1 00:00:01,034 --> 00:00:03,070 Republicans are in Dallas for the GOP's midterm 2 00:00:03,136 --> 00:00:05,939 convention. Some stayed away. We talked through the 3 00:00:06,006 --> 00:00:09,109 pros and cons of attending a rare event in national 4 00:00:09,176 --> 00:00:11,311 politics, along with other campaign developments 5 00:00:11,378 --> 00:00:16,049 closer to home. This is inside Wisconsin politics. 6 00:00:19,553 --> 00:00:20,521 I'm Shawn Johnson here with my colleagues, Anya van 7 00:00:20,587 --> 00:00:23,190 my colleagues, Anya van Wagtendonk Zac Schultz and 8 00:00:23,257 --> 00:00:25,659 Rich Kremer in Eau Claire. Hey, everyone. 9 00:00:25,726 --> 00:00:29,162 >> Hello. >> So I have this distinct 10 00:00:29,229 --> 00:00:32,032 memory. It was just two years ago. We were all in 11 00:00:32,099 --> 00:00:35,602 Milwaukee. It was the RNC, and you were there. You 12 00:00:35,669 --> 00:00:38,505 were there and you were there. Anya, what's the 13 00:00:38,572 --> 00:00:41,074 deal? National conventions are every four years. What 14 00:00:41,141 --> 00:00:43,977 is this midterm conventions that Republicans are doing 15 00:00:44,044 --> 00:00:46,513 right now, and why does it matter? 16 00:00:46,580 --> 00:00:49,082 >> You know, I had the same question about a week ago. 17 00:00:49,149 --> 00:00:51,885 I like to think I'm fairly tuned in to national 18 00:00:51,952 --> 00:00:54,555 politics. It is arguably my job. And I had never heard 19 00:00:54,621 --> 00:00:58,058 of a midterm convention. So this is not comparable to 20 00:00:58,125 --> 00:01:00,861 the events that we all went to in 2024. Those were 21 00:01:00,928 --> 00:01:03,397 nominating conventions. They've been held since the 22 00:01:03,463 --> 00:01:08,001 19th century. This is more of a sort of rally kind of 23 00:01:08,068 --> 00:01:10,470 situation that Democrats experimented with in the 24 00:01:10,537 --> 00:01:13,006 70s and 80s, and then decided they were not a 25 00:01:13,073 --> 00:01:15,876 good idea, that they were kind of a waste of time and 26 00:01:15,943 --> 00:01:18,078 money and maybe fractured their party. But now 27 00:01:18,145 --> 00:01:20,881 Republicans are giving it a shot. And so this is the 28 00:01:20,948 --> 00:01:23,250 first ever Republican it's, you know, going into 29 00:01:23,317 --> 00:01:25,953 a midterm election where they feel like the sort of 30 00:01:26,019 --> 00:01:28,155 deck is stacked against them as a party. They are 31 00:01:28,222 --> 00:01:31,024 the majority party at a time that people are pretty 32 00:01:31,091 --> 00:01:33,227 unhappy. And so this is about sort of revving up 33 00:01:33,293 --> 00:01:36,163 the base and really kind of focusing on Donald Trump as 34 00:01:36,230 --> 00:01:38,298 the continued kind of standard bearer of the 35 00:01:38,365 --> 00:01:41,568 party, when he won't be on the ballot in November. 36 00:01:41,635 --> 00:01:44,671 >> And we're not in Dallas for this one. Rich, but you 37 00:01:44,738 --> 00:01:47,474 watched the stream of day one of this convention, 38 00:01:47,541 --> 00:01:51,678 which featured some, you know, one Wisconsin speaker. 39 00:01:51,745 --> 00:01:55,516 What did you see? You know, who's there? And give us a 40 00:01:55,582 --> 00:01:59,553 kind of a sample of the flavor of what people heard. 41 00:01:59,620 --> 00:02:02,456 >> All right. Well, I'll start with who was there. 