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.

NBC’s Steve Kornacki at a loss for words.

NBC’s Steve Kornacki reacts to the USB drives that were missing election data in Wisconsin.

“Are you serious? They have to do… God… Okay…” pic.twitter.com/Byj6KQJBX9

— Brandon Doggett (@brandondoggett) August 12, 2026

"For now, we polka."

Tonight's all about @DavidCCrowley. He's earned this win and the accolades.

I am so proud of David—he's the future of our Party, and I can't wait for him to be our next governor.

For now, we polka. Tomorrow, we're back at work to win.@TomTiffanyWI, we'll see you in November.

— Tony Evers (@Tony4WI) August 12, 2026

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.

I invite you to persuade me to go over and vote in the Wisconsin primary today.

Observing myself, I believe I am abstaining. 

Of course, as I've said many times, I'm a big believer in the right to not to vote. It's like the right not to speak. Or the right not to profess any religion.

UPDATE:

"[Wisconsin] survives and takes Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with it."

When the states are redrawn based on social media friendship:

Meteotsunami.

"While the Appleton/Menasha tornado was occurring, Lake Winnebago appeared to drop by 1-2 ft at my location near Adella Beach/ Neenah, WI. At 12:29 - likely after the tornado had ended - I observed an unnaturally-long wave approaching from the northeast as the water rushed back into the bay. I moved my vehicle multiple times to stay clear of the rising water which spilled over the bank. I observed flying/falling debris such as shingles, small stick, and a projectile plastic kiddie pool as part of the broader event":

"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?"

When asked today if he was 100% certain he didn't write any of the offensive posts on the 'Dirt McGirk' Twitter account, David Crowley said, "Look, we would have to go through all of these different posts, but the ones that I've seen that were printed, I did not write those." pic.twitter.com/UWAvPn57n5

— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) July 24, 2026

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).

It's finally here.

It's finally here, folks! It's Wisconsin Kringle Day!

So, pick up a Kringle—or two, t'ree to share—and celebrate this iconic Wisconsin delicacy. pic.twitter.com/lUV0zZ9arR

— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) June 30, 2026

"Keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters, and from time to time have them talked to by those in whom they have the most confidence."

Wrote Abraham Lincoln, in an 1840 letter, quoted by Ben Wikler, in "My State Was a 'Democracy Desert.' This Is How We Turned It Around" (NYT)(gift link)

"My State" = Wisconsin. Ben was chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party from 2019 to 2025. 

He continues: "There’s a name for that approach today: 'relational organizing.' It starts with the recognition that people will be more open to a new message if they trust the messenger. So if you want to build a movement, build trust. Seek to do this outside of your own political bubble, because the people who are most apt to change their minds about politics are generally the people who are the least interested in it. Your goal should be to join or build a group that engages voters who don’t live, sleep, eat and breathe politics — in a barbershop, at a fish fry or at a farmers’ market."

I wrote about the term "relational organizing" back in 2023 — here — based on a WaPo piece the quoted Wikler. I said:

"Please! I traveled all the way to Wisconsin!... Listen, we traveled all the way to Wisconsin for this interview"

News companies know women like this are tanking their ratings. If one of these Sunday broadcasts brought in a non ideological White Man their ratings would double. However, they still choose to loose money, just to promote the views of the ownership. Trump is right. pic.twitter.com/Un33VHNqro

— Nate P. Hall (@Nate_PHall) June 8, 2026

Wouldn't it have been funny if the all-the-way-to-Wisconsin plea had worked? Oh, yeah, poor you, going to Wisconsin, let me sit back down and yammer on with you, because you endured the ordeal of coming to Wisconsin.

How many times has Trump traveled to Wisconsin in his political career? 40? 60? He's put in the hard work of demonstrating to Wisconsin that we matter, and here's Kristen Welker obviously irked to have had to touch down in a flyover state. I can't believe I came to this hellhole for you!

ADDED: I love the set with the hay bales and tractors. I was hoping Welker and Trump would jump up and do his old "Green Acres" routine:

The most Wisconsin thing.

The most Wisconsin thing I’ve seen in my life. https://t.co/UVmUaa1PD5 pic.twitter.com/TX8J3ZKU6N

— Kyle Malzhan (@KyleMalzhan) March 9, 2026

"I don't think most are prepared...." Oh, we're prepared. It's a Wisconsin thing.

Eat Cheese or Die.

You may remember the old slogan:

The riff on New Hampshire's "Live Free or Die" license plate couldn't make it to the actual license plates here in Wisconsin, but it was the winner of our Wisconsin hearts and minds. Of course, in real life on real license plates, it had to be "America's Dairyland." And 40 years later, it still is... though it looks as though we might be about to replace it (with something simpler).

