1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,000 Well, there's a whole event coming up on data centers, too. 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:04,000 It'll never. 3 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:05,000 All right. 4 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:11,300 Obviously, things move rapidly in campaigns, and we're looking at this last home stretch 5 00:00:11,300 --> 00:00:12,300 here. 6 00:00:12,300 --> 00:00:13,980 Last time we checked, it was a couple of months ago. 7 00:00:13,980 --> 00:00:16,000 How are you feeling going into this final one? 8 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,180 That's 28 days, right, of four weeks from today. 9 00:00:19,180 --> 00:00:22,000 And what I feel is, like, there's wind at my back on things. 10 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,120 My challenge from the beginning has been that I am just not as well known as other candidates, 11 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:28,800 not as well known, in some parts of the state. 12 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:33,120 I think when people have seen and heard from me, they understand my experience, the work 13 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,840 that I've done, the vision that I have, like, I win over lots of those people. 14 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:41,840 So, you know, I feel like there is wind at my back, but there's still a long way to go. 15 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,520 And as you say, campaigns change in very short order. 16 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,640 There have been big changes in this one just in the last couple of days. 17 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:50,600 How does that impact things? 18 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,040 As you talk to voters, are they still making up their minds? 19 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,400 Are they down to, like, a candidate or two, or how were they deciding? 20 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:59,760 It was nice to me, I just talked to a guy who voted, already voted for me. 21 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:01,120 So, people are voting. 22 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:03,520 People who vote by mail are doing that. 23 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,000 But I think more and more people are now starting to pay attention. 24 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,160 You know, I mean, we're here amongst Democratic Party people. 25 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:13,560 There are lots of people who are active and who have been engaged for several months, 26 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,360 and I love that, and we need more of that. 27 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:20,120 But in the general public, and the voting public is like the general public, too. 28 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,440 And a lot of them are just starting to tune in. 29 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:28,760 And so I think there's still a huge opportunity for defining who I am, what I stand for, 30 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,200 what's different about me than the rest of the field, and how I can be the best person 31 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,240 to be Tom Tiffany and start governing on day one. 32 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:37,360 Like, those are the things that are still the most important thing for me, 33 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,440 and they're not different than they were on day one. 34 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,760 There's a growing consensus among a lot of political observers that want to try 35 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,600 and, like, loop the Democratic primary into a couple of ways. 36 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:51,080 Like, a centrist government moderate lane and, like, a more progressive farther left lane. 37 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,640 Is that fair? Do you put yourself in that? 38 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:56,920 I think we better all be in the, let's get something done lane. 39 00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:59,520 It should be in the, let's win, let's be able to govern, 40 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:04,280 and who is going to be equipped to bring along a Democratic majority in the state legislature, 41 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,360 and then the expectation is for people who are hurting for farmers in Wisconsin, 42 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:12,600 who have been challenged, like, who is actually going to be there and be ready to hit the ground 43 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:17,360 running on day one to address issues around childcare, around education, around healthcare costs, 44 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,080 utility costs for people, like, who is the one who is there? 45 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:24,800 So, rather than putting any ideological markers or ideological purity tests on this, 46 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,880 I think it should be, and it is for most people who is actually going to demonstrate 47 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:30,320 that they can get stuff done. 48 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,480 There's always a tendency, like, a year or more out from an election for people to fall in love 49 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,160 with maybe a candidate that's a little farther out, the bigger, bolder ideas, 50 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:41,280 but then as the election gets closer, they go, now, I just want to win. 51 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:45,840 I'm more nervous about having my party win than maybe the person who's, you know, 52 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,120 got the biggest, dreamiest ideas. Are you sensing that, too? 53 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:53,440 I mean, I certainly have the sense that winning always is important. 54 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:55,360 This year, it feels existential. 55 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:57,920 The harm that's being done to Wisconsin at the federal level, 56 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:02,560 the fact that cynically, the worst harms when it comes to Medicaid, when it comes to SNAP and food 57 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:07,200 share, like, those are pushed off until after the midterms because they're hoping that people 58 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:11,200 won't know what's coming. Like, I think people understand what the stakes are, 59 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:16,000 and I think people are elevating this race both nationally and in Wisconsin about that. 60 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,920 Like, they, there are real problems that we need to solve, 61 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:24,160 and if we're only going to get half measures, if we, if there are, you know, 62 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:28,000 we're going to be so ideologically pure that we can't get stuff done, 63 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:31,600 we will have a very short time in the sunlight, or we won't win at all. 64 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:35,520 And I think this is something that people are starting to pay more attention to. 65 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:39,360 When we talk about campaigns, one of the first things that you can demonstrate it, 66 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,120 and aside from your past history, it's like, how well do you run a campaign? 