42 00:02:02,523 --> 00:02:05,192 And at the national level, we had some big names. Of 43 00:02:05,259 --> 00:02:08,495 course, President Donald Trump was the keynote 44 00:02:08,562 --> 00:02:10,764 speaker last night. He's going to be the keynote 45 00:02:10,831 --> 00:02:15,836 speaker again on a Thursday night. But regardless, he 46 00:02:17,971 --> 00:02:21,575 had his cabinet secretaries there. Scott Bessent was 47 00:02:21,642 --> 00:02:26,580 there. Mehmet Oz was there. Todd Blanche was there. And 48 00:02:26,647 --> 00:02:31,618 as long as well as just a host of lawmakers, you know, 49 00:02:31,685 --> 00:02:35,589 from Congress, Tom Emmer, Steve Scalise et cetera. ET 50 00:02:35,656 --> 00:02:38,892 cetera. Folks in leadership positions. And the flavor 51 00:02:38,959 --> 00:02:42,696 was the Republicans really, first of all, speaker after 52 00:02:42,763 --> 00:02:45,766 speaker went at length praising President Donald 53 00:02:45,832 --> 00:02:48,635 Trump, his accomplishments, etc. they talked a lot 54 00:02:48,702 --> 00:02:52,206 about the 2025 big Beautiful Bill act, 55 00:02:52,272 --> 00:02:57,244 although they were calling it different things. And we 56 00:02:57,311 --> 00:03:00,147 also just heard a lot about what they thought Democrats 57 00:03:00,214 --> 00:03:03,584 are all about in general. The speakers were saying 58 00:03:03,650 --> 00:03:05,752 that Democrats are crazy and Republicans are the 59 00:03:05,819 --> 00:03:10,057 party of common sense. I heard one speaker call 60 00:03:10,123 --> 00:03:13,293 Democrats evil and that sort of thing. We heard a 61 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,997 lot of culture war issues, transgender issues came up 62 00:03:17,064 --> 00:03:20,901 quite a bit. A lot of talk about Democrats loving open 63 00:03:20,968 --> 00:03:24,171 border policies, et cetera. And also a lot of talk 64 00:03:24,238 --> 00:03:28,275 about democratic socialism and kind of a mix of that 65 00:03:28,342 --> 00:03:31,545 with straight up accusations of communist 66 00:03:31,612 --> 00:03:34,348 communism within the Democratic ranks from 67 00:03:34,414 --> 00:03:37,417 Republicans. >> And Derrick Van Orden, 68 00:03:37,484 --> 00:03:40,521 the Republican congressman from Wisconsin's third 69 00:03:40,587 --> 00:03:43,924 congressional District was there. And among the 70 00:03:43,991 --> 00:03:46,793 speakers, here's a little sample of what he told 71 00:03:46,860 --> 00:03:51,832 Republican activists. >> You deserve high quality, 72 00:03:51,899 --> 00:03:56,803 readily available, and affordable health care. You 73 00:03:59,873 --> 00:04:03,810 know who else knows this? Our great president, Donald 74 00:04:03,877 --> 00:04:06,780 J. Trump. >> So, Zac Derrick Van 75 00:04:10,517 --> 00:04:13,787 Orden represents one of the Swingiest districts in the 76 00:04:13,854 --> 00:04:16,256 country where a ton of money is going to be spent, 77 00:04:16,323 --> 00:04:20,694 has already been spent trying to flip that seat. 78 00:04:20,761 --> 00:04:24,498 Why is he delivering this message on health care and 79 00:04:24,565 --> 00:04:26,600 Donald Trump at this convention, just a couple 80 00:04:26,667 --> 00:04:29,303 of months away from the election? 81 00:04:29,369 --> 00:04:32,072 >> Well, clearly, he is so closely attached to Donald 82 00:04:32,139 --> 00:04:34,741 Trump and running for Congress as a federal 83 00:04:34,808 --> 00:04:37,177 position. He has no room to separate himself from there 84 00:04:37,244 --> 00:04:41,081 and make this about the Wisconsin race, like we've 85 00:04:41,148 --> 00:04:43,383 seen with Congressman Tom Tiffany, who's running for 86 00:04:43,450 --> 00:04:46,220 governor and did not attend this event because he wants 87 00:04:46,286 --> 00:04:48,722 the focus to be on his race for governor, not his 88 00:04:48,789 --> 00:04:51,825 connections to Donald Trump. Derrick Van Orden either 89 00:04:51,892 --> 00:04:53,894 doesn't have that luxury or is not interested in 90 00:04:53,961 --> 00:04:56,029 playing that game. No matter what he's going to 91 00:04:56,096 --> 00:04:58,432 be associated with the president. So for good or 92 00:04:58,498 --> 00:05:00,968 bad, he's got to tie himself even closer to