Daily Bread for 4.1.26: The Benefit of a Competitive Wisconsin Gubernatorial Primary

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 42. Sunrise is 6:38 and sunset is 7:21 for 12 hours 43 minutes of daytime. The moon will be full this evening.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1960, the TIROS-1 satellite, a weather satellite, transmits the first television picture from space.

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A competitive primary might be beneficial to a political party: competition among primary candidates might produce good ideas, or it might prove a race to the bottom to attract a plurality of voters. The absence of primary competition might be advantageous: a single candidate might use the time wisely to prepare for the fall, or waste his time on niche issues. There’s more than one possible outcome.

So far, with about four months to go, a competitive gubernatorial primary is forcing Democratic candidates to craft big ideas; an uncompetitive primary is leaving the sole WISGOP candidate to drift into minor matters.

Consider these two headlines:

See Erik Gunn, With varied levels of detail, Democrats in governor’s race call for child care support, Wisconsin Examiner, April 1, 2026.

See Hope Karnopp, Governor candidate Tom Tiffany calls to end Wisconsin emissions tests, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 30, 2026.

Admittedly, not every plan makes sense, or even works,¹ but by definition a larger concern is likely to matter more than a smaller one. Emissions testing is inconvenient but hardly life-altering; daycare options are undeniably life-altering for children and parents.

A competitive gubernatorial primary supplies the incentive for Democrats to search for issues that are significant for voters; an uncompetitive primary has left Tom Tiffany² to drift along with smaller issues.

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1. It was Mike Tyson who famously observed that “everybody has plans until they get hit for the first time.” This libertarian blogger has been forthright that there is a difference between telling time and watchmaking. I can see that child care is important without contending that I have any skill in designing a child care plan. It’s enough to see that child care is more important than emissions testing for a family’s life. Of planning generally, however, from this blogger’s vantage, I have always kept Tyson’s observation in mind. The local and statewide adversaries of progress are relentless schemers, lying in wait to undermine what they can. Much is lost through an overconfident myopia. Foresight isn’t everything, but it is nearly so. ↩︎
2. An energetic and thoughtful Republican would use his time more wisely. Tiffany’s like a Boomer on a cruise ship lingering at the dessert bar all day. ↩︎

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April 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA: