WEBVTT

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Along with the weather, the heat is also on in Wisconsin's primary election campaigns

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with just about six weeks to go before the August 11 run-offs.

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There are congressional races like in the seventh and third districts to watch and the

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race for governor, where six Democrats are still vying to be chosen to take on the leading

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Republican in the race.

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As the campaigns heat up, we turn to political panelists, Republican Bill McCation, and Democrat

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Scott Ross.

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Thanks for being here, guys.

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Thanks for having us.

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Thanks for having us.

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Thanks for having us.

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So first to you, Scott, with absentee ballots going out and now being arguably into the

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final stretch, who is breaking through on the Democratic side for candidates for governor

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and why?

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I mean, it seems like it still could be anybody's ballgame.

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There's a lot of spending going on right now.

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I guess if they say it's not a sprint, it's a marathon, but we've crossed the 20-mile

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marker, and we're getting to the point where people are going to have to start making up

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their minds about who their candidate's going to be.

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I think the Democrats have an embarrassment of riches.

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I think they are fighting, you know, they're running down downhill because the Republicans

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are so in trouble because of the record of Donald Trump, and the fact that they're nominee

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Tom Tiffany is a radical extremist who is completely and totally tied to Trump in every

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single way.

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So Bill, do you want to respond to that?

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I don't agree that it's anybody's ballgame.

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One has already dropped out, Missy Hughes.

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I wouldn't be surprised if two more dropped out in July.

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We got 38 days to go.

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I think it's really three people who are seriously in contention to win this.

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It's Francesca Hong, a legislator from Madison, Mandela Barnes, former Lieutenant Governor,

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and current Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez.

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I think those are the only three who have a legitimate shot to win at this point based

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on all the polling.

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We will have a new Marquette poll out in about 10 days here in Wisconsin.

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That'll sort of give everyone the picture of where things are at, but what we know from

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private polls and some other publicly released polls is those are the top three, and Hong

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is the one that's surging at this point.

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Speaking of Francesca Hong, Scott, what Democratic strategists make of Democratic socialists?

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I mean, listen, for the last 50 years, when a Democratic elected wants to spend money

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that's not on tax cuts for rich people or corporations, Bill's party calls them socialists.

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They call them welfare.

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They call them worse.

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I mean, for God's sakes, they were calling his old boss, Tommy Thompson, signature achievement,

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badger care here in Wisconsin, welfare.

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That's what the speaker of the assembly was calling it.

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So, you know, we're a big tent, and the fact is, is that when it comes to people's expenses,

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when it comes to gas prices, Republicans are a failure for Wisconsin, it's a failure for

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America.

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That's why Democrats are going to win this election in the fall, not because of labels

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that Republicans have been putting on us for 50 years, anyhow.

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Republicans are putting that label on her?

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Well, I mean, Democrats are owning it, and proudly owning it, and I think that's actually

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worked to Francesca Hong's advantage.

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I mean, she's gone on national podcasts with a guy named Hassan Piker, who's got several

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million followers, and she raised $100,000,000 in one day.

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Why?

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She's the boldest progressive in the race.

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She's willing to say what others are not willing to say, and she's willing to be a Democratic

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socialist, and none of the others have attacked her for that.

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I can guarantee you, Tom Tiffany's going to contrast with her if she ends up getting

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through the primary at 38 days.

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I mean, Tiffany's been attacking Barnes and Hong the entirety of his campaign, and again,

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which I think is smart.

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Yeah, of course.

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But, you know, let's not kid ourselves.

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Tom Tiffany was on a podcast last week with a book burner who says that foreign governments

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are turning our kids' trans.

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So, like, if we want to talk about the Internet and who is appearing on Internet things, yeah,

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I think that's a fight that Democrats win.

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But nationally, you only have 13 Democrats in the Congress who have signed up to sort

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of fight the Democratic socialist.

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That's less than 10 percent the Democratic members of the House of Representatives.

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So it is a tough line to hold right now for Democrats.

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They're not sure if they should be with the socialist.

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Guys like J.B.

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Pritzker have come out in favor, said we need more socialists in our party.

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That's stunning to me.

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Yeah, I think the thing you think about that is that all the candidates who are calling

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themselves a Democratic socialist and the ones who have been elected are all younger.

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They're all millennials.

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They're all ones who are staring up to, standing up to the gerontocracy that is the Democratic

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Party with our 75-year-old Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

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So, I think, ideologically, Democrats are all in the same camp, which is we want fully

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funded schools.

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We want access to affordable health care.

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We want to protect our clean air and water.