that 93 00:05:01,034 --> 00:05:03,837 and hope events like this boost the president's 94 00:05:03,904 --> 00:05:06,240 turnout in his district, which would allow him to go 95 00:05:06,306 --> 00:05:09,309 along. Remember, he's run behind Trump in these 96 00:05:09,376 --> 00:05:12,713 elections. In 24, Trump got more votes than he did. He 97 00:05:12,779 --> 00:05:14,915 barely won. While Trump won his district by a larger 98 00:05:14,982 --> 00:05:17,818 margin. As for health care, that is one of the issues 99 00:05:17,885 --> 00:05:20,087 that he's trying to run on there because it's very 100 00:05:20,153 --> 00:05:22,756 important to the people in their. A lot of people lost 101 00:05:22,823 --> 00:05:24,658 health care in that congressional district. 102 00:05:24,725 --> 00:05:26,827 We've seen hospitals close in that area. Van Orden 103 00:05:26,894 --> 00:05:29,463 wants to take credit for federal legislation that 104 00:05:29,530 --> 00:05:32,232 brought in additional funds. There were some rejiggering 105 00:05:32,299 --> 00:05:34,134 through the state budget, if you remember, Governor 106 00:05:34,201 --> 00:05:36,103 Evers at the last minute, trying to get a bill 107 00:05:36,170 --> 00:05:38,172 through that would authorize a higher 108 00:05:38,238 --> 00:05:41,141 reimbursement rate for and capture more of those 109 00:05:41,208 --> 00:05:43,210 federal funds. Van Orden tried to take credit for 110 00:05:43,277 --> 00:05:45,312 that. He's running in that Democrat saying, well, 111 00:05:45,379 --> 00:05:47,447 you're the one who ruined Medicare for Medicaid. For 112 00:05:47,514 --> 00:05:50,150 a lot of the people in this district. Why they're 113 00:05:50,217 --> 00:05:52,452 suffering from it in the first place. So he views 114 00:05:52,519 --> 00:05:55,389 that as his issue to run on and his connection to Trump 115 00:05:55,455 --> 00:05:58,158 to boost that turnout in that district, which is why 116 00:05:58,225 --> 00:06:00,460 he needs to be there. >> Yeah, I mean, Rich, it 117 00:06:00,527 --> 00:06:03,297 seems like there's a couple ways you could go with 118 00:06:03,363 --> 00:06:05,399 President Donald Trump. If you're a candidate. You 119 00:06:05,465 --> 00:06:07,401 know, Derrick Van Orden has chosen this path. It kind 120 00:06:07,467 --> 00:06:10,170 of reminds me of Senator Ron Johnson, his last 121 00:06:10,237 --> 00:06:13,273 reelection, where he just embraced the president 122 00:06:13,340 --> 00:06:15,876 completely. And you even heard the president last 123 00:06:15,943 --> 00:06:20,347 night tell delegates, activists, hey, pretend I'm 124 00:06:20,414 --> 00:06:23,884 on the ballot. What's going on there? 125 00:06:24,618 --> 00:06:28,422 >> Well, we've heard from Republicans, election after 126 00:06:28,488 --> 00:06:30,991 election where they don't do as well as they'd like 127 00:06:31,058 --> 00:06:34,561 that. Well, there's just this big group of voters 128 00:06:34,628 --> 00:06:37,397 that President Donald Trump was able to get to the 129 00:06:37,464 --> 00:06:41,802 polls in 2016 and 2024 that others just haven't been 130 00:06:41,869 --> 00:06:45,806 able to reach. So there's essentially speaking to 131 00:06:45,873 --> 00:06:50,878 those individuals. And if President Trump, you know, 132 00:06:51,578 --> 00:06:54,381 says, think of the ballot like I'm on it because the 133 00:06:54,448 --> 00:06:57,384 last eight years of my second term are on the line 134 00:06:57,451 --> 00:07:01,121 here. The hope is that those voters will 135 00:07:01,922 --> 00:07:04,458 understand that and will play the part and go out 136 00:07:04,525 --> 00:07:07,895 and vote for the various Republicans fighting to 137 00:07:07,961 --> 00:07:12,065 keep the House and the Senate in Republican 138 00:07:12,132 --> 00:07:15,569 control. Whether