Wisconsin. PBS Wisconsin original
production. 2024 election coverage.
Milwaukee braces for the Republican National Convention,
where the GOP presidential nominee is all but determined.
Democrats are still holding their breath. I'm Frederica
Freyberg tonight on "Here& Now" political commentator Scot Ross
and Bill McCoshen are here previewing next week's Grand old
party convention in Milwaukee. And we hear guidance about now
legal absentee ballot drop boxes. It's "Here& Now" for July
12. provided by the Focus Fund for
Journalism and Friends of PBS. Wisconsin.
Convention is next week in Milwaukee, but the hyper focus
remains on Joe Biden. And for the president on the ropes.
Tough choices. How does the race shape up in the critical state
of Wisconsin? We turn to our political panelists, Republican
Ross. And thanks for being here. >> Thanks to be here.
>> So first to you, Scott, in all of this, what do Wisconsin
Democrats want Joe Biden to do? >> Well, I think they want him
to continue to talk about what he's done for the people of
Wisconsin and what the choice is between he and Donald Trump. I
mean, you know, everything that I see electeds activists and
donors are all riding with Biden still. You know, he had a tough
week. But the fact is he has emerged from it. His speech on
Thursday was his his hour long press conference with the media,
where he was being grilled, you know, showed him at the top of
his game. And I think that that's what Democrats want to
see. They want to see that contrast issues, abortion,
health care, democracy. And, you know, again, pivoting back to
Donald Trump, a guy who has 34 felony counts, who on Thursday
would have been sentenced if the Supreme Court, which he
controls, hadn't named him immune from prosecution.
>> He's definitely on the ropes, though.
I don't think we've ever seen anything like this in our
president has gotten out of the race is March 31st, 1968. I was
three years old. LBJ are we going to see that in the next
ten days? I'm not sure. But if you look at how destabilizing
the debate performance for Biden was, we had a situation where he
was literally on the mat and came to Madison last week,
didn't do that great, didn't do very well with George
Stephanopoulos, made some mistakes. There. Does a full
hour long press conference last night, but he sends the
Congressional Democrats a letter on Monday saying, hey, I'm your
candidate. I'm in the race. I'm not getting out. Three days
later, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is asked about this, and
she says, well, he just needs to make a decision. Either she
didn't read the letter or she didn't get it right. So
Democrats are still saying he needs to make a decision. In his
mind, he's made that decision. This is all very destabilizing.
So it's good for Republicans. Yeah.
greatest thing for Democrats. That's that's for sure. But what
I will say is it shows the contrast between the two
parties. You know, the Republican Party is all in for a
guy with 34 felonies. You know, a guy who threatens democracy, a
guy who's who met with Viktor Orban this week, you know,
Putin's puppet, a guy who's going to turn our country and
to Putin versus a guy like Joe Biden.
it is for someone like US Senator Tammy Baldwin running
for reelection. >> I don't I mean, she said she
stands with Biden. You know, that was the that was basically
the statement, you know, and that's the way she's always
been. You know, Senator Baldwin has never been somebody out
there throwing bombs one way or the other. She goes out, she
does the work for Wisconsinites, and she does the most important
thing. If we're talking about elections, which is win
elections by delivering solidly, by raising money and by getting
out all over the state and you contrast that with her opponent?
I don't think, you know, I don't think it matters.
>> 17 congressional Democrats have called for Biden to step
aside, not to resign, but to step aside from the race. There
were reports yesterday before the press conference that as
many as 24 to 30 more were going to ask for the same thing, for
him to step aside. Only one has done that since. So maybe he
stemmed the tide. My sense is Tammy Baldwin can run ahead of
Joe Biden, but the question is, if he's the nominee and he's a
drag on the ticket, how much can he drag her down?
>> So Donald Trump wants Biden to stay in?
>> Absolutely. >> Who would he least like to
run against? >> You know, for me, I think
young female would be would be a challenge for him for sure. But
there isn't one out there that's got universal name ID, although
that can be bought. But the one thing I'll correct Scott on
major donors to Democrats for a super PAC, $90 million. They've
told the white House they're not going to release that money
unless Biden is removed from the ticket.
program, we described it as Democrats holding their breath.
