Jim Geraghty of National Review Online dissects an interesting Midwestern electoral result.
It’s an easily forgotten facet of American politics that parties aren’t required to nominate the craziest son-of-a-b**** in the race. You can nominate the second-craziest, or the third-craziest, or if you’re really willing to be daring, nominate a candidate who doesn’t seem crazy at all.
… [F]aced with a potential gubernatorial nominee who hates a bunch of American holidays, Wisconsin Democrats pulled it together and got just enough votes to nominate Milwaukee County executive David Crowley instead of the DSA candidate, Francesca Hong. …
… Keep in mind, recent polling had Hong with a lead of 18 to 29 percentage points.
In her teenage years, Hong had serious mental health issues. … We can debate how relevant that is for a 37-year-old woman running for governor, but clearly enough Wisconsin Democrats looked at the prospect of a candidate with a tendency to either say or agree with crazy ideas — she concurred with Hasan Piker that she would erect “a Scott Walker statue that people can go to, that are made by local artisans and craftsmen that people can slap up if they want to” — and decided she was too much of a risk, for too little upside.
This morning, Hasan Piker’s uncle, Cenk Uygur, blamed the media:
“She got clobbered by the national media, didn’t respond as deftly as Abdul and didn’t have time to build a counter-narrative,” said Cenk Uygur, the Young Turks founder and Justice Democrats co-founder. “The negative publicity of the last two weeks seems to have taken its toll.”
That “clobbering” that he laments consisted of quoting her and showcasing her own social media posts. Also note that the heaviest hitters in the socialist movement, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, did not endorse her, and it was not because they just forgot about her. …
… Now, if Hong looked like a real asset to the socialist movement and a safe bet to win the general election, do you think Sanders and AOC would have declined to endorse her? Nah, me neither.
