Showing posts with label David Crowley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Crowley. Show all posts

September 23, 2026

The racial inequity of beer gardens.


I asked Grok to fact check:

August 18, 2026

Comedian strategies.

Link.

I want to know more. Was this a prank of a sort that some people will admire and think of as what the supposedly legitimate polling business deserves?

ADDED: What else did Median Strategies do? My first thought was Spencer Pratt.

August 12, 2026

"For now, we polka."


I live in Wisconsin and I feel like I'm paying attention, but I had to ask Grok about the significance of the polka. Answer:

The race was close, but Francesca Hong has conceded and the risk of a democratic socialist Governor for Wisconsin is over.

At least this time around.

Here's the NYT report (gift link):
My questions: 

• What proportion of the votes for Hong were supporters of the Republican candidate Tom Tiffany — voters who thought Hong would be a weak opponent for him? It was an open primary, and I saw some open encouragement of this behavior. Tiffany obviously had his nomination sewn up.  You can see that David Crowley only won by about 3,000 votes. How much larger would his margin of victory have been without those insincere strategic votes for Hong?

• Why did Hong concede so quickly, with such a narrow margin? Why not wait at least until all the votes are in? Why not ask for a recount? She's entitled to a recount if the margin is 1% or less, but it's only paid for by the state if it's less than 0.25%. To drag out the process after the primary would help Tiffany. That's good reason not to indulge in a recount, but why not wait until all 100% of the votes are counted? She conceded when it was less than 95%.

• Why were the polls so bad?! The final Marquette poll, from July 22–27, released July 29, had Hong at 38% and Crowley at 7%. There was also another candidate at 16% (Barnes), but he dropped out. Still, giving all the Barnes votes to Crowley would only put Crowley at 23%. That 38% for Hong looked awfully strong. But I wouldn't assume the polls got it wrong. The polls inspired a lot of people to attack Hong, making her look unusually foolish and driving a lot of Democrats into voting for what is practical and strategic and not for the radical who excited them so much.

• Speaking of exciting radicals in Wisconsin, these votes were falling into place as a highly visible and emotional street protest was escalating in Madison after the death of Corey Ruiz. Though Ruiz had apparently attacked the police with a knife, Hong quickly denounced his killing as "a state-sanctioned… execution." Those protests went on for 2 weeks, mostly during the period when there were no new polls. How much did those impassioned protests turn Wisconsin voters against Hong?

***

As for me, I was going to sit this one out, but in the end I did go over to the Congregational Church and cast a vote.

August 4, 2026

Governor Evers doesn't want to spend any time on "that bullshit that others are talking about."

You can ask him 100 times, and he's "going to give you the same damn answer: The issue is around getting things done."


I'm afraid "getting things done" is awfully generic. Francesca Hong is the frontrunner. You can't just refuse to talk about her. I'm not even sure what he's calling "bullshit." Is it Hong's issues or is it what her antagonists are saying about her? I don't see how refusing to engage and asserting that your candidate will "get things done" can turn things around. I'm here in Wisconsin, planning to vote in the primary, and monitoring the news every day, and David Crowley has made no impression on me. Personally, I'm a sucker for blandness and normality and moderation, but I understand the appeal of a candidate like Hong who stands for something and offers to shake everything up.

ADDED: I published this post and clicked on my "David Crowley" link and realize "that bullshit that others are talking about" may refer to the dirt (McGirk) about Crowley. Crowley had made an impression on me, 2 weeks ago, but the impression had worn off. Evers cleverly kept me from remembering it. I'll give him that.

July 24, 2026

"You want voters to believe you posted to this account but all of the bad things came from someone else, including a friend who is dead?"


Background: "Controversial old social media account linked to Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley/Crowley's campaign confirmed to NBC News that he registered the account but denied authoring any of the controversial posts, saying it was operated by 10 to 12 others to promote a bar and social club" (WTMJ Milwaukee).