67 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,880 How much should that matter when there are candidates who have had some issues with 68 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:52,560 having consistency in people or fundraising, or like those, how big of a sign is that, 69 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:56,400 or signal to voters that, like, you know how to get the job done. 70 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:00,880 Campaigns should be about competence. Governing is about competence. For the last 20 years, 71 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:05,280 I've had nothing but executive experience, including running the state's most important 72 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,880 agency at the Department of Administration and doing it during times of COVID. 73 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:14,320 Today is July 14th. Tomorrow is July 15th when we turn in our campaign finance report. 74 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:18,320 I'll be the last person to see it, and I'm going to make sure that I know every detail on it, 75 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:23,040 the same in January. For somebody to say that they didn't know until last week that hundreds 76 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:27,920 of thousands of dollars are missing, I think that's something that's a question for voters to answer. 77 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,840 Is that person, if they're not competent to do $600,000 on a campaign, 78 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:35,600 how are they going to put together a $110 billion budget? How are they going to manage 79 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:39,280 the complexities around state government? I know my approach to that because I've already done it, 80 00:04:39,280 --> 00:04:43,440 and I did it during COVID. I know, you know, what people can see that what's in my past, 81 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:48,320 I put out all of the stuff that with all the negative research I could find on myself. 82 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,640 I may be the only candidate in the country who's done it, but I did it because it's important for 83 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:57,120 people to know before they vote for the primary. It's important for people to know as we head into 84 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:01,680 the general election. For people that are kind of making big national comparisons, 85 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:05,520 obviously the Democrats had some issues in Maine. There are other states where there's 86 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:10,000 some a lot more intra-party fighting. Is it fair to bring any of that or is this 87 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:15,440 simply about Wisconsin voters? I mean, what we do in the United States is we have 50 88 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:19,760 statewide elections, whether you're running for president, whether you're running for governor. 89 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,280 The issues in Wisconsin are going to be determined by Wisconsin people. So, you know, 90 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:27,680 yes, there are national issues. There is national harm that's being done by Donald Trump to people. 91 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:32,400 If you're a farmer in Wisconsin, like everywhere else, every input cost for you has gone up, 92 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:36,400 the cost of health care, you know, pitting property tax payers against kids. Like, 93 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:40,880 those are some of the things that we're dealing with and some of them have national implications, 94 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:45,280 but Wisconsin voters determine Wisconsin elections. Wisconsin runs Wisconsin elections, 95 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:50,480 which is another issue we better be prepared to defend. But like, you know, the idea that 96 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:56,080 there's some national wave of things, I think it's still about individual voters making individual 97 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:00,000 decisions and making sure that every candidate is up to snuff for them. 98 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,080 Well, this primary has been going on. Tom Tiffany has had a lot of free play to 99 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,960 paint himself positively, and he's done a lot of ads showing him as a folksy regular guy that 100 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:13,920 everyone would love to hang out with. How much is that going to be a burden to overcome once you 101 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:19,360 get into past the primary of like making sure you can redefine his agenda, his track record, 102 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:24,880 and redefining yourself? Yeah, well, one, I have people harking back to 2018 where Tony 103 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:30,080 Evers won in a primary that was bigger than the one we have now in Wisconsin. And he came out of 104 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:34,800 that not running against, you know, somebody who also wasn't a sitting governor, but he was running 105 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,960 against Scott Walker. And so, you know, Scott had all that time to do this too. Whoever wins this 106 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:44,080 primary is going to come out with wind at our back with momentum. And then will be the time where 107 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,600 Tom Tiffany can't just look over his shoulder and talk about his mother. He's going to have to look 108 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:51,680 over his shoulder and talk about Donald Trump and his relationship to Donald Trump and the fact that 109 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:56,560 nobody has been closer to Donald Trump. Nobody has been more of an acolyte of the work that Donald 110 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:02,080 Trump has done. And that has done harm to Wisconsin farmers, to Wisconsin families, to people in our 111 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:06,640 state. And you know, these are the things that he's going to have to answer to. So he'll have his 112 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:11,680 time for the next four weeks and come August 12th, he will have to answer to a whole different set 113 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:17,040 of questions than what he does now. But but I again, I remind people that Tony Evers came out of that 114 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:22,160 crowded primary. He had momentum. He was able to get that bounce. I expect that that will be the 115 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:26,880 same for me as we head into the general election. Are you still feeling positive the grind hasn't 116 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,800 gotten to you as you come down the stretch here? Are you kidding on a beautiful day like today? 117 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:35,200 We're in shade and the wind is coming through? No, I mean, in some ways, I think the last few 118 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:39,920 weeks have been energizing for me. My family is involved on the campaign. I'm here with my wife 119 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:45,280 today. We're able to do things together. Like, this is the time, you know, one, it's winning time. 120 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:49,440 And I've always been a competitive person. And two, it's the time when people finally are starting 121 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:53,680 to pay attention. Like, I will tell you, every candidate, we've been working at this for seven, 122 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:58,560 eight, nine months. And we think that every day is, you know, like, we are building, building, 123 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:02,640 building, we want to start to see that stone roll downhill. Now is when I think people are 124 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:07,440 starting to decide and where I'm starting to see, you know, much more attention than we did even 125 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:11,600 just a few weeks ago. So as you saw, at least a couple candidates drop out along the way, 126 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:16,480 how did you gauge that decision that they were making? Is that like, it's a positive? Is the field 127 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,880 narrows or is it? I think it's, first of all, it's a personal decision for everybody. You know, 128 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:26,080 this is something that is all encompassing. And I think they have to look at things about 129 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:29,920 were they able to raise the money? Were they getting the kind of reception that they need? Like, 130 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:35,360 you know, we still have lots of people who have their decisions to make. But I think if you don't 131 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:39,680 have the resources to be able to communicate to them, that makes it harder and harder. We've 132 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:43,040 already spent money. You know, I won't tell you what's going to be on my report tomorrow. 133 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:48,000 But we've already spent half a million dollars on television around the state. We were the first 134 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:52,640 candidate to do that. And that was an effort to try to raise my name recognition and do, 135 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:57,120 you know, address the biggest challenge that I have, which is people just don't know enough 136 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:00,960 about who I am. When they learn, when they see the work that I've done, the work that I did with 137 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:06,080 Governor Evers doing COVID and the vision that I have for taking the state forward, I win that. 138 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:10,000 But my challenge is still that they still got to get to know me. That's why I'm here today, 139 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:15,280 talking to people here. And, you know, while I'll be in Wasah today in Merrimack tomorrow and 140 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:18,960 somewhere else the next day, like, we just keep going. And what is the value being in this part 141 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:22,880 of the state? I mean, because this is not where a lot of Democrats are spending their time. 142 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:27,360 Yeah, well, there are Democrats all over the state. And there are parts of the state that 143 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:33,040 haven't had a lot of democratic success that are paying attention more because of the harm that's 144 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:38,240 happened at the national level, because they are looking for somebody who can answer the question 145 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:43,760 of, will you do something to make my life better? And Democrats are not always trusted to do it. 146 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:48,800 In fact, we have less trust in statewide polls than the Republicans do. And we need to be in a 147 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:53,600 position where we can demonstrate to people that we're going to get stuff done. My career has been 148 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:58,080 about solving problems and actually getting stuff done for people who live in this part of the state 149 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:02,400 during COVID. If you were a family farm and you needed support or otherwise you were going to get 150 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:06,880 foreclosed on, I was part of the state government that helped. If you were a small business and you 151 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:10,880 were in danger of closing your doors, we were there. Like, government doesn't have the answer to 152 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:15,360 everything, but I have seen it in opportunities where it had to work and, you know, where it had 153 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:19,520 the responsibility of working and we made it work. Like, that's, I think, what government needs to do 154 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:24,000 in times of crisis and even for what passes normal times, because we don't live in normal times, 155 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:29,920 but we better be prepared to do it now. Anything else you want to add? I don't think so. I mean, 156 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:34,640 you know, I guess you're not doing as much directly on Sarah and her pride brought that in, 157 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:39,520 but, you know... No, it's relevant, but, you know, we'll be addressing that on Friday's show. 158 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:45,200 This will probably air in a bigger grouping afterwards. We work on different timelines in 159 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:49,200 the daily news, but by the time this airs, that will have been addressed three times. 160 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:55,840 Maybe, and I don't have any idea. Again, I mean, I will just tell you that the dynamics of the 161 00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:00,800 races change quite a bit. You know, last week we saw what happened with Graham Plattner in Maine, 162 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:05,840 and in some ways it wasn't directly as a result of that, but I paid somebody to go out and do 163 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:10,160 research of me, and it's a hundred pages, and I welcome you to go read it. Maybe you have at a 164 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:15,760 time where you were having trouble going to sleep one night, but the reason I did it is because 165 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:20,240 the stakes are so high about making sure that we can elect somebody who can get things done 166 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:25,280 related to healthcare, related to education, related to housing, you know, economic development, 167 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:29,760 and if people don't know what they're getting, if we're hoping that somebody's not going to 168 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:35,680 have the bad stuff revealed about it, we're naive, and we need to know who we're getting as we enter 169 00:11:35,680 --> 00:11:40,240 into the general election, and I have been as transparent as anybody. Like, you know, you can 170 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:44,320 hold a press conference and say that that's transparency, but pay somebody to go out and dig 171 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:49,120 up if there's anything negative about you and land that out in voters. I take that as transparency 172 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:53,680 as well, and I think that that's what we need to do. I may well be the only person in the country 173 00:11:53,680 --> 00:11:57,280 who's doing this who's running for governor this year, but I shouldn't be, and there should be 174 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:01,360 more people who are willing to do that, and willing to show people that this is what you get. 175 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:04,000 All right. That's what we need. Thank you. Appreciate it.