Is that accurate? >> I think that Democrats are
trying to play this one out and see how it goes. Now, I'll go
back to what Bill said about, like, who would be the best
opponent, you know, who would be the worst opponent for Trump?
I'd say Kamala Harris. You know, if you look at the demographics
of what? Of who's winning, what, Joe Biden is beating Trump in
all of the age demographics except for Gen X, 40 to 55 year
old voters, he's down by 15 points with that. Kamala Harris
would be our first Gen X president, so he does definitely
not want Vice President Harris, who has a lot of name ID, who
would have the operation and who can stand on Biden's record
creating 169,000 jobs, getting 27,000 people, student loan
relief as opposed to the Trump record 89,000 jobs lost.
>> You know, if we stay with the Biden Trump match up, though,
what kind of a choice is this for voters? Would they be voting
for the platform, the party, not the tricky.
>> A Pew Research came out with a poll this week. 63% of voters
don't want either of these choices. Yet here we are, 85% in
that same poll and in the Washington Post poll. This week,
said Joe Biden is too old. So I think a lot of Americans would
like a do over. But here we are. And so that's how it's going to
shake out. do some traveling and some
friends of mine from abroad were asking me, tell me about the
election earlier this year. And I said, well, about $5 billion
is going to be spent to determine whether or not an 81
year old or a 78 year old is the future of the of the United
States. I mean, that's that's where we're at.
>> So, down to the ground in Wisconsin, what is the most
resonant issue, do you think, for voters?
>> Well, the Institute for Reforming Government released a
poll this week of likely voters in Wisconsin. They said it's
inflation. 47% had listed inflation as their number one
issue. I think that's right. I think immigration is a big issue
here as well. And I think the border is a big issue. I think
those are the main three. Scott will add abortion, I'm sure, and
that is a big issue specifically for Democrats, less so for
Republicans and independents. >> I mean, I guess if those are
the issues that ERG says, then it's bad news because border
crossings are down, inflation is down, jobs are up. I mean, you
know, it couldn't be better. The atmosphere couldn't be better,
issue wise for Democrats, just a matter of not, you know,
hopefully they'll continue to do what they do, which is outraise
the Republicans outorganized the Republicans and out get out the
vote. Republicans again, in this atmosphere in which we've got a
real serious threat to democracy, if this goes south
for Dems. be at the Republican National
Convention, speaking every day with senior political reporter
Zac Schultz to offer your color and insight at the RNC bill.
What are you most looking forward to seeing?
>> I'm excited to hear who Donald Trump chooses as his
running mate, the list, I think, is a little longer than has been
released. JD Vance is on the list. Doug Burgum, Marco Rubio,
my dark horse, is still Glenn Youngkin. I think he's the one
that adds the most. You want to have somebody that can put more
states in play. There's no question that Youngkin can do
that. I think my second choice in that list would be Marco
Rubio, because I think he helps in both Nevada and in Arizona.
>> So does the VP matter to a Trump presidency?
have someone like Glenn Youngkin who can deliver the Virginia
electoral votes, then the blue wall of Pennsylvania, Michigan
and Wisconsin, you know, Joe Biden still got to sweep that to
win. >> What are you going to be
doing at the Republican convention?
to see there as opposed to what I'm not going to see there. The
former Republican president of the United States, George Bush,
the former vice president of the United States, Republican Dick
Cheney, the former vice president for Donald Trump, Mike
pence. And what are we going to see Melania Trump there? We
haven't seen her on the trail so far. And maybe finally, you
know, we'll get Donald Trump. It's been 154 days since he did
a press conference. Maybe he'll do one next week.
>> Democrats are going to be seen and heard there I
understand. >> Yeah, absolutely.
pushed the protest lines back, Democrats will find a way to get
their message out. And, you know, hopefully they'll say the
right things at the right time to the right people.
>> We look forward to having you on our air next week. Thank you
very much. >> McCoshen Scot Ross. Thank yo.
Starting Monday, look for "Here& Now" 2024 election coverage from
the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee at 2
p.m. live each day. Senior political reporter Zac Schultz,
with panelists McCoshen and Ross. Then each night at 830, a
Wisconsin update and on Friday, full coverage starting at 7 p.m.
on "Here& Now" The convention is expected to draw about 50,000
people to Milwaukee. It will also bring a national and
international spotlight to the state's largest city. Here and
now reporter Stephen Potter will also report from the convention
and has been closely monitoring the security efforts in and
around the site of the RNC at Fiserv Forum.
