He’s not wrong.

“I don’t mean to throw anyone under the bus here on the Republican side, but we’re probably operating in a lot of aspects as we did three election cycles ago. In some cases 10 or 20 years ago,” Michels added. “The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has 20 people on staff, full time, year round. … The Republican Party of Wisconsin has five people on staff.”

 

Michels said Wisconsin Republicans simply cannot keep up with Democrats by relying on volunteers every two years.

 

“[Democrats] are using the most modern Silicon Valley technology to do voter identification, ballot identification, following-up with these people, and getting them to the polls,” Michels explained.

 

“They had 90% voter turnout in Dane County. That’s incredible. I don’t know how you could get 90% of the people, in say Oconomowoc, to show up for anything. You could give out $100 dollar bills and I don’t know if 90% of the people would show up, ” Michels said. “But they drove all of those people to the polls. And then the results were 80-20. That is a huge, huge hurdle that has to be overcome by conservatives and Republicans.”

It is also worth noting that the Democrats have a structural advantage because their voters are so concentrated in Dane and Milwaukee Counties (with a couple of other pockets). It’s logistically easier to focus efforts on a smaller geography while Republicans have to turn out voters in 300 small towns.

If Republicans really increase staff, they have to get that staff out of Madison and into the communities where Republicans live. If there are 20 GOP staffers, they better be in places like Wausau, Oshkosh, Osseo, Hayward, Manitowoc, New Berlin, and other communities that turned out Republicans. If they hire 20 staffers to sit around Madison and Milwaukee, they will lose the next election too.

I can almost guarantee that Evers had this statement written irrespective of who won. He just needed to fill in the name.

Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers responded to Trump-endorsed Tim Michels’ projected win in the Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday by labeling him as “radical” and “divisive.”

 

Michels defeated former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and two other Republican candidates in the GOP primary, and will face off against Evers in the general election in November.

 

In a statement following Michels’ projected primary victory, Evers’ campaign said his upcoming Republican opponent is “the most extreme and divisive nominee possible” who will say anything to appease former President Trump.

A couple comments on the GOP primary…

As I stated before, I supported Kleefisch because I think she would have been an indefatigable champion of conservatism as governor and I thought she stood the better chance of beating Evers. But… it’s close. Michels is a lifelong conservative and experienced business leader. He would also be a fine governor. I hope that Michels learned the lessons from his 2004 loss and makes the appropriate changes to his campaign strategy. I also hope that Michels has the same energy to move the conservative cause as governor as we saw in Walker’s first term.

Also, it is clear to me that the Republican base in Wisconsin has changed significantly since the Tea Party movement swept them into power in 2008 and 2010. It is more Trump than Reagan. More Hannity than Buckley. It is a different brand with different priorities. It’s good from the standpoint that it is an aggressive style that can get some big things done. Unfortunately, it is also a brand of conservatism that believes in big government doing big things – even if they are conservative things. It is not a brand that believes in small government. It’s not my brand, but it is far preferable to the Marxists on the Democratic side.

All that being said, I’m firmly in the Michels camp. Let’s git er dun.

Heh.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The National Rifle Association on Monday issued a stinging rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s pick for Wisconsin governor, accusing him of misleading its members after his campaign falsely claimed the gun advocacy group had endorsed him.

 

[…]

 

Michels’ campaign sent out a flyer that landed in mailboxes Saturday that claimed the NRA had endorsed him. Scott Meyer, a Wisconsin lobbyist who has done work for the NRA, said the group hasn’t endorsed anyone in the GOP primary and doesn’t plan to do so.

 

[…]

 

Michels’ campaign spokesman Chris Walker said in an email to The Associated Press on Monday that the claim was an “unintentional error” and has been immediately corrected with a new mailer that says Michels received an “AQ” grade on an NRA questionnaire about his stances on gun rights. Meyer said that grade indicates he answered the questions to the NRA’s satisfaction.

