A Wisconsin Republican Speaks

October 26th, New Glarus, Wisconsin: After hearing reports that the McCain campaign had reduced its media buys in Wisconsin, I paid a visit to the nearest McCain "Victory Headquarters" in a suburb of Madison where I encountered the GOP supporter featured in the video below:

Robo Rudy

October 24th, New Glarus, Wisconsin: Many, many years ago, during the course of a visit to Manhattan, I was introduced to Rudy Giuliani at a social event by a friend who was an acquaintance of his wife at the time, Donna Hanover. Imagine my surprise when I arrived here last night and found a message from Mr. Giuliani on our answering machine. I'd like to share it with you.

Robo Calls

Sunday October 19th, New Glarus, Wisconsin: I wasn't surprised to find a couple of political messages on the answering machine when we arrived here Thursday morning, given Wisconsin's status as a battleground state. Alas, while I had been hoping for some outrageously scurrilous attacks keyed to Bill Ayers or ACORN, my zip code apparently called for a deprecation of Hollywood. See the video below for more.

What really upset us this visit was learning that the son of a good friend here has decided to join the National Guard and complete his training obligations before completing his senior year in high school. He's 17; his mother, a single mom, is extremely distressed by his decision. How can the military be permitted to recruit kids who aren't old enough to vote?

Here's a little video. Thanks to Mike McIntyre and his band and the Friday night crowd at the New Glarus Hotel:

Green County Wisconsin Update

October 12th, New Glarus, Wisconsin: I was listening to Rush Limbaugh as I was driving up here on Thursday, and was half way between Rockford and Freeport when I hear him refer to Mary Mitchell of the Sun Times as a "Wuss,  wimp columnist". Nearly drove off the road (U.S. 20). Things are certainly getting nasty, witness the warmup of John McCain's crowd in Waukesha at roughly the same moment as Limbaugh's mean-spirited rant.

I'm seeing a few more McCain/Palin signs here. But the brewers of Green County are casting their lots with Obama. An Obama/Biden sign recently sprouted on the meadow west of the New Glarus Brewing Company. The Minhas Craft Brewery---formerly the Huber Brewery---in Monroe (which brews Berghoff beers under contract) hosted DNC chairman Howard Dean's event the week before last. (Brewery owner Ravinder Minhas is a Canadian citizen).

The Obama campaign is encouraging Illinois supporters to come to volunteer here in Wisconsin on weekends between now and election day. I've not seen a similar effort from the McCain camp.

By the way: the latest "unplugged" limited edition offering from the New Glarus Brewing Company is an authentic Bohemian Pilsner. This means a triple decoction mash and a three month lagering period. Pilsner lovers will want to drop everything and head up here. Too bad Goose Island discontinued its Pilsner (seems as though that brewery has given up on lagerds altogether).

Took some photos on my Friday morning walk up into Pioneer Valley. Here's a video that shows "Little Switzerland" in all its fall glory:

The Obama Channel

It's now all Obama all the time on Dish Network's channel 73. Senator Obama's campaign has bought this channel 24x7 between now and election day. Paid political programming dates from the earliest days of broadcasting, to be sure. But this has to be some sort of first. The McCain campaign has not followed suit. At least not yet.

By the way: I received twenty-eight interpretive emails from the Obama campaign while vice-presidential debate was in progress Thursday night. It was 9:47 before the first communication arrived from the McCain spinmeisters.