The suburban shift accelerates, the red WOW wall crumbles, Dane County is a turnout powerhouse, Mandela Barnes got *so close*, a missed opportunity in western Wisconsin and much more.
Thanks for the data-driven deep dive here! Lots to chew on, but I think the 2 biggest stories are the Dems stepping on a rake in the 3rd District, and the shifting sands in the WOW counties.
National Democratic party money almost certainly would have put Barnes over the top. I will never back down from this position and, in conjunction with the "what if" of the 3rd, I'm furious with the national party choosing to ignore winnable Wisconsin and flush their money down the toilet in Florida and to a lesser extent North Carolina, where the losses were likely baked in to the cake long ago. Wikler is damn rock star as far as I'm concerned for nearly pulling off the defeat of Ron. Given even a modest amount more money to fight back against those hideous attack ads on TV, I think Barnes ekes out a win.
All in all, great analysis top to bottom in today's newsletter and thank you for it!
The National Party and it's supported PACs poured a lot of Money into this race. Nobody ever gave up on it. Barnes himself raised oodles and oodles of money. Money is not an all powerful force in politics. They outspent Gov Evers and he won handily.
Two things. First, while money isn't all powerful but the outside spending for Johnson crushed that for Barnes and that, combined with incumbency, put Johnson over the top primarily due to those vile ads that mostly were seen by people who watch broadcast TV, ie older people and especially older outstate people. Second, the national Dems looked at how to allocate resources Wisconsin, Florida, and North Carolina and made a call that was obviously wrong several months ago. Florida is a red state. North Carolina is a pink state. Wisconsin is 50.1/49.9, and changes. Yet they flushed money down the toilet in Florida, and arguably misspent in NC to some degree, while Barnes outside spending got crushed by billionaires.
That's without even talking about WI-03, the mistakes made there by the national party about which this newsletter absolutely nails the situation.
Money isn't everything but it can sure pay for a lotta shit that can help one out!
Thanks for the data-driven deep dive here! Lots to chew on, but I think the 2 biggest stories are the Dems stepping on a rake in the 3rd District, and the shifting sands in the WOW counties.
National Democratic party money almost certainly would have put Barnes over the top. I will never back down from this position and, in conjunction with the "what if" of the 3rd, I'm furious with the national party choosing to ignore winnable Wisconsin and flush their money down the toilet in Florida and to a lesser extent North Carolina, where the losses were likely baked in to the cake long ago. Wikler is damn rock star as far as I'm concerned for nearly pulling off the defeat of Ron. Given even a modest amount more money to fight back against those hideous attack ads on TV, I think Barnes ekes out a win.
All in all, great analysis top to bottom in today's newsletter and thank you for it!
The National Party and it's supported PACs poured a lot of Money into this race. Nobody ever gave up on it. Barnes himself raised oodles and oodles of money. Money is not an all powerful force in politics. They outspent Gov Evers and he won handily.
Two things. First, while money isn't all powerful but the outside spending for Johnson crushed that for Barnes and that, combined with incumbency, put Johnson over the top primarily due to those vile ads that mostly were seen by people who watch broadcast TV, ie older people and especially older outstate people. Second, the national Dems looked at how to allocate resources Wisconsin, Florida, and North Carolina and made a call that was obviously wrong several months ago. Florida is a red state. North Carolina is a pink state. Wisconsin is 50.1/49.9, and changes. Yet they flushed money down the toilet in Florida, and arguably misspent in NC to some degree, while Barnes outside spending got crushed by billionaires.
That's without even talking about WI-03, the mistakes made there by the national party about which this newsletter absolutely nails the situation.
Money isn't everything but it can sure pay for a lotta shit that can help one out!
This is a brilliant summation...thank you!
Well written👍🏾
Fabulous issue and yes, we will keep fighting.