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US Senate Race 2024

Daily Bread for 7.29.24: Eric Hovde Treats Wisconsin as a Side Hustle

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will see scattered thundershowers with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:44, and sunset is 8:17, for 14h 33m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 33.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1958, President Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).


U.S. Senate candidate for Wisconsin, Eric Hovde, is down by eleven points in the latest Fox News poll.

And so, and so, following in the tradition of failed carpetbagger Tim Michels, Hovde spent the weekend emphasizing that Wisconsin is, for him, only a side hustle:

Nothing says Wisconsin like a California banker attending a Nashville Bitcoin conference.

See also It’s Not Going So Well for Hovde, Eric Hovde Should Fire His Political Consultants and Hire a Therapist, Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run, and Another Vanity Candidate.


Sunbathers scatter as thousands of dragonflies descend on beach:

Daily Bread for 5.10.24: It’s Not Going So Well for Hovde

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 67. Sunrise is 5:35 and sunset 8:06 for 14h 30m 56s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 7.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1775, the Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia.


Rich Kremer reports Recent polling shows Baldwin leading Hovde in Senate race (‘A Quinnipiac poll shows Baldwin leading Hovde by 12 points among registered voters’):

With Election Day less than six months away, multiple new polls show Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin leading Republican challenger Eric Hovde in the race for Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seat.
That incl

That includes one survey that showed a double-digit lead for Baldwin, who has led among registered voters in every poll conducted since Hovde entered the race.

Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday shows Baldwin ahead of Hovde among registered voters by 12 percentage points, with 54 percent saying they’d vote for Baldwin and 42 percent saying they’d vote for Hovde.

There’s still time, but Hovde is proving to be a weak WISGOP choice facing a savvy incumbent.


On Hovde previouslyTim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run, SHOCKING: WISGOP SCIENTISTS INVENT TIME MACHINE, Eric Hovde Should Fire His Political Consultants and Hire a Therapist, and Another Vanity Candidate.

Daily Bread for 4.15.24: Another Vanity Candidate

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 71. Sunrise is 6:10 and sunset 7:38 for 13h 27m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 47.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1861, Wisconsin Governor Alexander W. Randall received a telegram from Washington requesting one regiment of 780 men to serve the Union for three months in the Civil War. Within a week, ten companies from Kenosha, Beloit, Horican, Fond du Lac, Madison, and Milwaukee were ready.


The fall election in Wisconsin is expected to be competitive for presidential and U.S. Senate candidates. Perhaps it will be. A competitive United States Senate race, however, requires two capable candidates, not one capable candidate and a vanity candidate who sounds like he fell from a turnip truck yesterday. Nikki McCann Ramirez reports Trump-Endorsed Senate Candidate Questions if Nursing Home Residents Are Alive Enough to Vote (“If you’re in a nursing home, you only have five, six-month life expectancy,” Eric Hovde said in an interview earlier this month):

During an April 5 interview on The Guy Benson Show, Hovde, a Republican running to unseat Democratic Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, claimed that it was suspicious that some nursing homes in Wisconsin had “100-percent voting” percentages.  “Well, if you’re in a nursing home, you only have five, six-month life expectancy. Almost nobody in a nursing home is in a point to vote and you had children, adult children showing up saying, ‘Who voted for my 85 or 90-year-old father or mother?'” Hovde told Benson. 

Hovde, whose comments were first reported by Heartland Signal, is not entirely correct in his assessment of nursing home life expectancy. While it’s true that some residents die within months of entering assisted living, many live comfortably for years in long-term residential care, while others voluntarily leave nursing homes for a multitude of reasons, including a preference for in-home care. 

Regardless of how long a person stays in a nursing home, the right to vote has no age-based expiration date. Wisconsin became a focal point for election conspiracies in the aftermath of the 2020 election, including through largely baseless claims that nursing home employees had fabricated or manipulated the votes of elderly patients. 

Hovde, a banker and investor by trade, made an unsuccessful bid for the Senate in 2012, and announced his second attempt to win a seat in the higher chamber in February.

Hovde is trying to explain (presumably) that some nursing home ballots are coerced, but he’s green and awkward in mixing that narrow message with a message about life expectancy. An experienced incumbent in a competitive race would not have made a mistake like Hovde’s.

Like Tim Michels before him, Hovde’s a vanity candidate, the choice of established men who assume that other established men must, as though a law of nature, be right for whatever they attempt.

It’s quite the assumption.

See also Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run and Eric Hovde Should Fire His Political Consultants and Hire a Therapist.


The Hop streetcar arrives at Milwaukee’s lakefront with a new route and stop:

Daily Bread for 3.3.24: Eric Hovde Should Fire His Political Consultants and Hire a Therapist

 Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 68. Sunrise is 6:24 and sunset 5:48 for 11h 23m 40s of daytime. The moon is in its third quarter with 50.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1931, the United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem.


Jennifer Brooks writes Shirtless politician plunges into icy lake to prove to Wisconsin he’s got what it takes (‘Nobody said running for a U.S. Senate seat in Wisconsin would be easy’): 

“It was hard to break through but it’s good to get out here for a good cold plunge,” a voice narrates, poking at the icy crust that still glazed the lake. Slowly, the camera pans to reveal a shirtless Hovde, nipple-deep in Lake Mendota.

Hovde, a Republican, is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Wisconsin while also running a company that is not based in the Badger State. He reportedly shot the video near a home he owns on Lake Mendota.

….

“So the Dems and Sen. Baldwin keep saying I’m not from Wisconsin, which is a complete joke,” Hovde continued, back hair fluttering in the frigid breeze. “Alright Sen. Baldwin, why don’t you get out here in this frozen lake and let’s really see who’s from Wisconsin.”

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin had a one-word response to Hovde’s invitation to go jump in a lake to prove how Wisconsin-y she is. “No.”

Wisconsin Democrats were not so amused by the stunt.

“If California bank owner Eric Hovde thinks sitting in a lake is going to stop us from telling Wisconsinites about his California bank, California megamansion, and California ties, he’s going to be swimming a whole lot for the next eight months,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Rapid Response Director Arik Wolk said in a statement.

Holy Moly, Hovde must be totally nuts a tad insecure to film a stunt like this. He doesn’t need political consultants — he needs counseling. 

See also Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run and SHOCKING: WISGOP SCIENTISTS INVENT TIME MACHINE


4-vehicle crash leaves truck dangling over the side of a bridge above river:

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Daily Bread for 2.21.24: SHOCKING: WISGOP SCIENTISTS INVENT TIME MACHINE

 Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 56. Sunrise is 6:42 and sunset 5:34 for 10h 52m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 92.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM

On this day in 1918, the last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.

By Huub Veldhuijzen van Zanten/Naturalis Biodiversity Center, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45550593


  All my life, I’ve thought that stories of time machines were mere fantasies. How wrong I’ve been.

As it turns out, WISGOP scientists likely have invented a working time machine: 

After watching the Eric Hovde campaign video, the first explanation1 for his appearance and attire is that WISGOP scientists have, in fact, found a way to travel from 2024 back to 1974, to study that earlier era’s aesthetic. 

Astonishing. 

Hovde’s style (and background or politics) isn’t going to work in present-day Wisconsin, but this WISGOP technological advance is impressive nonetheless.


1. The second explanation, far less savory, is that Hovde’s campaign team has been studying old 8mm amateur porn films. See Boogie Nights

Horse seen running down Interstate 95 in Philadelphia:

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Daily Bread for 2.16.24: Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run

 Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 30. Sunrise is 6:49 and sunset 5:28 for 10h 38m 23s of daytime. The moon is in its first quarter with 50.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1960, the U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.


Scott Bauer reports Republican businessman Hovde to enter Wisconsin US Senate race against Baldwin

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Multimillionaire Republican businessman Eric Hovde is planning to launch a bid for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwinnext week.

Hovde campaign spokesperson Ben Voelkel said Thursday that Hovde, 59, will get into the race next week after months of preparation.

….

Hovde’s business empire includes Hovde Properties, a real estate development company founded by his grandfather in 1933, and three banking companies. He is CEO of Sunwest Bank, has appeared in television commercials for them that air out west, and owns a $7 million estate in Laguna Beach, California, in addition to his property in Madison.

He returned to Madison in 2011 after living in Washington, D.C., for 24 years.

Baldwin campaign spokesperson Andrew Mamo derided Hovde as a “mega millionaire California bank owner” who will try to “buy this Senate seat.”

“We look forward to comparing Eric Hovde, a man who was named one of Orange County’s most influential people three years in a row, to Tammy Baldwin, a public servant with a proven track record of standing up to the wealthy and well connected on behalf of middle-class Wisconsin families,” Mamo said in a statement.

Scott Mayer, a Franklin businessman, and former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke are also considering Senate runs. Other higher profile Republicans, including U.S. Reps. Tom Tiffany and Mike Gallagher, opted against running.


Robotic arm catch — Space station astronauts pick up a Cygnus spacecraft

Daily Bread for 8.2.23: Rep. Tiffany’s Not Running Against Sen. Baldwin (Because He Knows He’d Lose)

Good morning. Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 85. Sunrise is 5:48 AM and sunset 8:14 PM for 14h 25m 59s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 99.2% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1939, Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to…

Daily Bread for 6.9.23: Gallagher Won’t Run, So Baldwin’s Looking to Win in a Walk

Good morning. Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 80. Sunrise is 5:16 AM and sunset 8:32 PM for 15h 16m 14s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 63.2% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1973, Secretariat wins the U.S. Triple Crown. Embed from Getty Images…