WI-SEN 2022 Megathread: Who stole my cheese?

[Arizona Iced Tea]

I didn't expect Mandela Barnes to crumble this early. I thought the polling would have Barnes with a slight lead and Johnson outperforming Wisconsin polls and winning. However, he is now polling in the average at R+3 which is terrible news for Barnes. A 2016 sized polling error would have Johnson+9! Even if you say the polls will be accurate this time and cite 2018 Barnes still loses. Dems should just triage this race and spend that money somewhere else. Baring some unforseen event it doesn't look like Barnes can win.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Barnes raises $20M. He still has a chance - but it's all about what he does with that money.

https://twitter.com/lauren_chou/status/1577631553072627712

It's too late. That money would have been helpful in late August. There was clearly an opening after he won the primary, before the dark money came in and defined him, but that was his only shot.

[wbrocks67]

Barnes raises $20M. He still has a chance - but it's all about what he does with that money.

https://twitter.com/lauren_chou/status/1577631553072627712

It's too late. That money would have been helpful in late August. There was clearly an opening after he won the primary, before the dark money came in and defined him, but that was his only shot.

Was he supposed to raise $20M in 2 weeks after the primary

[Progressive Pessimist]

Barnes raises $20M. He still has a chance - but it's all about what he does with that money.

https://twitter.com/lauren_chou/status/1577631553072627712

It's too late. That money would have been helpful in late August. There was clearly an opening after he won the primary, before the dark money came in and defined him, but that was his only shot.

Was he supposed to raise $20M in 2 weeks after the primary

Obviously that would have been difficult, I'm just saying that's what's needed to truly go toe-to-toe with Johnson and the dark money interests that are so influential in Wisconsin politics and prop him up. It's not an indictment of Barnes as much as it is an indictment of the messy state of our campaign finance laws.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Barnes raises $20M. He still has a chance - but it's all about what he does with that money.

https://twitter.com/lauren_chou/status/1577631553072627712

It's too late. That money would have been helpful in late August. There was clearly an opening after he won the primary, before the dark money came in and defined him, but that was his only shot.

Was he supposed to raise $20M in 2 weeks after the primary

Obviouslt that would have been difficult, I'm just saying that's what's needed to truly go toe-to-toe with Johnson and the dark money interests that are so influential in Wisconsin politics and prop him up. It's not an indictment of Barnes as much as it is an indictment of the messy state of our campaign finance laws.

Lol Data 4 Progress just polled this race CCM, Kotek and Barnes are all down by 2 pts Ds aren't bailing on Barnes

[wbrocks67]

Oop!

https://twitter.com/GasBuddyGuy/status/1578168426891284480

[walleye26]

I’m really skeptical that Barnes wins this. Literally every time I get in my car I hear another radio ad attacking him, and I’ve heard zero response from Barnes. I haven’t seen any attack ads against RonJon for anything-not about his stupid Jan 6th comments, or his vaccine conspiracies, etc. RonJon and his Allies have destroyed Barnes, and no response. That’s why the polls are widening.

[Blair]

Democratic outside spending has been something like 23 million hasn’t it?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I’m really skeptical that Barnes wins this. Literally every time I get in my car I hear another radio ad attacking him, and I’ve heard zero response from Barnes. I haven’t seen any attack ads against RonJon for anything-not about his stupid Jan 6th comments, or his vaccine conspiracies, etc. RonJon and his Allies have destroyed Barnes, and no response. That’s why the polls are widening.

Our Early voting is the best there is trust it, if Rs don't have a 5 pt lead they're gonna lose that's the lesson of AK and NY 19 WI is a blue not red state, it's within MOE it's 2 not 6 pts

[wbrocks67]

I’m really skeptical that Barnes wins this. Literally every time I get in my car I hear another radio ad attacking him, and I’ve heard zero response from Barnes. I haven’t seen any attack ads against RonJon for anything-not about his stupid Jan 6th comments, or his vaccine conspiracies, etc. RonJon and his Allies have destroyed Barnes, and no response. That’s why the polls are widening.

Barnes announced last week that he launched a multi million dollar ad campaign against Johnson, so it's possible you're just not seeing it. I believe it was on abortion.

Barnes will need to use that $20M he raised to blanket the airwaves the rest of the way here to fight back.

[SnowLabrador]

I’m really skeptical that Barnes wins this. Literally every time I get in my car I hear another radio ad attacking him, and I’ve heard zero response from Barnes. I haven’t seen any attack ads against RonJon for anything-not about his stupid Jan 6th comments, or his vaccine conspiracies, etc. RonJon and his Allies have destroyed Barnes, and no response. That’s why the polls are widening.

Barnes announced last week that he launched a multi million dollar ad campaign against Johnson, so it's possible you're just not seeing it. I believe it was on abortion.

Barnes will need to use that $20M he raised to blanket the airwaves the rest of the way here to fight back.

That's an interesting strategy, to hold your fire until the last month and then go all-in. We'll see if it works.