>> While the thousands of attendees will be focused on the
politics of the Republican National Convention next week, a
significant law enforcement presence will be focused on
security. priority than public safety.
>> We've been working hard to ensure safety.
>> My name is Mike Hensel. I'm the Michael Hensel is the
special agent in charge of the FBI for Wisconsin, one of the
lead agencies responsible for convention safety and bringing
personnel to Milwaukee. Thousands are being brought in
to make sure it's safeguarded. We have over 12 different
agencies, both federal, state and local involved in this
national event. The primary being the Secret Service, who
has the primary jurisdiction both for the RNC here. And then
in August, the DNC and the Chicago area Milwaukee PD the
Highway Patrol. Really every agency within the state has some
component, again, of the Coast Guard fire.
established two perimeters around the Fiserv Forum, which
is where most of the convention activity will be held. The
larger perimeter is roughly a ten by ten block area that is
open to the public, but any vehicle entering must be
screened. The smaller perimeter is restricted only to
pedestrians who have convention credentials, and they must enter
through a security checkpoint. Restricted items not allowed in
either security perimeter include flammable liquids, rope,
chains, large pieces of lumber, and hammers. Additionally,
firearms will not be allowed in the convention. Only smaller
perimeter. However, per state law, firearms will be allowed
within the larger security perimeter that is open to the
public. Maritime restrictions will also be in place, so no
boats will be allowed on the part of the Milwaukee River that
flows through downtown. Hensel says that it's not just up to
law enforcement to keep the RNC safe.
enforcement agencies know if you're concerned about somethin.
That's everyone's doing that, we're able to more
effectively both police our local communities, but also
address any concerns that the public may have.
>> Stephen Potter joins us now from Milwaukee. What provisions
are being made for protests there?
>> There are two protest areas, one on the north and one on the
south side of the larger security perimeter. Both of
these areas are about a block from the tighter inner security
zone. And there is one group known as the Coalition to March
on the RNC. And they are expecting thousands of people
for a rally on Monday, perhaps 5000 people. They say this is
the same group that unsuccessfully sued the city of
Milwaukee earlier this week, saying that the protest areas
weren't close enough to the Fiserv Forum. We'll see what
this group does if they do protest outside of the
restricted areas and what consequences they may face for
doing so. >> 5000 protesters is a lot of
protesters, but I suppose that could be expected. Have there
been any threats even ahead of the convention?
>> There was a threat memo released by federal and local
law enforcement authorities, and they noted that the Republican
National Convention is an attractive target. They said
some of the things that they're looking for are swatting,
hoaxes, property damage, arson, delivery of suspicious packages.
Aside from that, the local law enforcement authorities are
expecting regular crime, as you would expect for some of the
crowds of this size, which would be theft and robberies.
>> I do know also that the Milwaukee police were warning
people about the crime of carjacking, which is a perennial
issue, of course, but is the city battened down tight, or are
people able to move about? I mean, and I guess I asked that
for when the convention is in effect, proper.
>> The city in the downtown area is tightening as we speak, and
they will be fully locked down probably by Sunday night, beyond
that, you know, local residents are telling me that they can
still move freely in the downtown area and residents can
move as, as they wish right now. But many of the folks who do
work in the downtown area are telling me that if they can work
remotely next week, they will, just to avoid the hassle.
>> Good choice. All right, Stephen Potter, thanks very
much. We look forward to your reporting next week. Thank you.
A week ago, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed a
near-total ban on the use of absentee ballot drop boxes
enacted in 2022 after conspiracy claims of election fraud in the
2020 election. Milwaukee and Madison made the widest use of
drop boxes. We spoke with Dane County Clerk Scott McDonnell,
who calls them a common sense tool. Why do you like the use of
drop boxes? >> Well, they're particularly
important in the last week of the election. The last 3 or 4
days, the US mail has is not as reliable as it used to be. For
us in Madison, the mail used to be processed locally. Now goes
to Milwaukee and back. So there's concern that the ballot
will arrive late. If it does, it's not counted. Other states,
if it's postmarked, they'll count it. But in Wisconsin they
won't. So the drop box really helpful those last few days to
make sure they get received on time.
still oppose them that they're worried about fraud?
>> I really don't understand that. I mean, we've been using
absentee voting since the Civil War, the US mail boxes are less
secure than a drop box, say, in Madison. The Madison ones are in
front of a fire department with 24 over seven personnel there. A
camera, that's not true for the mailbox in front of my house. So
it doesn't really make a lot of sense, honestly.
>> And how busy are clerks? Right about now?
>> This is going to be a busy few months here, absentee
ballots are out, where there's training going on and poll
workers, there's a lot going on right now, we have a training
next week. We have one of the things that's different now,
Frederica, is how much training we do for potential problems.
Things like fentanyl in the mail or swatting, where people are,
are, you know, having 911 called on their house or so unlikely as
they are. It's something we have to prepare for.
>> The High Court ruling allowing absentee ballot drop
boxes prompted an emergency meeting of the Wisconsin
Elections Commission late this week to carefully craft guidance
for the 1800 election clerks across the state, who may now
start using them again, starting with the August 13th primary
elections. >> Commission administrator
Megan Wolfe metes out the commissioner's guidance. We
spoke with her just after the meeting. How does the new
guidance for clerks on the use of the boxes differ from
guidance given by the Commission for the 2020 election?
>> Yeah, that's a great question. In 2020, the
commission didn't issue very specific because clerks had
been using drop boxes for decades. It was a local decision
where they had been choosing, you know, whether or not it was
right for their community for a long time, this guidance by the
commission, I think, is different in that it does lay
out some more specific information, especially as it
relates to security practices. So the Commission today, in
their meeting, they had a public meeting where the six
commissioners unanimously voted includes a pretty robust section
on security best practices. And I think the commission's desire
today was to make sure that jurisdictions across the state,
whether it's a large city or a small town, have security best
practices that they can analyze and utilize, no matter what the
size of their jurisdiction, and really try to get consistency in
terms of election drop box security.
specific security around these boxes?
practice guidance which has been shared with the clerks as part
of the commission's guidance. But the commission also went
through line by line. All six commissioners in a bipartisan
fashion. And they included items such as making sure that a drop
box is securely affixed to the ground or the side of a
building, making sure that drop boxes are secured against
unlawful access or emptying things like analyzing to make
sure a drop box has a slot that's appropriately sized so
that only an absentee ballot can be deposited and not other
objects. And so many of the things are pretty common sense,
but it gives the local election officials a checklist that they
can go through and use when they're analyzing their drop box
security for their jurisdiction of course, we know that the use
of these boxes exploded during pandemic voting, with more than
40% of all votes cast that year through absentee ballot.
>> Did that result in election tipping fraud, as alleged by
Donald Trump and his supporters? >> There has not been any
widespread fraud shown to be, you know, a reality in that
election. And so I think that, you know, we didn't see those
types of unlawful practices in the 2020 election. And certainly
we don't expect to see those things in the 2024 election. But
things like this bipartisan guidance from the commission
today will help to build on what are already very secure
elections with integrity here in the state of Wisconsin.
>> Meanwhile, at the polling places proper, there's an
expectation of heightened one group stating that they plan
to aggressively challenge clerks prepared for with
election observers, especially after two of them had to be
removed from a Glendale polling place just last week during a
special election? >> So the commission meaning,
again, the six member bipartisan commission, has also made
tremendous progress this year in new observer rules. So there is
a new emergency observer administrative rule that is now
available. And the Commission undertook over a years long
process where they actually had an advisory committee that was
made up of clerks, of observers and of other groups that are
involved in elections that really represented the full
spectrum of Wisconsin politics. And they all came together and
had multiple meetings to talk through some of the questions
and concerns that arise as part of the observer process. And so
I believe that that guidance, again, it's unanimous guidance
that or administrative rule that was, you know, passed by the
commission is really going to be helpful to be able to give the
poll workers and the observers themselves a better
rights are in the polling place. Observers are such an important
part of a healthy election day. Being able to observe the
process in this new observer rule really helps observers
understand their rights in terms of what they're able to see, and
the poll workers understand, you know, what constitutes sort of
orderly conduct of the polling place and when they're able to
step in, when we do have those rare instances where there are
disturbances, all right. >> Meagan Wolfe, thanks very
much. Thank you. You know, the foam you sometimes see on the
shores of lakes and rivers. Be forewarned. A new study shows
the foam can contain very high levels of forever chemicals or
PFAS, even if the water below may not. The University of
Wisconsin Aquatic Sciences Center analyzed foams and water
of 43 lakes and rivers in Wisconsin. Its director, Christy
Remucal, is here with more on this finding. And thanks a lot
for being here. >> Thanks for having me.
