommending Crowley for governor because he’s run a much bigger ship, shows more independence and hasn’t threatened our democracy. That last phrase is most remarkable, because the Board even had to evaluate it and then write it. It makes us… Continue reading
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Questions Deserving More Attention In Wisconsin As Midterm Election Draws Near
If you are like me, you have given up watching live television programming now populated with campaign ads that are simply awful. I simply will not watch the wretched campaign ads that make me wonder who they’re trying to sway. We record everything on television, and the remote control becomes an essential part of the… 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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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
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Isaia Ben-Ami Is Truly Prepared To Start Work On Day One In State Assembly
There’s a particular kind of state legislative candidate who strikes my fancy. Someone who is serious about policymaking. Someone who knows the inside ropes and pulleys that make the machinery of the statehouse work. It takes more than a desire to be elected as a state representative. To be effective, one needs a certain background… Continue reading