that works, we'll see it. It hasn't in 139 00:07:15,636 --> 00:07:20,073 the past, but who knows? >> And, you know, as it 140 00:07:20,140 --> 00:07:22,509 pertains to health care, we should mention that after 141 00:07:22,576 --> 00:07:25,045 Van Orden speech, which you reported, Democrats were 142 00:07:25,112 --> 00:07:27,414 pretty quick to attack and say, hey, this is the guy 143 00:07:27,481 --> 00:07:29,216 that cut health care through the big beautiful 144 00:07:29,283 --> 00:07:32,119 Bill act. With all these new restrictions on 145 00:07:32,186 --> 00:07:36,156 Medicaid enrollment, Anya, I wonder we've talked on 146 00:07:36,223 --> 00:07:40,394 this program before about, you know, what happens when 147 00:07:40,460 --> 00:07:45,132 Republicans don't, I guess, sufficiently adore the 148 00:07:45,199 --> 00:07:47,668 president, for lack of a better term. Tom, Tiffany's 149 00:07:47,734 --> 00:07:51,305 not there in that room with Derrick Van Orden and is is 150 00:07:51,371 --> 00:07:56,210 not at the convention. Does he face any potential risks 151 00:07:56,276 --> 00:08:00,214 by not being there and being overtly supportive? 152 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:02,783 >> Well, you know, he didn't say I'm not going 153 00:08:02,850 --> 00:08:04,785 because I want to separate myself from the president. 154 00:08:04,852 --> 00:08:07,221 He said that he has campaign events here in 155 00:08:07,287 --> 00:08:09,556 Wisconsin, and he is not at all the only kind of 156 00:08:09,623 --> 00:08:12,426 vulnerable Republican or Republican from a swing 157 00:08:12,492 --> 00:08:15,329 state to not attend, and for different reasons. 158 00:08:15,395 --> 00:08:19,299 Again, some of them cited family events or other 159 00:08:19,366 --> 00:08:21,301 obligations. Some of them cited the cost. This is 160 00:08:21,368 --> 00:08:24,671 also a major kind of fundraising event. And so 161 00:08:24,738 --> 00:08:26,740 attending costs tens of thousands of dollars, if 162 00:08:26,807 --> 00:08:28,742 not hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you're 163 00:08:28,809 --> 00:08:30,811 running for sort of a smaller congressional seat 164 00:08:30,878 --> 00:08:34,081 or something, maybe that's not, you know, a financial 165 00:08:34,147 --> 00:08:36,216 calculus there. So we don't exactly know what Tom 166 00:08:36,283 --> 00:08:39,453 Tiffany's kind of calculus is, except that we know 167 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:41,989 that he's running statewide in Wisconsin. There is the 168 00:08:42,055 --> 00:08:46,326 kind of guaranteed Trump base no matter what, but 169 00:08:46,393 --> 00:08:48,195 nationally, Trump's poll numbers are not good among 170 00:08:48,262 --> 00:08:50,430 the sort of moderate and more independent voters 171 00:08:50,497 --> 00:08:53,000 that any statewide candidate in Wisconsin 172 00:08:53,066 --> 00:08:56,203 needs to win. And so maybe this is kind of an easy way 173 00:08:56,270 --> 00:08:58,438 to put a little bit of separation there, not have 174 00:08:58,505 --> 00:09:01,375 something as clippable as what Derrick Van Orden had 175 00:09:01,441 --> 00:09:03,544 that is just, you know, when they're when they're 176 00:09:03,610 --> 00:09:06,346 making attack ads, it's very easy to kind of try to 177 00:09:06,413 --> 00:09:08,315 unite those two figures. And so he's not kind of 178 00:09:08,382 --> 00:09:10,684 handing anything over quite so easily. 