WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:22.320 Bob Shell News in the Democratic Primary for Governor, former Lieutenant Governor Mandela 00:22.320 --> 00:25.440 Barnes dropped out of the race yesterday. 00:25.440 --> 00:30.280 Here to unpack the news, UW La Crosse, professor of political science, Anthony Trigoski, and 00:30.280 --> 00:32.440 thanks very much for being here. 00:32.440 --> 00:33.440 Thank you. 00:33.440 --> 00:36.440 So first of all, what's your reaction? 00:36.440 --> 00:39.160 Just another plot twist in this campaign. 00:39.160 --> 00:45.240 I mean, for months and months, Fred, there wasn't much happening in the Democratic primary. 00:45.240 --> 00:50.840 Not a lot of activity, not a lot of voter attention, and now in the month of July, everything 00:50.840 --> 00:53.040 has happened all at once. 00:53.040 --> 00:58.080 And so it's just been a flurry of fast-moving political developments all leading up to that 00:58.080 --> 01:00.040 key primary election. 01:00.040 --> 01:07.440 So though trailing, Barnes was polling second to Francesca Hong and had solid name recognition 01:07.440 --> 01:10.520 from his run for Senate against Ron Johnson. 01:10.520 --> 01:12.600 What is afoot here? 01:12.600 --> 01:18.440 Yeah, I mean, he did have excellent name recognition coming into the campaign. 01:18.440 --> 01:22.120 He had a national donor base that he could draw on. 01:22.120 --> 01:27.520 But ultimately, it seemed like he just wasn't able to catch up to Hong. 01:27.520 --> 01:32.880 It's worth noting, Fred, that during the debate this week, he did not directly go after Hong. 01:32.880 --> 01:35.040 He did not go negative on Hong. 01:35.040 --> 01:39.680 If anything, Barnes was more focused on David Crowley than he was the front runner. 01:39.680 --> 01:44.760 To me, it symbolized how Barnes just couldn't quite get going in this campaign. 01:44.760 --> 01:50.360 I think he started the campaign in general election mode, really focusing on Tom Tiffany 01:50.400 --> 01:52.600 more than his Democratic opponents. 01:52.600 --> 01:57.440 But that might have been a misstep, because while he was trying to portray a sense of 01:57.440 --> 02:02.960 inevitability around his nomination, Francesca Hong was quietly building a lead. 02:02.960 --> 02:08.800 But if Barnes, dropping out, had anything to do with the journal Sentinel reporting about 02:08.800 --> 02:16.440 him using his political influence to basically get dates, though nothing criminal reported 02:16.440 --> 02:20.080 there, he would have known. 02:20.080 --> 02:24.760 But that was out there, but he must have considered it not to be disqualifying. 02:24.760 --> 02:33.800 Yeah, it's one of the mysteries of this campaign, like why did this come out now? 02:33.800 --> 02:39.000 Not to mention, Fred, why did this not come out during the 2022 U.S. Senate race? 02:39.000 --> 02:44.760 I mean, Barnes's whole argument behind why he could be electable this time around was 02:44.760 --> 02:47.000 that all the bad stuff was out on the table. 02:47.000 --> 02:53.040 The 2022 U.S. Senate campaign was a brutal, negative campaign that had revealed all of 02:53.040 --> 02:56.160 the bad stuff, and so there would be nothing new this time around. 02:56.160 --> 02:57.720 Turns out that wasn't true. 02:57.720 --> 03:02.840 And so it just undermines one of the justifications for his candidacy and one of the arguments 03:02.840 --> 03:05.520 he made in favor of his electability. 03:05.520 --> 03:13.000 And yet what's being reported and was reportedly kind of investigated by the state Democratic 03:13.000 --> 03:15.600 party, it seems thin. 03:16.600 --> 03:23.200 You know, it really raises the question to me what his future might hold in the Wisconsin 03:23.200 --> 03:27.760 Democratic party, like how people within the party are going to view this report, what 03:27.760 --> 03:33.120 came out in the journal Sentinel, the investigation that was conducted by the party, what his future 03:33.120 --> 03:38.880 might hold in light of this report, plus his two unsuccessful runs for office. 03:38.880 --> 03:44.080 So Barnes dropping out, where does it leave the remaining candidates, including evers 03:44.080 --> 03:47.520 and doors from Milwaukee County executive David Crowley? 03:47.520 --> 03:53.520 Yeah, I mean, for David Crowley, the question is if he can get some of those Barnes supporters, 03:53.520 --> 03:58.160 and if he can quickly catch up to franchise go hog because the clock is ticking and poll 03:58.160 --> 04:01.920 after poll shows that Hong is the front runner. 04:01.920 --> 04:07.740 Now I can see signs that Hong is already subtly pivoting to the general election. 04:07.740 --> 04:09.520 She got through the debate just fine. 04:09.520 --> 04:16.240 I was stunned that she did not have any of her opponents go after her during the debate. 04:16.240 --> 04:20.960 I'm sure her team was elated that she got through the debate unscathed because I thought 04:20.960 --> 04:25.600 that was the last and best opportunity for her opponents to shake up the campaign. 04:25.600 --> 04:31.040 So I was expecting all these fireworks and all these negative attacks on Hong and that just 04:31.040 --> 04:32.000 didn't happen. 04:32.000 --> 04:34.000 So she's comfortably the front runner. 04:34.000 --> 04:38.000 But like you said, evers is now getting behind Crowley. 04:38.000 --> 04:39.520 He had the endorsement earlier. 04:39.520 --> 04:40.880 He's raising money for Crowley. 04:40.880 --> 04:42.400 He's getting out on the trail. 04:42.400 --> 04:47.040 So it remains to be seen if Crowley can make a last ditch effort to catch up with Hong. 04:47.040 --> 04:52.480 Meanwhile, Republicans in their candidate in Tom Tiffany have got to be loving this because 04:52.480 --> 04:55.760 even Democrat Cretts say this is full-on chaos. 04:56.800 --> 04:58.160 Oh, it absolutely is. 04:58.160 --> 05:03.200 And Tom Tiffany has been running a very positive biographical style campaign, 05:03.200 --> 05:06.720 trying to develop his political brand outside of his congressional district. 05:07.520 --> 05:12.720 I think Republicans in Tiffany are now also starting to shift in the general election mode, 05:12.720 --> 05:15.120 gearing up for a race against Francesca Hong. 05:15.120 --> 05:16.880 And what a race it will be. 05:16.880 --> 05:18.160 Anthony Trivasti. 05:18.160 --> 05:19.040 Thanks very much. 05:20.240 --> 05:20.640 Thank you. 05:25.840 --> 05:31.920 I mean, yeah, the national media is just salivating over this. 05:31.920 --> 05:32.720 Oh, I know. 05:33.280 --> 05:33.840 I know. 05:33.840 --> 05:34.320 I know. 05:35.280 --> 05:41.920 It's going to be like the national media is just going to descend on Wisconsin once again. 05:41.920 --> 05:46.720 So I mean, Francesca Hong is going to be one of the most talked about Democrats in the country 05:46.720 --> 05:47.920 for the next three months. 05:47.920 --> 05:48.320 Yeah. 05:50.080 --> 05:51.920 She seems to be up for it, so. 05:53.040 --> 05:53.920 There you go. 05:53.920 --> 05:54.320 All right. 05:54.320 --> 05:55.760 Thank you so much. 05:55.760 --> 05:56.320 Appreciate it. 05:56.320 --> 05:57.360 Have a good weekend. 05:57.920 --> 06:00.880 Thank you.