Pre-primary

My prediction: Hillary will do much better here than people are predicting. I don't think this thing is over yet.

I think Obama will take Madison, but Clinton will do well in the rest of the state. Although Madison is a bastion of crazy liberals, the rest of the state is quite conservative. And I get the sense that many conservatives will be voting Democratic this time. We have an open primary, so you can go either way. The Wisconsin Public Radio station did a series of interviews throughout the state, with blue-collar Republicans. Over and over again, they said they were going to vote Democratic in the primary. They want to get out of the war and don't see McCain as moving in that direction.

The Clintons didn't really campaign here until this weekend, which I think is a big mistake for them. We had a terrible ice/snow storm today, so I assume that Hillary's big gig tonight was canceled. Obama is *everywhere* and has been here all week. (Although his campaign made a mistake too - I've seen some Obama yard signs with a white background. Hello - we have 6 feet of snow on the ground....you can't see a white sign!) His Madison campaign is headquartered in a laundromat. I'm not kidding.

The only ad that the Clintons had on TV was an ad attacking Obama for not debating her in Wisconsin. It was a bit mean-spirited, and we got a piece of direct mail on the same subject that was attacking him (on the debate issue, again.) I haven't received a single phone call, which is nice. My husband always promises to vote for the candidate who doesn't call during dinner...) The Obama folks call almost every other day (although they are very polite.) It seems like every other commercial on TV in an Obama ad. I hope his investment pays off!