179 00:09:10,751 --> 00:09:14,354 >> Zac, you just talked to Tom, Tiffany and you 180 00:09:14,421 --> 00:09:17,224 touched on this convention. I believe. What's his 181 00:09:17,291 --> 00:09:19,893 general take on why he's not there. And you know, 182 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:22,663 what's he talking about right now? 183 00:09:22,729 --> 00:09:25,666 >> His main reason is he says he's got a very busy 184 00:09:25,732 --> 00:09:27,968 schedule and he does. He's doing a lot of campaign 185 00:09:28,035 --> 00:09:30,704 events. He's doing a lot of press conferences, but it's 186 00:09:30,771 --> 00:09:33,707 not in his interest right now to be in Texas when he 187 00:09:33,774 --> 00:09:37,277 should be in Wisconsin. And it strikes me as looking 188 00:09:37,344 --> 00:09:40,013 back to 2024. Speaking of the Democratic convention 189 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:42,482 that year, Tammy Baldwin was up for reelection, and 190 00:09:42,549 --> 00:09:45,419 she spent almost the entire convention barnstorming 191 00:09:45,485 --> 00:09:47,454 Wisconsin. Instead of being down in Chicago, she showed 192 00:09:47,521 --> 00:09:50,824 up for a day to do her due diligence. But part of her 193 00:09:50,891 --> 00:09:53,460 mentality was, I need to be where people see me. That 194 00:09:53,527 --> 00:09:56,530 will be voting for me not to be down in a convention 195 00:09:56,597 --> 00:09:58,365 hall. Tom Tiffany taking that same approach doesn't 196 00:09:58,432 --> 00:10:00,367 mean he's pushing the president off at arm's 197 00:10:00,434 --> 00:10:02,736 length by any stretch. However, I will say 198 00:10:02,803 --> 00:10:06,106 throughout our entire very long conversation yesterday, 199 00:10:06,173 --> 00:10:08,809 I asked many questions about Donald Trump and 200 00:10:08,876 --> 00:10:12,646 policies and implications. He only used Donald Trump's 201 00:10:12,713 --> 00:10:15,282 name twice the entire time, and that was only 202 00:10:15,349 --> 00:10:17,117 referencing how Democrats are trying to connect him 203 00:10:17,184 --> 00:10:19,419 to Donald Trump. Every other time he talked about 204 00:10:19,486 --> 00:10:22,456 the administration or the president at most. 205 00:10:22,523 --> 00:10:24,691 Otherwise, he brought it back to Wisconsin. Every 206 00:10:24,758 --> 00:10:28,595 single point. He knows that traditional Republicans who 207 00:10:28,662 --> 00:10:31,532 support Donald Trump will vote for him. He also knows 208 00:10:31,598 --> 00:10:34,301 there are a lot of former Republicans or moderate 209 00:10:34,368 --> 00:10:36,069 Republicans or independents that don't like the 210 00:10:36,136 --> 00:10:39,072 president right now that may vote for him if they 211 00:10:39,139 --> 00:10:41,308 don't think of him too closely with the president. 212 00:10:41,375 --> 00:10:44,278 And so he is trying to walk that line between winning 213 00:10:44,344 --> 00:10:46,880 those votes and keeping a little bit of distance, but 214 00:10:46,947 --> 00:10:49,683 not angering some of that Maga base that is very 215 00:10:49,750 --> 00:10:51,952 prickly and very sensitive about showing enough 216 00:10:52,019 --> 00:10:54,254 fidelity to the president by being there. Most of 217 00:10:54,321 --> 00:10:56,890 those people will vote for him anyway, so he doesn't 218 00:10:56,957 --> 00:10:59,026 have to worry as much about protecting that flank, 219 00:10:59,092 --> 00:11:01,628 because he has very legitimate, serious Maga 220 00:11:01,695 --> 00:11:03,530 credentials when it comes to being aligned with 221 00:11:03,597 --> 00:11:05,966 Donald Trump. Even if he stripped most of those from 222 00:11:06,033 --> 00:11:08,535 his website in his campaign for governor. 