WI-1

Most of the Wisconsin congressmembers aren't what you would call Trumpists-- and neither are their constituents. Trump, in fact, performed poorly in the state's Republican primary. Ted Cruz was the big winner with 531,129 votes (48.2%) to Trump's 386,370 (35.1%). He won 6 delegates to Cruz's 36.

Paul Ryan has some monarchist ideas from his 1988 reign as Prom KingYesterday's post about Paul Ryan being nothing more than a garden variety GOP hack and a dumbbell to boot, wasn't meant to sway any voters. Most Ryan voters in Wisconsin know who he is and have had few problems backing him.

Trump surrogate Sarah Palin was a guest on Jake Tapper's CNN show yesterday, where she endorsed efforts to defeat Paul Ryan's reelection bid back in Wisconsin because of his refusal to embrace Trump yet. "I think Paul Ryan is soon to be 'Cantored,' as in Eric Cantor," she told Tapper.

PPP polled minimum wage as an issue in half a dozen battleground states with heavily-contested state-wide races, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky and Louisiana. Support for increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 was strong across the board, ranging from 61% in Illinois to 53% in Wisconsin. Opposition was strongest in Wisconsin, but still weak at just 39%.

There aren't many-- if any-- Republicans who have been more demonized in those annoying DCCC emails begging for money from lo-info grassroots Dems, than Paul Ryan. Reading them, you'd think the DCCC is gearing up to fight-- if not already in the midst of hand-to-hand combat-- against the despised and much-vilified (rightfully despised and vilified) Ryan.

There are quite a few of them but the ones progressives have a stake in, in chronological order, are Hawaii (August 9), Wisconsin (August 12), and then a late super-Tuesday on August 26 for Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma. That same day has primaries in Alaska, Missouri, Oregon and Vermont with interesting races but no races that pit a progressive against a shill from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.Up top is the brand new video from one of the most grassroots campaigns anywhere, the Tom Guild campaign for the open Oklahoma City congressional seat.

If someone offered me a huge sum for the Blue America mailing list, I would tell them no. If they doubled the offer, I would tell them to go suck wind. Today I got an e-mail from a candidate in New York who I've never been in contact with, Aaron Woolf, a film producer from New York's North Country who is trying to hold a rough swing district for the Democrats.

Over the weekend, E.J. Dionne suggested in the Washington Post that Democratic Party strategists are blowing the 2014 midterm cycle. "Listlessness is bad politics. Defensiveness is poor strategy. And resignation is never inspiring."

You've probably read that Paul Ryan's plan to screw over military families with cuts to compensation and pensions has been backfiring, making the apostle of Randian greed and selfishness even more toxic than he's been in the past.

Last year, with no help from the DCCC (unless you want to consider negative help of Steve Israel calling wealthy donors and telling them to not "waste" their money on Rob Zerban), Rob Zerban came closer to defeating Paul Ryan than any Democrat had before. Ryan represents a swing district in southeast Wisconsin, WI-01 (Kenosha, Racine, Janesville, Muskego, Elkhorn and southern Milwaukee suburbs like Oak Creek and Greendale.