I have no doubt about Michels’ 2nd Amendment bona fides. He has a lifelong history supporting gun rights. I also have no doubt that this was just an honest mistake.

But it does worry me that this is yet another unforced error by the Michels’ campaign. He has some of the most experienced, highly-paid campaign people in the state working for him. How do they let something like this happen? It’s all fun and games in the primary, but every day lost to a stupid mistake like this in a general election is a day that Evers is winning.

On a side note, the first campaign I covered in depth as a blogger was the 2004 Senate Republican primary election. There were three candidates. I interviewed them all and wrote exptensively about it. It really was the race the pulled this blog to some modicum of prominance. Michels ended up winning the primary and losing the general election.

Years after the election. It was probably 2014… 2016 maybe? I stopped at Midwestern Shooters Supply in Lomira to look for a new carry holster (I didn’t find one) and ammo. Looking down the aisle I see Tim Michels. He recognized me immediately, said “Hi,” and we chatted about guns for a couple of minutes before we went on our mutual ways.

Good reporting from Wisconsin Right Now. There’s no doubt that Michels is a born Wisconsinite who lived in the state for many years. But if you get rich, buy homes on the coast, and live there, can you still be the governor of Wisconsin?

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels left some key facts out of his campaign biography: Namely, a $17 million Long Island Sound home located in a Greenwich, Connecticut neighborhood. The home was purchased in October 2020 through an oddly named LLC that makes ownership hard to trace. However, we have uncovered a building permit buried in a tranche of public documents that lists the owners as Tim and Barbara Michels.

 

Furthermore, from 2013-2021, all three Michels children attended and graduated from high schools in Connecticut and New York City, Wisconsin Right Now has documented. They are not boarding schools, and the kids were extensively involved in high school sporting activities there.

 

The youngest son graduated from a Greenwich high school in 2021, where he was on the sailing team, skippering yachts. That’s just the start of the family’s extensive east coast lives over the past decade. Tim and Barbara Michels accumulated more than $30 million in homes in Connecticut and New York City, with some of the ownership hidden through LLCs.

 

Michels and his wife gave Weill Cornell Medicine in New York a large donation last year in honor of their daughter’s inspirational recovery from brain cancer. A story on that gift reveals, “By 2017, the family was living in the New York area…” That article describes the family as “natives of Wisconsin.”

The language of the story is a little inflammatory. I doubt that the use of LLCs to purchase the homes was an attempt to hide anything. It is common practice for wealthy people who buy multiple properties. And I also give allowance for the issues of residency are a bit more nuanced for people with a bit of money. There are legions of Wisconsin retirees who are officially residents of Florida or Arizona, but they still consider themselves to be Wisconsinites.

Still, those issues of nuance are not applicable when running for public office. You live here or you don’t. The fact that the Michels kids have built lives in another state seems to indicate that they live there. We can reasonable think that their parents do too – even if they live a more nomadic lifestyle between multiple homes. Even if the parents are still spending most of their time in Wisconsin, it is a valid issue for the voters to consider where Tim Michels’ mind is really focused when his family life is oriented on the East Coast.

The table is finally fully set.

MILWAUKEE — Republican businessman Tim Michels is running for Wisconsin governor, TMJ4’s Charles Benson reports.

 

Michels is the co-owner of Brownsville, Wis.-based Michels Corporation with his brothers. Michels Corporation is an infrastructure and energy contractor.

 

Michels is jumping into the race with about fours months until the August primary. He ran for U.S. Senate in 2004 and lost to Russ Feingold.

I like Tim Michels. He’s a good guy who has done a lot for Republican causes and for the state. But I just don’t see what the differentiator is between him and Kleefisch. At least, I don’t see what the positive differentiator is. Kleefisch is right on almost all of the issues. There are questions about Michels when it comes to government spending. Is he really going to fight for less spending on things like roads when his company is the recipient of that spending? Maybe. Maybe not. Why take the chance?