[Sestak]

I don’t agree that Barnes collapsed “early” in polling; if anything, he collapsed a lot later than I was expecting. By all indications, his earlier leads indicated that he’d managed to get ahead of the narrative and GOP characterization of him early on. And then, having done that, he proceeded to…sit on his hands and let it catch up to him. With the amount of cash available to Democratic campaigns these days, the seeming inability to counter Johnson’s messaging or even have their own messaging at all indicts his campaign as one of the worst this cycle.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Johnson always is behind and narrowly wins, Feongold was ahead of Johnson in 2010/16 and was supposed to be Senator but it's a 303 map as I keep saying CCM and Kotek are down 2 and they expect to win just like Barnes expects to win it's called voting not go by polls

Fetterman and Kelly and Shapiro and Whitmer have all had leads of 6 pts or better Johnson had a 4 pt lead and down to 2 that proves his support along with LAXALT isn't gonna hold up

Where is his 10 pts lead where is Budd 10 pts lead they are all soft and as close as the Gov race is in SD Bengs can upset Thune

[Koharu]

https://twitter.com/TheOtherMandela/status/1578408726570090497?s=20&t=TxO_AW...

[Sir Mohamed]

Oop!

https://twitter.com/GasBuddyGuy/status/1578168426891284480

Fiscal responsibility? Dude, you must be kidding.

Also, where's your plan to lower gas prices? What legislation do you intend to introduce and get done while Biden is still in the WH? And why haven't you done that already? These are the questions I'd like Barnes or any reporter to ask Johnson. Spoiler: He can't answer any of them.

[Lief 🗽]

We let this moron win a primary unopposed??
https://twitter.com/kfile/status/1578451677417394176?s=21&t=3a-WdvftoqKnKHsC...

[RussFeingoldWasRobbed]

We let this moron win a primary unopposed??
https://twitter.com/kfile/status/1578451677417394176?s=21&t=3a-WdvftoqKnKHsC...

There were other people running but they would have lost too. Godlewski would be easy to portray as a DC insider. Lasry was just lol. Nelson was the one I would have supported but he was not great he's just better than the others

[gf20202]

There were other people running but they would have lost too. Godlewski would be easy to portray as a DC insider. Lasry was just lol. Nelson was the one I would have supported but he was not great he's just better than the others

Rob Johnson, born out of state by the way, has served two terms as a Senator and it would be easy to portray Godlweski as a DC insider because she worked for a defense contractor ten years ago, ignoring the fact that she is a fifth generation Wisconsinite with public school teachers for parents and spent the last four years as the state treasurer in Wisconsin? Huh?

[Spectator]

There were other people running but they would have lost too. Godlewski would be easy to portray as a DC insider. Lasry was just lol. Nelson was the one I would have supported but he was not great he's just better than the others

Rob Johnson, born out of state by the way, has served two terms as a Senator and it would be easy to portray Godlweski as a DC insider because she worked for a defense contractor ten years ago, ignoring the fact that she is a fifth generation Wisconsinite with public school teachers for parents and spent the last four years as the state treasurer in Wisconsin? Huh?

Godlewski had her own problems, but probably still would have been a better option than Barnes, for sure. The best candidate would have been Ron Kind.

[coloradocowboi]

We let this moron win a primary unopposed??
https://twitter.com/kfile/status/1578451677417394176?s=21&t=3a-WdvftoqKnKHsC...

Without fail, whenever a progressive wins a primary fair and square all the #votebluenomatterwho come out to do Fox News' job for them. Never once appreciating the irony. Anyway he's not a "moron." Perhaps he just has convictions? I don't know why those would offend you as a Democrat, but anywho...

That's certainly not gonna be what wins the election for Mandela bc he's losing immigration-minded voters regardless of what happens. The crime thing seems to be more effective and relevant anyway

[RussFeingoldWasRobbed]

We let this moron win a primary unopposed??
https://twitter.com/kfile/status/1578451677417394176?s=21&t=3a-WdvftoqKnKHsC...

Without fail, whenever a progressive wins a primary fair and square all the #votebluenomatterwho come out to do Fox News' job for them. Never once appreciating the irony. Anyway he's not a "moron." Perhaps he just has convictions? I don't know why those would offend you as a Democrat, but anywho...

That's certainly not gonna be what wins the election for Mandela bc he's losing immigration-minded voters regardless of what happens. The crime thing seems to be more effective and relevant anyway

As a fellow progressive, sometimes you have to take the L. Neither of these policies are popular, period

[New England Fire Squad]

We let this moron win a primary unopposed??
https://twitter.com/kfile/status/1578451677417394176?s=21&t=3a-WdvftoqKnKHsC...

It's actually a bit funny. The primary election results I immediately went to check were in the lake superior region where Democrats still win wwc voters- and Barnes performed terribly essentially running unopposed. I assumed it was over already after I saw that. Running someone in what is *at best* a dead even state who poses with DSA gear and calls for defunding police departments is just idiotic.

[Lief 🗽]

We let this moron win a primary unopposed??
https://twitter.com/kfile/status/1578451677417394176?s=21&t=3a-WdvftoqKnKHsC...

Without fail, whenever a progressive wins a primary fair and square all the #votebluenomatterwho come out to do Fox News' job for them. Never once appreciating the irony. Anyway he's not a "moron." Perhaps he just has convictions? I don't know why those would offend you as a Democrat, but anywho...

That's certainly not gonna be what wins the election for Mandela bc he's losing immigration-minded voters regardless of what happens. The crime thing seems to be more effective and relevant anyway

Not sure what you mean by #votebluenomatterwho... of course I would still vote for this moron. I never said I wouldn't.

I am personally offended when far-right lunatics like Ron Johnson cruise to re-election because people like Barnes care more about broadcasting his extremely unpopular "convictions" than winning elections. If you don't know why Ron Johnson winning re-election is offensive to me, then I'm not really sure why you consider yourself a progressive or a Democrat.

[Brittain33]

Suggestions for a new thread title?

Stop, stop, he’s already dead

GA-SEN already has a title.

[philly09]

Debate tonight
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1578552762035425280