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We want our civil liberties.

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And we don't want to ice Gestapo disappearing 38 people in Wisconsin yesterday.

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I would sum his up and two words.

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They want bold progressivism.

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And that's why Hongs in the game.

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Years ago, when Tony Evers won this primary with 42%, by the way, the winner of this will

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not come close to that number, she would have been a fringe candidate.

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Today, she's got a chance to win it.

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Super interesting.

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So, Bill, who would Tom Tiffany most want as a general election opponent?

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And who would he be afraid of?

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I think he would have been more concerned about those that are not going to make it to the

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finish line.

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Believe it or not.

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I think Democrats decided that the sort of more moderate who can appeal to trade union

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guys or sort of the moderate old school Democrats, they're not going to make it to

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the finish line in this race.

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So, all three of those who we've both agreed are sort of in the front of the pack are pretty

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progressive.

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And that's a good contrast for Tiffany.

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So, I don't think he has a problem with any of the three top tier candidates.

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Tom Tiffany's biggest problem is not who he's going to face, but the fact that he's on

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the ballot at all.

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This is a guy who took money, he took food out of the mouths of children to give billionaires

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tax breaks.

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And he's the one who wants a national abortion ban, he took $300 billion from rural health

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care.

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So, rural Wisconsin, when your hospitals are closing, you can thank Tom Tiffany for that.

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And he supports the $2 billion payoff for the January 6 terrorist arrest, terrorist insurrectionists.

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So, this is a guy who is radically out of touch with where Wisconsin folks are, especially

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now when prices are higher than they've ever been, gas prices are higher than they've ever

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been because of the worst choice in Iran.

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And the fact that Trump is making billions of dollars while people can't afford food.

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The landscape is challenging for a sitting congressman in this cycle.

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There's no question about that.

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But I think Tom Tiffany can easily make the contrast between common sense and crazy.

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And I think most Wisconsin voters will side with common sense.

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He's trying to make over, it's not going to work.

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He's scrubbed his website before he got in the race and, you know, he can't hide from

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his record.

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He can't run from it.

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As much as he ducks the media, he cannot run from it.

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So, Bill, in the third and seventh congressional races, will Donald Trump's endorsement carry

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the day, of course, in the primary, presumably, but in the general?

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Both of those seats lean red.

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Remember, our congressional maps were not changed.

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These are the same ones that we've run on for the last couple of cycles, which means

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Derek Van Ordon should be considered the favorite.

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He's the incumbent.

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And it means that the Republican, whomever comes out of the primary in 38 days, should

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be the favorite in the seventh.

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I think Donald Trump is going to help Derek Van Ordon.

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I think he's going to be in Western Wisconsin once or twice.

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I think J.D.

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Vance will be.

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I think Donald Trump will ultimately help in the seventh, but I think they also don't

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want to have to spend too many resources up there.

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That's kind of a messy primary, which is unfortunate on our side between Kevin Hermanning, former

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Iranian hostage and successful businessman and young man Michael Alfonso, who did get

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the president's endorsement.

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My hope is that Republicans sort of put down their arms and stop the circular firing squad

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that's going on on that, because I think either would be ultimately a great congress

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person, but right now, it's pretty messy for the Republicans.

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Scott, what are the next six weeks look like in these races?

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I think the next six weeks are in the third and the seventh or day.

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I think you're going to see Republicans ducking the media.

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Derek Van Ordon is just terrified of going before any sort of camera that's not some

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right-wing podcaster.

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I think that he is the one who is in the most trouble.

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Whoever comes out of the primary, and obviously there's Rebecca Cook, who has a massive fundraising

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advantage, and Emily Berg, who's the councilman up in Eau Claire, I think either one of them

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contrasts great against the record of Derek Van Ordon.

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I mean, he's been, if Tom Tiffany wasn't in Congress, he'd be our most extremist member

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of Congress.

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So I think that he's got a lot to answer for, and I think the voters are going to hold

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him accountable for that.

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All right.

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We need to leave it there.

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We'll circle back with you both before the primary, and after, of course, Bill McCuschen

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and Scott Ross.

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Thank you.

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Thanks for having us.

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No, it's okay, but the way you guys did at the conventions with Zach, that would be

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so fun.

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Yeah.

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Go.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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We should do it.

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We should think about that.

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We could do that.

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Yeah, yeah, of course.

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Are you going to Valencia this summer?

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I want to go in September, but I don't, I don't, it's sort of up to my wife, kind of

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I'm kind of trying to be...

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That would be cool.

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Responsible.

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Be a better husband.

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Be the best husband.