September 2, 2024

A big Wall Street Journal article about the Tammy Baldwin/Eric Hovde race for the U.S. Senate seat in Wisconsin.

I'm reading "Democrat Woos Dairy Farmers to Keep Crucial Senate Seat/Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin hits country roads and agricultural fairs, seeking to win over rural Trump supporters once more." 
Baldwin’s campaign for a third term against the wealthy banker Eric Hovde, who says the Democrat is an out-of-touch career politician, has sent her down country roads in sparsely populated counties that cut through farmland and curve around lakes....

Baldwin has to win for Democrats to have a chance of hanging on to the Senate, where the party clings to a 51-49 majority and faces a difficult map this fall. They have already thrown in the towel regarding West Virginia....

The article doesn't have as much dairy cow detail as I was hoping to see, but there is this: 

At a dairy farm outside Merrill, Wis., a small town in a deeply red region that Baldwin lost in 2018, a farmer, Hans Breitenmoser, 55, gave Baldwin a tour that led them through a cavernous barn past cows that poked their heads through metal fencing and bales of hay to watch. As Breitenmoser, a registered Democrat, paused to explain how megafarming operations put pressure on smaller ones, Baldwin let a calf nibble on her fist....

58 comments:

Kevin said...

As Breitenmoser, a registered Democrat

This is a "rural Trump supporter" she needs to win over? I can see why she's in trouble.

Meade said...

Her blue fist

Kevin said...

They have already thrown in the towel regarding West Virginia....

Already? They never had a chance.

Wince said...

Hovde, gotta ditch the porn stash, dude.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Woo! Wisconsin Dems must be in sad shape if they're having to go out into the hinterlands.

Mark said...

It's comically bad.

Bob Boyd said...

Her iron fist

Mark said...

Tammy has always done this, it's how she got elected to the Senate in the first place. She won the same day Walker beat his really election.

Leland said...

Down country road? Oh my! Is that something scary in Wisconsin? People do that in Texas just to enjoy the day.

walter said...

Back Bench Baldwin's election times moo mugging.

walter said...

(every election)

Ann Althouse said...

There's this idea that Dems need to just pick up a small percentage of the votes in the rural counties to get the margin of victory. So it's okay not to get most of them. Just get a few and it will make all the difference. Tammy is letting a cow chew on her fist. That could get the one vote needed to win.

Note: Tammy was a student in one of my classes.

Bob Boyd said...

In a moment metaphoric of her reputation with rural voters, Baldwin clearly enjoyed letting a hungry calf try to nurse on her fist, which, to be fair to the hungry calf, is indeed disturbingly reminiscent of an udder swollen with milk.

who-knew said...

Althouse said "The article doesn't have as much dairy cow detail as I was hoping to see". Sadly, they never do. That's why I follow my cousin's farm on facebook for the regular calf reports.

Dave Begley said...

What has Tammy Baldwin ever done for the people of Wisconsin other than being a reliable Dem vote?

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Daily Wire says Tammy Baldwin pushed for online-censorship. Not exactly Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington.

"The film is about a naive, newly appointed United States senator who fights against government corruption, and was written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story "The Gentleman from Montana". The film was controversial when it was first released, but successful at the box office, and it made [James] Stewart a major star."

who-knew said...

nothing

ga6 said...

Does the article name the cow? I would like to check after the election if it voted, seeing it is a member of a Democratic household.

MadTownGuy said...

She's trying Russ Feingold's populist approach on for size. Probably didn't mention Russ' cow gas study. And yes, I remember the blue fist posters.

Dave Begley said...

Did you peg her as a future US Senator? Did you ever call on her in class? “Ms. Baldwin, Tell us about Marbury v. Madison.”

Wince said...

Note: Tammy was a student in one of my classes.

She looks Tim Walz old in those WSJ pictures compared to 2013.

MadTownGuy said...

I wonder how the "milk price gouging' will fly with dairy farmers.

Wince said...

Baldwin let a calf nibble on her fist.

Always presenting herself as a "moderate," she charted a middle path between a teat and a cud.

JAORE said...

Did she walk through the pasture? If so was she looking up, forward or down?

Iman said...

Meh.

Curious George said...

"What has Tammy Baldwin ever done for the people of Wisconsin other than being a reliable Dem vote?"

Nothing. She does what she is told to do. Funny her commercial talk about how big she is on border security and fighting fentanyl. The dems know how big a weakness this is, and it's no difference for Baldwin. Hence the BS commercial. The funny part is they have some retired sheriff supporter where a long sleeve navy shirt with a yell fake "sheriff" badge like a get would get with a toy police set.

Joe Smith said...

Isn't Baldwin a lesbo? Doesn't that make her a lock in WI?

Temujin said...

This is how mad cow disease is spread.

Iman said...

The woman is udderly ridiculous.

Iman said...

He should lose it, and Baldwin should lose the sour, Basset Hound, beaten-with-an-ugly stick look, as well.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

I see why she’s worried. Hovde is the first Republican in a decade that has been able to match resources with a Dem. Unfortunately, a Trump loss in Wisconsin due to his near nonexistent campaign will doom Hovde.

