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Bob Shell News in the Democratic Primary for Governor, former Lieutenant Governor Mandela

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Barnes dropped out of the race yesterday.

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Here to unpack the news, UW La Crosse, professor of political science, Anthony Trigoski, and

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thanks very much for being here.

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Thank you.

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So first of all, what's your reaction?

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Just another plot twist in this campaign.

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I mean, for months and months, Fred, there wasn't much happening in the Democratic primary.

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Not a lot of activity, not a lot of voter attention, and now in the month of July, everything

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has happened all at once.

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And so it's just been a flurry of fast-moving political developments all leading up to that

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key primary election.

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So though trailing, Barnes was polling second to Francesca Hong and had solid name recognition

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from his run for Senate against Ron Johnson.

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What is afoot here?

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Yeah, I mean, he did have excellent name recognition coming into the campaign.

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He had a national donor base that he could draw on.

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But ultimately, it seemed like he just wasn't able to catch up to Hong.

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It's worth noting, Fred, that during the debate this week, he did not directly go after Hong.

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He did not go negative on Hong.

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If anything, Barnes was more focused on David Crowley than he was the front runner.

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To me, it symbolized how Barnes just couldn't quite get going in this campaign.

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I think he started the campaign in general election mode, really focusing on Tom Tiffany

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more than his Democratic opponents.

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But that might have been a misstep, because while he was trying to portray a sense of

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inevitability around his nomination, Francesca Hong was quietly building a lead.

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But if Barnes, dropping out, had anything to do with the journal Sentinel reporting about

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him using his political influence to basically get dates, though nothing criminal reported

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there, he would have known.

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But that was out there, but he must have considered it not to be disqualifying.

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Yeah, it's one of the mysteries of this campaign, like why did this come out now?

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Not to mention, Fred, why did this not come out during the 2022 U.S. Senate race?

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I mean, Barnes's whole argument behind why he could be electable this time around was

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that all the bad stuff was out on the table.

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The 2022 U.S. Senate campaign was a brutal, negative campaign that had revealed all of

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the bad stuff, and so there would be nothing new this time around.

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Turns out that wasn't true.

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And so it just undermines one of the justifications for his candidacy and one of the arguments

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he made in favor of his electability.

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And yet what's being reported and was reportedly kind of investigated by the state Democratic

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party, it seems thin.

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You know, it really raises the question to me what his future might hold in the Wisconsin

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Democratic party, like how people within the party are going to view this report, what

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came out in the journal Sentinel, the investigation that was conducted by the party, what his future

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might hold in light of this report, plus his two unsuccessful runs for office.

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So Barnes dropping out, where does it leave the remaining candidates, including evers

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and doors from Milwaukee County executive David Crowley?

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Yeah, I mean, for David Crowley, the question is if he can get some of those Barnes supporters,

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and if he can quickly catch up to franchise go hog because the clock is ticking and poll

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after poll shows that Hong is the front runner.

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Now I can see signs that Hong is already subtly pivoting to the general election.

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She got through the debate just fine.

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I was stunned that she did not have any of her opponents go after her during the debate.

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I'm sure her team was elated that she got through the debate unscathed because I thought

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that was the last and best opportunity for her opponents to shake up the campaign.

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So I was expecting all these fireworks and all these negative attacks on Hong and that just

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didn't happen.

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So she's comfortably the front runner.

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But like you said, evers is now getting behind Crowley.

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He had the endorsement earlier.

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He's raising money for Crowley.

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He's getting out on the trail.

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So it remains to be seen if Crowley can make a last ditch effort to catch up with Hong.

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Meanwhile, Republicans in their candidate in Tom Tiffany have got to be loving this because

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even Democrat Cretts say this is full-on chaos.

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Oh, it absolutely is.

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And Tom Tiffany has been running a very positive biographical style campaign,

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trying to develop his political brand outside of his congressional district.

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I think Republicans in Tiffany are now also starting to shift in the general election mode,

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gearing up for a race against Francesca Hong.

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And what a race it will be.

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Anthony Trivasti.

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Thanks very much.

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Thank you.

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I mean, yeah, the national media is just salivating over this.

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Oh, I know.

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I know.

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I know.

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It's going to be like the national media is just going to descend on Wisconsin once again.

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So I mean, Francesca Hong is going to be one of the most talked about Democrats in the country

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for the next three months.

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Yeah.

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She seems to be up for it, so.

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There you go.

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All right.

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Thank you so much.

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Appreciate it.

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Have a good weekend.

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Thank you.