>> Really important information. What does this foam look like?
>> So this looks like soap that you might see in a bathtub. It's
a white foamy material. Sometimes you see it on a lake
or a river, like on a windy day or downstream of a dam, places
like that. you found?
>> So we measured PFAS concentrations in this foam and
also in water. And what we found were the PFAS concentrations
were 50 to 7000 times higher in the foam compared to in the
water. you find these highest readings?
>> The place where we found the highest concentrations were in
Lake Monona here in Madison, Hayum so how dangerous is it to
ingest? So PFAS, the main way we're exposed to it is through
ingestion. So we mainly think about exposure through drinking
water or food or things like that. So the concentrations
we're concerned about are very low. The ones that can cause
adverse health outcomes. People probably aren't eating a lot of
foam, but we still think it's good to avoid coming in contact
with it. would you give to folks who see
it on on bodies of water? >> I think our research really
echoes what our state Department of Natural Resources has already
said, that people should avoid coming into contact with foams.
They should keep their pets, their dogs out. You know,
they'll get into the foam. They shouldn't have their kids play
in the foam. And if you do come into contact with it, you should
wash your hands before eating or drinking.
high levels of PFAS in the foams didn't necessarily translate,
though, to the water below. >> Well, the ratios were
relatively similar. So if we if there was a lake that had higher
concentrations of PFAS, we also had higher concentrations of
PFAS in the foam. So Lake Monona, for example, it had
among the higher concentrations in water in the state as well as
in the foam. So they were correlated. But I think the
thing that was really surprising was because the concentration
effect was so high in the foam, even a lake like Lake Mendota,
which has lower concentrations in the water, you still found
amounts in the foam that might be of concern.
>> So 43, site samples for this research, could we extrapolate
and say, if you see this foam across the state, it's likely
the same? >> I think that's probably true.
We really try in this study to sample different water bodies.
Some lakes we know have higher concentrations of PFAS. We also
made sure to sample places where the concentrations are lower. So
we could look at how things varied depending on the site.
>> So how does this discovery help scientists understand how
these forever chemicals move in groundwater? And what is the
implication of that. which means they like to
accumulate at the air, water interface. So the very top of
the water. And so that's why they're in the foam where
there's lots of little bubbles underground. This partitioning
behavior is really important for how PFAS move. So in the
subsurface there's little lots of these little interfaces. So
PFAS can kind of get trapped there. And that slows down how
they move. And this process is really well known underneath the
ground. But this was one of the first times we saw it in lakes
and rivers. >> How does this research inform
paths to PFAS cleanup? >> Yeah. So people are actually
trying to generate foam on purpose as a way to concentrate
PFAS and remove it from the water. So that's something
that's under research development right now. So taking
advantage of this natural ability of PFAS to accumulate in
these types of environments, they're trying to use that as a
remediation approach. the scientific community to
this, >> I think that's a good
question. And I mean, the paper just came out, so it's a little
hard to know. I think the thing that will probably be the most
surprising is the concentrations of PFAS we found in foams in
lakes and rivers that had lower concentrations in the water. I
think that will be the biggest surprise.
Thank you very much for the information. Christy Remucal.
>> To see these and other stories, visit our website at
PBS Wisconsin. Org. And then click on the news tab here. In
now special Projects journalist Murv Seymour has published a
series of online reports about black therapists, youth
To see all of our election coverage, visit Wisconsin
Vote.org. That's our program for tonight. I'm Frederica Freyberg.
Have a good weekend. >> Funding for here and Now is
provided by the Focus Fund for journalism and Friends of PBS.