Lawnerd said...

Looking forward to doing my part and voting against her.

JIM said...

Democrats stopped playing fair in 2000. Ballots in car trunks. Voter registration shenanigans. Lawfare. Social media shadow banning and (government ordered) censorship. Democrat media smear campaigns. Ballot harvesting.
You are living in a fairy tale if you think Democrats will suddenly consider election integrity as something sacred.

Mark said...

It's not farmers who are profiting off Kroeger's price gouging and I bet they are questioning whether they are getting a fair price for the milk their herd produces.

Mark said...

I doubt he is getting much support from the WI GOP, given his campaign doesn't seem to be on the same page as them.

I got 3 texts reminding me to vote in the Primary, and not a one also mentioned the WI GOP sponsored Constitutional Amendments also on the ballot that day. Horde might have won his primary, but the Amendments lost.

Big Mike said...

Manchin is the only Democrat who stood a chance in his state and then his own party stabbed him in the back. They had to have written off West Virginia years ago.

MadTownGuy said...

Did Kroger gouge consumers on the price of eggs and milk?

"Grocery giant says numbers were “cherry-picked” to create a false narrative. Timothy Inklebarger | Aug 30, 2024"
And before you lob an ad hominem, bring facts and not unsupported assertions and insults. Your Alinsky mind games don't play.

MadisonMan said...

One of my best friends of childhood's Mom was from Merrill WI. Her Mom was a Posey. I wonder if her cousins are still up there?
I agree that the Republican Party in WI is pretty uncoordinated with respect to Hovde. Still, he's not the Incumbent, which is how I usually decide my vote.

Rabel said...

"Unfortunately, a Trump loss in Wisconsin due to his near nonexistent campaign will doom Hovde."

He's held at least four rallies in Wisconsin this year, was at a town hall in La Crosse four days ago and has a rally scheduled for Mosinee this Saturday.

Possibly you've been misled by your news and information sources.

Michael K said...

Lefty Mark is all in with the Harris price fixing plan. No surprise.

Original Mike said...

Her "tough on fentanyl" ads are infuriating. How do you stop fentanyl crossing the border but let people stream through?

Maynard said...

Hey Mark,

Do you want the government to control interactions between the producers, the middlemen and the sellers?

GatorNavy said...

Tammy Baldwin absolutely loathes going up ‘Nort’ and grubbing for votes. Once she has won and she will, because there is no shortage of Igna’s in Wisconsin, she will never set foot outside of Madison or on rare occasions, Milwaukee. She has become the most useful of idiots. A senator who does what the party wants, when it wants and how it wants.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Tester appears to be clearly losing Montana, too. Which means unless the Dems find some magic GOP seat to flip (and they won't, without massive fraud), the Senate is already "flipped"

Of course, leaving Murkowski with the ice breaking vote is a bad plan, so winning WI would be a nice cushion for the Trump Vance Admin

traditionalguy said...

Who knows how Wisconsin will vote? Hopefully they have left the insane Progressive Bubble that takes pride in being Ultra Super Liberal.

boatbuilder said...

I'm thinking that the shelf-stockers and the checkout clerks and the meat and deli people who are working hard and hoping for an hourly wage increase don't think that Kroger charging market price for eggs and milk is "price gouging."
If you don't like the price, go to another store.
Whole Foods consistently prices everything higher than the competitors. Are they "price gouging?" Or are they using a pricing and marketing strategy that allows them to provide a huge selection and an "upscale" shopping experience?
Who cares? Let the market work.

boatbuilder said...

And every one of those cows has already voted "D" anyway, so it's just providing cover.

Kakistocracy said...

Tammy Baldwin is affable, well-informed, and hard-working. She takes common sense positions on complex issues and doesn’t compromise her values. At the same time, she doesn’t confront people unnecessarily. I wish more politicians were like her.

Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan also ran on local issues as in "Fix the damn roads!" Useful slogan for Dems to remember: if it ain't practical it ain't electable.

Baldwin and Whitmer are beacons of success. They need to be emulated.

TosaGuy said...

Hovde has run a poor campaign and has no momentum. Wisconsin loves their backbench Dems who do not get in the news for anything and then be nice and neighborly every six years.

walter said...

"Hey look! I love cows!"

walter said...

Another weed inspired post by Rich that later may curiously be deleted.

TosaGuy said...

The dairy farmer is the subject of many articles found on google. He seems to be the go to when the Dems need a farmer. He has talked with a number of politicians on both sides overtheyewrs but Baldwin’s name never showed up until now.

traditionalguy said...

Tom who?that goes with Tammy who. I have never heard of her except at election season.

Tina Trent said...

Why would you put your fist in a strange cow's mouth? Give it a carrot. Maybe. Don't give them a taste for human flesh. They're really big. If they ever figure out how easy it would be to kill us, the game's up.

I don't trust them.

Rusty said...

Mark. Tell me how price controls work to help the consumer.

Rusty said...

It makes her a lock in Madison. West Allis? Not so much.

Rusty said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JAORE said...

"Baldwin let a calf nibble on her fist....".

There's the D party in a nutshell. Promise them mother's milk. Give them bare knuckles.