223 00:11:08,602 --> 00:11:11,538 >> And I think it's safe to say that the the view of 224 00:11:11,605 --> 00:11:13,674 our governor's race that most people are going to 225 00:11:13,740 --> 00:11:18,045 see is not through this midterm convention, maybe 226 00:11:18,111 --> 00:11:20,747 not through very interesting discussions 227 00:11:20,814 --> 00:11:23,517 about data centers and flock cameras, but on these 228 00:11:23,584 --> 00:11:26,420 TV ads that are going to become more and more 229 00:11:26,486 --> 00:11:30,123 prevalent in Wisconsin, these little 32nd snippets 230 00:11:30,190 --> 00:11:34,561 that take everything out of context, which what does 231 00:11:34,628 --> 00:11:37,998 the the, you know, the race for governor look like from 232 00:11:38,065 --> 00:11:39,833 that perspective, from somebody who's watching 233 00:11:39,900 --> 00:11:42,769 this thing on their phone or on their TV and just 234 00:11:42,836 --> 00:11:45,806 getting these little samples, what is the debate 235 00:11:45,873 --> 00:11:49,543 about right now? >> Well, the latest ad I 236 00:11:50,711 --> 00:11:55,682 saw from from David Crowley basically talked about 237 00:11:55,749 --> 00:11:59,286 affordability, about his plan to respond to housing 238 00:11:59,353 --> 00:12:02,556 costs, utility costs. ET cetera. He doesn't go into 239 00:12:02,623 --> 00:12:06,760 great detail, which is not uncommon with these types 240 00:12:06,827 --> 00:12:09,596 essentially it's what you would expect from years 241 00:12:09,663 --> 00:12:11,865 past. It's him with his family sitting down, 242 00:12:11,932 --> 00:12:15,202 talking about costs being too high, and how he has 243 00:12:15,269 --> 00:12:19,873 plans to solve it. And from Tom Tiffany, we've seen him 244 00:12:19,940 --> 00:12:24,077 kind of go down the road of of the whole tough on crime 245 00:12:24,144 --> 00:12:28,749 Republican and Democrats being weak on crime. Lane, 246 00:12:28,815 --> 00:12:32,586 one of his most recent ads, focuses on a Milwaukee 247 00:12:32,653 --> 00:12:36,757 County policy where inmates in the jails were given 248 00:12:36,823 --> 00:12:41,795 access to iPads, and there was reporting recently that 249 00:12:41,862 --> 00:12:44,965 some of those inmates were reaching out and bothering 250 00:12:45,032 --> 00:12:49,703 or harassing or threatening witnesses. So the ad is 251 00:12:49,770 --> 00:12:53,240 essentially saying, look at what David Crowley signed 252 00:12:53,307 --> 00:12:58,111 off on. Don't let him do this for the entire state. 253 00:12:58,178 --> 00:13:00,380 >> You know, Zac, one area where we would have gotten 254 00:13:00,447 --> 00:13:03,717 more context in the not too distant past was through a 255 00:13:03,784 --> 00:13:07,688 series of debates between the candidates. We're only 256 00:13:07,754 --> 00:13:12,326 going to get one this year. It turns out the the WBA 257 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:15,495 debate, the Broadcasters Association debate that we 258 00:13:15,562 --> 00:13:19,867 would have broadcast and have for years is canceled. 259 00:13:19,933 --> 00:13:23,170 So why so few debates? What happened this year? 260 00:13:23,237 --> 00:13:25,739 >> Well, David Crowley's campaign says he agreed to 261 00:13:25,806 --> 00:13:27,674 that second debate. He said he would have agreed to 262 00:13:27,741 --> 00:13:29,743 more. They're already doing they're still doing one 263 00:13:29,810 --> 00:13:32,479 debate on October 21st. But this one had been earlier 264 00:13:32,546 --> 00:13:35,382 in the month. It was Tom Tiffany who said he only 265 00:13:35,449 --> 00:13:37,718 needed to do one debate. And when I asked him about 266 00:13:37,784 --> 00:13:40,521 it, he said, well, this has been a policy of his. When 267 00:13:40,587 --> 00:13:42,623 he's been running for Congress, he said, one 268 00:13:42,689 --> 00:13:45,559 debate is more than enough to cover all these issues, 269 00:13:45,626 --> 00:13:48,495 and it's not a new trend. This has been going on for 270 00:13:48,562 --> 00:13:51,131 a decade or longer, where a lot of these candidates 271 00:13:51,198 --> 00:13:54,067 really don't need the exposure. They have so many 272 00:13:54,134 --> 00:13:56,570 ways