So Much For Wisconsin

Remember two weeks ago this morning, when Wisconsin was the talk of the nation?  Wisconsin voters had "all but assured the Republican Party of a brokered convention by handing Donald Trump a crushing defeat"--and giving Ted Cruz "all of the momentum heading into the spring primaries".  On the Democratic side Bernie Sanders was "going to continue an improbable comeback"--"winning six states in a row"--while Hillary Clinton's campaign was "dead in the water"--"unable to appeal to any young voters".

Let's take a look at those campaigns again this morning--after the far more diverse voters of New York state went to the polls.  Suddenly, Donald Trump has a "path to the nomination" again--and Ted Cruz has no momentum as the primaries shift to less evangelical states.  And Hillary Clinton adds to her elected delegates lead--while Sanders is left to wonder why he can't win states where people of color actually vote.

Because Wisconsin was a stand-alone primary--with a two-week gap between it and the previous election--we got an undeserved amount of attention--and an undeserved amount of "impact on the race".  Our demographics are skewed compared to the most-delegate-rich states.  In the grand scheme of things, the Cruz and Sanders wins here will be as inconsequential as their victories in Iowa now appear to be--four months later.

We didn't have a chance to "stop Trump".  There are too many bigger states with celebrity-obsessed voters who want the reality show presidency that he would deliver.  And not every state has a Dane County--where liberals with their love for theoretical economics and large groups of white, college kids who want free stuff--can carry Bernie Sanders to "surprising" victories.

Hopefully Wisconsin voters enjoyed the short-lived "power" over the Presidential races that we enjoyed for a couple of weeks.  If the polls show the possibility of a close race in the general election, someone might talk about us again come October.