The future runs through the Midwest.
It’s no accident that the two major parties are holding their nominating conventions in the heartland and only 90 miles apart. They need to win here. In fact, unless Kamala Harris’ sudden rise changes the equation, the Democrats’ most direct path back to the White House comes through Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. It’s only partially an accident that Harris kicked off her campaign in West Allis on July 23. Her rally was scheduled before Joe Biden dropped out and she was already going to spend a lot of time here. Now, she and her running mate will spend more.
The Republican National Convention was probably good for Milwaukee. The city looked good on national television. I was happy for my home town. And it was probably good for the Republicans too. If you don’t focus on stuff like lies and hypocrisy, the party presented itself as united, confident, and not as angry as it has been in recent cycles.
The only person off script was the nominee. Donald Trump might have all but put the Democrats away had he simply read what was on the teleprompter in front of him. But he couldn’t help himself. In a rambling, 90-minute diatribe that seemed longer, Trump proved that not even a near death experience could make him into a human being, capable of humility or empathy. He was the same old Trump. Vile, dishonest, mean-spirited, small and barely coherent.
Now it’s the Democrats’ turn in Chicago, starting on Aug. 19. Their convention had been shaping up to be a death march, with delegates shuffling in to nominate the 81-year-old Joe Biden. Even after his disastrous debate performance in late June, it looked like Biden wouldn’t step aside. Then he finally took the hint from the slow-growing pressure, probably orchestrated by Nancy Pelosi. Even after Biden said over and over again that he wasn’t going to quit, Pelosi said he needed to make up his mind, implying that not quitting was also not making up his mind in a way that his mind needed to be made up.
After he grudgingly stepped aside, Democrats and liberal pundits rushed to say nice things about him. Tributes, as they say, poured in. But not from me. Biden never should have run for another term to begin with. And even after it was clear that he was both almost certain to lose to Trump and unfit to serve another four years even if he did find a way to win, he stubbornly refused to accept reality. If Harris wins, all will be forgiven. If she loses, he’ll be blamed and rightfully so.
But, now that Biden is out and Harris is in, the convention is likely to be every bit as united and energetic as the GOP conclave in Milwaukee. It feels like a heavy burden has been lifted from the party’s shoulders. And, at only 59, Harris looks like a kid in contrast to the 78-year old Trump who gives a bad name to grumpy old men.
The Democrats have a fighting chance now. But the whole ballgame comes down to a handful of states, most definitely including Wisconsin. Whatever Harris and her running mate do and say, it has to play in Platteville.
And it may also have to play in Dane County. Brandon Maly, the new, young and energetic chair of the Dane County Republican Party, promises to put more resources into this Democratic stronghold. His reasoning is the same as that of Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Baldwin works the whole state, both as a senator and as a candidate. Her view is that, while she won’t win a lot of rural counties, if she can just narrow the margins of victory for the Republican it helps her win statewide. Her formula has already worked twice and there’s no reason to think it won’t work again against this cycle’s opponent, Eric Hovde.
Maly figures that Hovde and Trump can win if they get just one out of four votes here. So, expect to see more ads from them and, at least if you’re in rural Dane County, maybe even a canvasser at your door.
Even though I badly want Trump to lose, I like Maly’s effort. That’s because Dane County has become an unhealthy political monoculture, an echo chamber of ever deepening liberal views. We need some conservatives to keep us honest and keep us tethered, ever so gingerly, to mainstream America. If it’s good for Baldwin to go to Forest County, why isn’t it just as good for the Republicans to contest Dane?
But, no matter how you look at it, we matter. The conventions are here for a reason. Harris started her quest here for a reason. In more ways than one now, the choice is between continuing on the historic path of progress or retreating into a mean past.
And we’ll decide.
Dave Cieslewicz is a Madison- and Upper Peninsula-based writer who served as mayor of Madison from 2003 to 2011. You can read more of his work at Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos.