to contact their voters, either through 273 00:13:56,637 --> 00:13:59,473 social media, through mailers, through ads, that 274 00:13:59,540 --> 00:14:02,376 they don't need the free media that they used to 275 00:14:02,442 --> 00:14:06,013 rely on ten, 20, 30 years ago, back when it was 276 00:14:06,079 --> 00:14:08,448 easier for us to hold a debate. Public television 277 00:14:08,515 --> 00:14:11,652 used to do one for every cycle, and it was pretty 278 00:14:11,718 --> 00:14:14,154 common to to get them to come in. It was just 279 00:14:14,221 --> 00:14:16,256 figuring out the dates and everyone would say, yeah, 280 00:14:16,323 --> 00:14:19,026 can't wait to be in there. And we stopped offering 281 00:14:19,092 --> 00:14:21,228 because we just couldn't get anyone to say yes to 282 00:14:21,295 --> 00:14:24,198 agree at the same spot at the same time. So this is 283 00:14:24,264 --> 00:14:27,134 not new. It's a relic of the past. And there's the 284 00:14:27,201 --> 00:14:29,436 old cycle of who's ever behind in the polls, wants 285 00:14:29,503 --> 00:14:32,272 to do more debates. I don't know if that even applies 286 00:14:32,339 --> 00:14:35,175 anymore. I think it has more to do with how you 287 00:14:35,242 --> 00:14:37,244 limit your exposure and doing. One debate says, I'm 288 00:14:37,311 --> 00:14:39,947 willing to do it. Doing doing any more after that 289 00:14:40,013 --> 00:14:42,282 is that's just a risk that something could go 290 00:14:42,349 --> 00:14:46,019 catastrophically wrong. >> So so the new normal, 291 00:14:46,086 --> 00:14:48,755 perhaps from here on out, I guess there could be a time 292 00:14:48,822 --> 00:14:50,791 when we're talking about zero debates, but this year 293 00:14:50,858 --> 00:14:53,594 it sounds like one. >> Yeah. Well, when's the 294 00:14:53,660 --> 00:14:56,630 last time we had multiple gubernatorial debates? 295 00:14:56,697 --> 00:14:58,765 Rich, when's the last time you had a debate between 296 00:14:58,832 --> 00:15:00,667 the candidates for the third Congressional 297 00:15:00,734 --> 00:15:03,737 District? Darren Van Orden and Rebecca Cooke? There's 298 00:15:03,804 --> 00:15:05,472 this. don't. 299 00:15:06,940 --> 00:15:09,009 time. >> Yeah, I think the last 300 00:15:09,076 --> 00:15:11,979 debate Van Orden was involved with had to was 301 00:15:12,045 --> 00:15:16,984 with Ron Kind back in 2020. >> Yeah. So before we wrap 302 00:15:17,050 --> 00:15:19,786 up here, we should touch on a couple legal developments 303 00:15:19,853 --> 00:15:22,656 in cases that you've been reporting on. Ana first, 304 00:15:22,723 --> 00:15:24,892 let's talk about this lawsuit that was filed 305 00:15:24,958 --> 00:15:28,028 today by Planned Parenthood challenging some abortion 306 00:15:28,095 --> 00:15:30,631 restrictions in Wisconsin. What are they looking at 307 00:15:30,697 --> 00:15:33,567 there? And what's the new approach they're taking? 308 00:15:33,634 --> 00:15:37,037 >> Yeah. So this is kind of the the new lawsuit kind of 309 00:15:37,104 --> 00:15:41,775 following the really major settlement of the law of 310 00:15:41,842 --> 00:15:45,012 abortion in Wisconsin. So people might remember Roe 311 00:15:45,078 --> 00:15:47,447 Falls, trigger laws go into place in the States, 312 00:15:47,514 --> 00:15:49,616 including one in Wisconsin. And so for many years, we 313 00:15:49,683 --> 00:15:52,286 were kind of watching that go through to determine the 314 00:15:52,352 --> 00:15:54,054 legality of abortion in Wisconsin. That was 315 00:15:54,121 --> 00:15:56,623 resolved last year. And so now there's all of these 316 00:15:56,690 --> 00:15:59,826 kind of lesser restrictions in place on abortion access. 