Anyway, speaking of real life, the implausible slogan — "Eat Cheese or Die" — may be (sort of) true. I'm reading "A Study Linked Cheese to Lower Dementia Risk. Is That Too Good to Be True?"

"The people around him are similar to Biden’s aides. They would talk as if we’re living in a little bit of a fantasy world."

"Trump, in that way, with the help of his aides and his doctors have created this fiction about his health to hide the hard, cold truth that he is 79 and one of the oldest people to ever occupy the Oval Office.”

Said political historian Matthew Dallek, quoted in "Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office/President Trump has always used his stamina and energy as a political strength. But that image is getting harder for him to sustain" (NYT).

Is this even news at all? What's news to me and why I'm blogging this is that the NYT is displayed at the top of the home page as if it's the top news story of the day:

"Borgwardt told investigators that on the day he disappeared, he took a kayak out on Green Lake and brought a child-size inflatable boat with him."

"After flipping the kayak and dumping his phone in the water, he paddled the inflatable boat to shore, got on an e-bike that he had stashed at the boat launch and rode through the night to Madison, some 70 miles away, according to the complaint. There, he said, he boarded a bus to Detroit, crossed the Canadian border to Toronto Pearson International Airport and flew to Paris and then to an unspecified country in Asia. He met up with the woman, whom he had met months earlier, and eventually traveled to Georgia...."

From "Man gets 89 days in prison, for every day he faked death to leave his wife/Wisconsin man Ryan Borgwardt faked his drowning with an overturned kayak to establish a new life in Eastern Europe with a woman he met online, prosecutors said" (WaPo).

That's Georgia, Asia.

Among the things Borgwardt did in preparation for his life after fake death was get his vasectomy reversed.

"What Greg Abbott and the Texas GOP can learn from Wisconsin in 2011/We won a similar fight using this two-pronged messaging campaign."

Writes former governor Scott Walker in The Washington Post — gift link.

"Keep reminding everyone that a lawmaker’s first responsibility is to vote. If Texas Democrats continuously refuse to show up to do that, they have abandoned their job. At the same time, talk about why Republicans are pushing their reforms. Communicate the need for the plan repeatedly to regain control of the narrative."

I was going to say you can practically hear the Wisconsin accent and maybe that works in Wisconsin, but Texans might be a little more rowdy and rebellious, but I see Walker asserts: "It worked in the Badger State. It will work in the Lone Star State, too." What kind of logic is that? 

"The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended a judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities..."

"In its two-page order, the court said it was acting to protect public confidence in Wisconsin courts during the criminal proceedings against [Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah C.] Dugan. The order noted that the court was acting on its own initiative and was not responding to a request from anyone. Liberal justices control the court 4-3."

AP reports.

Meanwhile, Dugan has an insanely high-level defense team. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says:

"The sentence, dull but clear, was buried 158 pages into Wisconsin’s budget. 'For the limit for the 2023-24 school year and the 2024-25 school year,' the sentence read..."

"... when it was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, 'add $325' to the amount school districts could generate through property taxes for each student. But by the time Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and his veto pen were finished, it said something else entirely: 'For the limit for 2023-2425, add $325.' It was clever. Creative. Perhaps even a bit subversive, extending the increase four centuries longer than lawmakers intended. But was it legal? On Friday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said yes. In a 4-to-3 ruling in a lawsuit challenging Mr. Evers’s use of his partial veto authority, the court’s liberal majority said the governor had acted legally. The three conservative justices on the court dissented...."

From "Wisconsin Supreme Court Says Governor’s 400-Year Edit Was Within Veto Authority/Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, used his veto power to increase school funding limits for four centuries longer than Republican lawmakers in the state had intended" (NYT).

"Tesla is the only company with all the ingredients for making intelligent humanoid robots at scale."

"My prediction is that Optimus will be the biggest product of all time by far. It will be 10 times bigger than the next biggest product ever made."

ELON MUSK: "Tesla is the only company with all the ingredients for making intelligent humanoid robots at scale.

My prediction is that Optimus will be the biggest product of all time by far. It will be 10 times bigger than the next biggest product ever made." pic.twitter.com/Aqa6SsnsQW

— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) April 2, 2025

Musk moves quickly into successes and failures. Yes, we could pause to cry a tear over Brad Schimel — upon whom once rested "the entire destiny of humanity" — but look here: Musk has got the biggest product ever made.

And:

pic.twitter.com/ZoideOC1RU

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2025

All right now. Who would mope about Wisconsin?!

There’s no success like failure....

AND: Embracing the notion that there's no success like failure, Musk now tweets: "I expected to lose, but there is value to losing a piece for a positional gain."

"A group funded by billionaire Elon Musk is offering Wisconsin voters $100 to sign a petition in opposition to 'activist judges,' a move that comes two weeks before the state’s Supreme Court election and after the political action committee made a similar proposal last year in battleground states."

AP reports.