Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 62. Sunrise is 7:00 and sunset is 6:23, for 11 hours 23 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 97 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1862, the Confederate invasion of Kentucky is halted at the Battle of Perryville:
Following the Battle of Perryville, the Union maintained control of Kentucky for the rest of the war. Historian James M. McPherson considers Perryville to be part of a great turning point of the war, “when battles at Antietam and Perryville threw back Confederate invasions, forestalled European mediation and recognition of the Confederacy, perhaps prevented a Democratic victory in the northern elections of 1862 that might have inhibited the government’s ability to carry on the war, and set the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation which enlarged the scope and purpose of the conflict.”
Yesterday, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced, as expected, that he would not run for governor, but instead seek re-election:
Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul announced Tuesday that he will not run for governor, opting instead to seek a third term as the state’s top law enforcement official.
The governor’s race is wide open after Democratic incumbent Tony Evers, 73, announced this summer that he won’t seek reelection. The race will be the highest-profile contest on the ballot, but it has even greater significance this cycle as Democrats look to hold the office and take control of the Legislature for the first time since 2010.
More than half-a-dozen Democrats have announced plans to run in the August primary. Kaul would have been the de facto front-runner had he joined, given his large base of support and two statewide election victories.
The most prominent candidates in the Democratic primary scramble include Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez; Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley; state Sen. Kelda Roys; state Rep. Francesca Hong; and former Wisconsin Economic Development Commission leader Missy Hughes. Former lieutenant governor and 2022 U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes said Tuesday in the wake of Kaul’s decision that he’s “strongly considering” entering the race.
See Todd Richmond, Wisconsin’s Democratic attorney general won’t run for governor and will seek reelection instead, Associated Press, October 7, 2025.
In a re-election campaign for attorney general, as Richmond reports, Kaul will likely face Republican Eric Toney, Fond du Lac County’s district attorney. (Kaul defeated Toney in the close 2022 attorney general’s race, 50.64% to 49.31%.)
Also expected, as Richmond reports, Mandela Barnes is likely to enter the Democratic primary for governor. If so, then the WisDems primary field will have all its significant candidates (and a few long shots, too).
Is there a clear primary formula for the WisDems as there is for the WISGOP? One can see its outline even now. Two elements are present: (1) opposition to federal policy and (2) an ability to reassure Wisconsinites (including those not already committed to the WisDems) that that opposition will be practical and consistent over the candidate’s term.
As with the WISGOP, national issues will have an outsized impact on the 2026 WisDems primary race.
Fly over Mars’ Xanthe Terra highland region and its 3.5 billion-year-old channels: