WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:03.000 Well, there's a whole event coming up on data centers, too. 00:03.000 --> 00:04.000 It'll never. 00:04.000 --> 00:05.000 All right. 00:05.000 --> 00:11.300 Obviously, things move rapidly in campaigns, and we're looking at this last home stretch 00:11.300 --> 00:12.300 here. 00:12.300 --> 00:13.980 Last time we checked, it was a couple of months ago. 00:13.980 --> 00:16.000 How are you feeling going into this final one? 00:16.000 --> 00:19.180 That's 28 days, right, of four weeks from today. 00:19.180 --> 00:22.000 And what I feel is, like, there's wind at my back on things. 00:22.000 --> 00:27.120 My challenge from the beginning has been that I am just not as well known as other candidates, 00:27.120 --> 00:28.800 not as well known, in some parts of the state. 00:28.800 --> 00:33.120 I think when people have seen and heard from me, they understand my experience, the work 00:33.120 --> 00:36.840 that I've done, the vision that I have, like, I win over lots of those people. 00:36.840 --> 00:41.840 So, you know, I feel like there is wind at my back, but there's still a long way to go. 00:41.840 --> 00:45.520 And as you say, campaigns change in very short order. 00:45.520 --> 00:48.640 There have been big changes in this one just in the last couple of days. 00:48.640 --> 00:50.600 How does that impact things? 00:50.600 --> 00:53.040 As you talk to voters, are they still making up their minds? 00:53.040 --> 00:56.400 Are they down to, like, a candidate or two, or how were they deciding? 00:56.960 --> 00:59.760 It was nice to me, I just talked to a guy who voted, already voted for me. 00:59.760 --> 01:01.120 So, people are voting. 01:01.120 --> 01:03.520 People who vote by mail are doing that. 01:03.520 --> 01:07.000 But I think more and more people are now starting to pay attention. 01:07.000 --> 01:10.160 You know, I mean, we're here amongst Democratic Party people. 01:10.160 --> 01:13.560 There are lots of people who are active and who have been engaged for several months, 01:13.560 --> 01:15.360 and I love that, and we need more of that. 01:15.360 --> 01:20.120 But in the general public, and the voting public is like the general public, too. 01:20.120 --> 01:22.440 And a lot of them are just starting to tune in. 01:22.440 --> 01:28.760 And so I think there's still a huge opportunity for defining who I am, what I stand for, 01:28.760 --> 01:32.200 what's different about me than the rest of the field, and how I can be the best person 01:32.200 --> 01:34.240 to be Tom Tiffany and start governing on day one. 01:34.240 --> 01:37.360 Like, those are the things that are still the most important thing for me, 01:37.360 --> 01:39.440 and they're not different than they were on day one. 01:39.440 --> 01:43.760 There's a growing consensus among a lot of political observers that want to try 01:43.760 --> 01:46.600 and, like, loop the Democratic primary into a couple of ways. 01:46.600 --> 01:51.080 Like, a centrist government moderate lane and, like, a more progressive farther left lane. 01:51.080 --> 01:53.640 Is that fair? Do you put yourself in that? 01:53.640 --> 01:56.920 I think we better all be in the, let's get something done lane. 01:56.920 --> 01:59.520 It should be in the, let's win, let's be able to govern, 01:59.520 --> 02:04.280 and who is going to be equipped to bring along a Democratic majority in the state legislature, 02:04.280 --> 02:08.360 and then the expectation is for people who are hurting for farmers in Wisconsin, 02:08.360 --> 02:12.600 who have been challenged, like, who is actually going to be there and be ready to hit the ground 02:12.600 --> 02:17.360 running on day one to address issues around childcare, around education, around healthcare costs, 02:17.360 --> 02:20.080 utility costs for people, like, who is the one who is there? 02:20.080 --> 02:24.800 So, rather than putting any ideological markers or ideological purity tests on this, 02:24.800 --> 02:28.880 I think it should be, and it is for most people who is actually going to demonstrate 02:28.880 --> 02:30.320 that they can get stuff done. 02:30.320 --> 02:34.480 There's always a tendency, like, a year or more out from an election for people to fall in love 02:34.480 --> 02:38.160 with maybe a candidate that's a little farther out, the bigger, bolder ideas, 02:38.160 --> 02:41.280 but then as the election gets closer, they go, now, I just want to win. 02:41.280 --> 02:45.840 I'm more nervous about having my party win than maybe the person who's, you know, 02:45.840 --> 02:49.120 got the biggest, dreamiest ideas. Are you sensing that, too? 02:49.120 --> 02:53.440 I mean, I certainly have the sense that winning always is important. 02:53.440 --> 02:55.360 This year, it feels existential. 02:55.360 --> 02:57.920 The harm that's being done to Wisconsin at the federal level, 02:57.920 --> 03:02.560 the fact that cynically, the worst harms when it comes to Medicaid, when it comes to SNAP and food 03:02.560 --> 03:07.200 share, like, those are pushed off until after the midterms because they're hoping that people 03:07.200 --> 03:11.200 won't know what's coming. Like, I think people understand what the stakes are, 03:11.200 --> 03:16.000 and I think people are elevating this race both nationally and in Wisconsin about that. 03:16.000 --> 03:19.920 Like, they, there are real problems that we need to solve, 03:19.920 --> 03:24.160 and if we're only going to get half measures, if we, if there are, you know, 03:24.160 --> 03:28.000 we're going to be so ideologically pure that we can't get stuff done, 03:28.000 --> 03:31.600 we will have a very short time in the sunlight, or we won't win at all. 03:31.600 --> 03:35.520 And I think this is something that people are starting to pay more attention to. 03:35.520 --> 03:39.360 When we talk about campaigns, one of the first things that you can demonstrate it, 03:39.360 --> 03:43.120 and aside from your past history, it's like, how well do you run a campaign? 03:43.120 --> 03:46.880 How much should that matter when there are candidates who have had some issues with 03:47.440 --> 03:52.560 having consistency in people or fundraising, or like those, how big of a sign is that, 03:52.560 --> 03:56.400 or signal to voters that, like, you know how to get the job done. 03:56.400 --> 04:00.880 Campaigns should be about competence. Governing is about competence. For the last 20 years, 04:00.880 --> 04:05.280 I've had nothing but executive experience, including running the state's most important 04:05.280 --> 04:08.880 agency at the Department of Administration and doing it during times of COVID. 04:09.760 --> 04:14.320 Today is July 14th. Tomorrow is July 15th when we turn in our campaign finance report. 04:14.320 --> 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, 04:18.320 --> 04:23.040 the same in January. For somebody to say that they didn't know until last week that hundreds 04:23.040 --> 04:27.920 of thousands of dollars are missing, I think that's something that's a question for voters to answer. 04:27.920 --> 04:31.840 Is that person, if they're not competent to do $600,000 on a campaign, 04:31.840 --> 04:35.600 how are they going to put together a $110 billion budget? How are they going to manage 04:35.680 --> 04:39.280 the complexities around state government? I know my approach to that because I've already done it, 04:39.280 --> 04:43.440 and I did it during COVID. I know, you know, what people can see that what's in my past, 04:43.440 --> 04:48.320 I put out all of the stuff that with all the negative research I could find on myself. 04:48.320 --> 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 04:52.640 --> 04:57.120 people to know before they vote for the primary. It's important for people to know as we head into 04:57.120 --> 05:01.680 the general election. For people that are kind of making big national comparisons, 05:01.680 --> 05:05.520 obviously the Democrats had some issues in Maine. There are other states where there's 05:05.520 --> 05:10.000 some a lot more intra-party fighting. Is it fair to bring any of that or is this 05:10.000 --> 05:15.440 simply about Wisconsin voters? I mean, what we do in the United States is we have 50 05:15.440 --> 05:19.760 statewide elections, whether you're running for president, whether you're running for governor. 05:19.760 --> 05:23.280 The issues in Wisconsin are going to be determined by Wisconsin people. So, you know, 05:23.280 --> 05:27.680 yes, there are national issues. There is national harm that's being done by Donald Trump to people. 05:27.680 --> 05:32.400 If you're a farmer in Wisconsin, like everywhere else, every input cost for you has gone up, 05:32.400 --> 05:36.400 the cost of health care, you know, pitting property tax payers against kids. Like, 05:36.400 --> 05:40.880 those are some of the things that we're dealing with and some of them have national implications, 05:40.880 --> 05:45.280 but Wisconsin voters determine Wisconsin elections. Wisconsin runs Wisconsin elections, 05:45.280 --> 05:50.480 which is another issue we better be prepared to defend. But like, you know, the idea that 05:50.480 --> 05:56.080 there's some national wave of things, I think it's still about individual voters making individual 05:56.080 --> 06:00.000 decisions and making sure that every candidate is up to snuff for them. 06:00.000 --> 06:04.080 Well, this primary has been going on. Tom Tiffany has had a lot of free play to 06:04.720 --> 06:08.960 paint himself positively, and he's done a lot of ads showing him as a folksy regular guy that 06:08.960 --> 06:13.920 everyone would love to hang out with. How much is that going to be a burden to overcome once you 06:13.920 --> 06:19.360 get into past the primary of like making sure you can redefine his agenda, his track record, 06:19.360 --> 06:24.880 and redefining yourself? Yeah, well, one, I have people harking back to 2018 where Tony 06:24.880 --> 06:30.080 Evers won in a primary that was bigger than the one we have now in Wisconsin. And he came out of 06:30.080 --> 06:34.800 that not running against, you know, somebody who also wasn't a sitting governor, but he was running 06:34.800 --> 06:38.960 against Scott Walker. And so, you know, Scott had all that time to do this too. Whoever wins this 06:38.960 --> 06:44.080 primary is going to come out with wind at our back with momentum. And then will be the time where 06:44.080 --> 06:47.600 Tom Tiffany can't just look over his shoulder and talk about his mother. He's going to have to look 06:47.600 --> 06:51.680 over his shoulder and talk about Donald Trump and his relationship to Donald Trump and the fact that 06:51.680 --> 06:56.560 nobody has been closer to Donald Trump. Nobody has been more of an acolyte of the work that Donald 06:56.560 --> 07:02.080 Trump has done. And that has done harm to Wisconsin farmers, to Wisconsin families, to people in our 07:02.080 --> 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 07:06.640 --> 07:11.680 time for the next four weeks and come August 12th, he will have to answer to a whole different set 07:11.680 --> 07:17.040 of questions than what he does now. But but I again, I remind people that Tony Evers came out of that 07:17.040 --> 07:22.160 crowded primary. He had momentum. He was able to get that bounce. I expect that that will be the 07:22.160 --> 07:26.880 same for me as we head into the general election. Are you still feeling positive the grind hasn't 07:26.880 --> 07:30.800 gotten to you as you come down the stretch here? Are you kidding on a beautiful day like today? 07:30.800 --> 07:35.200 We're in shade and the wind is coming through? No, I mean, in some ways, I think the last few 07:35.200 --> 07:39.920 weeks have been energizing for me. My family is involved on the campaign. I'm here with my wife 07:39.920 --> 07:45.280 today. We're able to do things together. Like, this is the time, you know, one, it's winning time. 07:45.280 --> 07:49.440 And I've always been a competitive person. And two, it's the time when people finally are starting 07:49.440 --> 07:53.680 to pay attention. Like, I will tell you, every candidate, we've been working at this for seven, 07:53.680 --> 07:58.560 eight, nine months. And we think that every day is, you know, like, we are building, building, 07:58.560 --> 08:02.640 building, we want to start to see that stone roll downhill. Now is when I think people are 08:02.640 --> 08:07.440 starting to decide and where I'm starting to see, you know, much more attention than we did even 08:07.440 --> 08:11.600 just a few weeks ago. So as you saw, at least a couple candidates drop out along the way, 08:12.560 --> 08:16.480 how did you gauge that decision that they were making? Is that like, it's a positive? Is the field 08:16.480 --> 08:20.880 narrows or is it? I think it's, first of all, it's a personal decision for everybody. You know, 08:20.880 --> 08:26.080 this is something that is all encompassing. And I think they have to look at things about 08:26.080 --> 08:29.920 were they able to raise the money? Were they getting the kind of reception that they need? Like, 08:29.920 --> 08:35.360 you know, we still have lots of people who have their decisions to make. But I think if you don't 08:35.360 --> 08:39.680 have the resources to be able to communicate to them, that makes it harder and harder. We've 08:39.760 --> 08:43.040 already spent money. You know, I won't tell you what's going to be on my report tomorrow. 08:43.920 --> 08:48.000 But we've already spent half a million dollars on television around the state. We were the first 08:48.000 --> 08:52.640 candidate to do that. And that was an effort to try to raise my name recognition and do, 08:52.640 --> 08:57.120 you know, address the biggest challenge that I have, which is people just don't know enough 08:57.120 --> 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 09:00.960 --> 09:06.080 Governor Evers doing COVID and the vision that I have for taking the state forward, I win that. 09:06.160 --> 09:10.000 But my challenge is still that they still got to get to know me. That's why I'm here today, 09:10.000 --> 09:15.280 talking to people here. And, you know, while I'll be in Wasah today in Merrimack tomorrow and 09:15.280 --> 09:18.960 somewhere else the next day, like, we just keep going. And what is the value being in this part 09:18.960 --> 09:22.880 of the state? I mean, because this is not where a lot of Democrats are spending their time. 09:22.880 --> 09:27.360 Yeah, well, there are Democrats all over the state. And there are parts of the state that 09:27.360 --> 09:33.040 haven't had a lot of democratic success that are paying attention more because of the harm that's 09:33.040 --> 09:38.240 happened at the national level, because they are looking for somebody who can answer the question 09:38.240 --> 09:43.760 of, will you do something to make my life better? And Democrats are not always trusted to do it. 09:43.760 --> 09:48.800 In fact, we have less trust in statewide polls than the Republicans do. And we need to be in a 09:48.800 --> 09:53.600 position where we can demonstrate to people that we're going to get stuff done. My career has been 09:53.600 --> 09:58.080 about solving problems and actually getting stuff done for people who live in this part of the state 09:58.080 --> 10:02.400 during COVID. If you were a family farm and you needed support or otherwise you were going to get 10:02.400 --> 10:06.880 foreclosed on, I was part of the state government that helped. If you were a small business and you 10:06.880 --> 10:10.880 were in danger of closing your doors, we were there. Like, government doesn't have the answer to 10:10.880 --> 10:15.360 everything, but I have seen it in opportunities where it had to work and, you know, where it had 10:15.360 --> 10:19.520 the responsibility of working and we made it work. Like, that's, I think, what government needs to do 10:19.520 --> 10:24.000 in times of crisis and even for what passes normal times, because we don't live in normal times, 10:24.000 --> 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, 10:29.920 --> 10:34.640 you know, I guess you're not doing as much directly on Sarah and her pride brought that in, 10:34.640 --> 10:39.520 but, you know... No, it's relevant, but, you know, we'll be addressing that on Friday's show. 10:39.520 --> 10:45.200 This will probably air in a bigger grouping afterwards. We work on different timelines in 10:45.200 --> 10:49.200 the daily news, but by the time this airs, that will have been addressed three times. 10:49.200 --> 10:55.840 Maybe, and I don't have any idea. Again, I mean, I will just tell you that the dynamics of the 10:55.920 --> 11:00.800 races change quite a bit. You know, last week we saw what happened with Graham Plattner in Maine, 11:00.800 --> 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 11:05.840 --> 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 11:10.160 --> 11:15.760 time where you were having trouble going to sleep one night, but the reason I did it is because 11:15.760 --> 11:20.240 the stakes are so high about making sure that we can elect somebody who can get things done 11:20.240 --> 11:25.280 related to healthcare, related to education, related to housing, you know, economic development, 11:25.280 --> 11:29.760 and if people don't know what they're getting, if we're hoping that somebody's not going to 11:29.760 --> 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 11:35.680 --> 11:40.240 into the general election, and I have been as transparent as anybody. Like, you know, you can 11:40.240 --> 11:44.320 hold a press conference and say that that's transparency, but pay somebody to go out and dig 11:44.320 --> 11:49.120 up if there's anything negative about you and land that out in voters. I take that as transparency 11:49.120 --> 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 11:53.680 --> 11:57.280 who's doing this who's running for governor this year, but I shouldn't be, and there should be 11:57.280 --> 12:01.360 more people who are willing to do that, and willing to show people that this is what you get. 12:01.360 --> 12:04.000 All right. That's what we need. Thank you. Appreciate it.