317 00:15:59,893 --> 00:16:03,030 And there has been some hinting that abortion 318 00:16:03,096 --> 00:16:05,899 advocates were going to file some sort of challenge 319 00:16:05,966 --> 00:16:09,703 to one or some of them. And so this lawsuit today was 320 00:16:09,770 --> 00:16:12,573 challenging a 24 hour waiting period and a 321 00:16:12,639 --> 00:16:15,108 requirement that a physician has to preside 322 00:16:15,175 --> 00:16:17,611 over, over the administration of abortion. 323 00:16:17,678 --> 00:16:20,848 about this is that this is the first week of this new 324 00:16:20,914 --> 00:16:24,852 Supreme Court term, which is a 5 to 2 liberal 325 00:16:24,918 --> 00:16:28,088 majority. Two justices have, you know, pretty close 326 00:16:28,155 --> 00:16:30,624 previous relationships with Planned Parenthood. And so 327 00:16:30,691 --> 00:16:33,961 this is going to be kind of the first test of how far 328 00:16:34,027 --> 00:16:36,530 some of these activists, I think, can go in the courts 329 00:16:36,597 --> 00:16:39,233 to expand abortion access in Wisconsin. 330 00:16:39,299 --> 00:16:42,536 >> Okay. And then another case that that you've all 331 00:16:42,603 --> 00:16:46,773 reported on in some form is this challenge to mail in 332 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:50,978 voting restrictions. Rich, what's going on there as 333 00:16:51,044 --> 00:16:55,048 and what is going on with absentee voting in 334 00:16:55,983 --> 00:16:59,219 Wisconsin? is underway. Ballots are 335 00:16:59,286 --> 00:17:03,357 have gone out and are going out. The Trump 336 00:17:03,423 --> 00:17:07,661 administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to 337 00:17:07,728 --> 00:17:10,998 pause a federal judge's order that is blocking the 338 00:17:11,064 --> 00:17:15,936 U.S. Postal Service's plan to essentially not send 339 00:17:16,003 --> 00:17:19,306 ballots by mail to people who aren't on these lists, 340 00:17:19,373 --> 00:17:22,142 that the federal government approves. So who knows what 341 00:17:22,209 --> 00:17:26,079 will happen with that. But absentee voting is underway 342 00:17:26,146 --> 00:17:29,082 in Wisconsin right now. >> And, Zac, sometimes, you 343 00:17:29,149 --> 00:17:32,119 know, of course, we can't control what the US Supreme 344 00:17:32,186 --> 00:17:34,755 Court's going to do. But sometimes states that don't 345 00:17:34,821 --> 00:17:37,424 want the court to intervene will make a point of saying 346 00:17:37,491 --> 00:17:39,826 voting is happening. Now is not the time. 347 00:17:39,893 --> 00:17:42,563 >> Yeah. There are a lot of states where ballots have 348 00:17:42,629 --> 00:17:44,631 gone out. Ballots have already come back, and 349 00:17:44,698 --> 00:17:46,834 there's a lot of clerks trying to figure out if 350 00:17:46,900 --> 00:17:48,969 this actually goes forward, what how they will work 351 00:17:49,036 --> 00:17:51,839 around the chaos because it will be chaos. That's it 352 00:17:51,905 --> 00:17:54,641 would be that's a certainty. It's how does it get around 353 00:17:54,708 --> 00:17:56,476 and how many people actually lose their ability 354 00:17:56,543 --> 00:17:58,745 to vote through the mail because of it? 355 00:17:58,812 --> 00:18:01,615 >> All right, before we go, we wanted to let you know 356 00:18:01,682 --> 00:18:03,784 that WPR is making an interactive guide to the 357 00:18:03,851 --> 00:18:06,053 candidates, and we want to know what questions do you 358 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:08,922 want them to answer as they compete for your vote? Let 359 00:18:08,989 --> 00:18:14,027 us know in the comments or at wpri.org slash elections. 360 00:18:14,094 --> 00:18:17,531 That's all the time we have for today. This has been 361 00:18:17,598 --> 00:18:22,035 inside Wisconsin politics. wisconsin.org, wpr.org, 362 00:18:22,102 --> 00:18:26,240 YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.