Transcript
Wisconsinites Can’t Afford To Tune Out Of Politics (Hour 2)
The Todd Allbaugh Show · Thu Mar 20, 2025
A cross Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio network.
and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.
Good afternoon, everybody.
I'm Tom Allbault, one of the outstanding engineer and producer, Mr. Aaron Zommerns.
It is Thursday, the 20th of March, 2025, and it's a great day to be in Wisconsinite.
It is six past the hour of one o'clock.
Welcome into hour number two of the big program, as Terry Barr said there at the top of the show.
We are here in our beautiful studios at WRCE in Richland Center.
Zommerns is back at the World Headquarters in downtown
town Madison because Mr. Zomers, we are getting an upgrade, a little redo, a little recapobulation.
Is that too far?
Recapobulating the studios back in Madison.
It'll all be very, very nice by Monday.
Absolutely.
We thank our great engineering team, all the folks who are working on that back in Madison, but we're always happy to be here.
Many thanks to the general manager of WRCO, WRCE, and Richland Center, Phil Knee, who will be on the program with us tomorrow.
talking about some of the things that are happening here at Richland Center and about his great program on Saturday night called Those Were The Days, a great oldies call-in program where the few really true call-in shows left and he actually plays a little vinyl.
Now and again as well on that show.
So I'm looking forward to having filled with us tomorrow.
Coming up a little bit later this hour today, we're going to have the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Mr. Ben Wickler will be here just after the news at the bottom of the hour discussing the April 1st election.
That's right.
It's coming up already.
No joke in April 1st and early voting is now underway across the state of Wisconsin.
You can find out where your polling place is.
and how to register online by going to my vote wi dot gov my vote that dot wi dot gov that's the dot story thank you my vote dot wi dot gov my vote dot wi dot gov it's really not that complicated
My vote dot W I dot GOV be a voter have a plan to be a voter of course You could also vote in person if you would like to polls open on Tuesday April 1st at 7 a.m.
And close on That evening at 8 p.m.
Remember you could register at the polls on election day But why not do it ahead of time get your vote banked as they say and in there and counted you could early vote now across the state of Wisconsin of course big races for Wisconsin State Supreme Court and the
Department of Public Instruction, among others.
We'll talk to Chairman Wichler about all of that and more.
at the bottom of the hour.
NCAA men's basketball tournament going on right now across America and in particular on some of our stations over the air.
WRCE here in Richland Center.
WFHR up in Wisconsin Rapids and WLAK up in beautiful Amory.
If you're in those communities, you can hear the game over the air right now on your radio.
However, due to NCAA rules, we are not allowed to stream it on the app.
as per usual, but we're glad you are joining us here.
Maybe do what I'm doing right now, which is talking to you and doing the show, but occasionally checking in on my phone here on the scores.
Badgers have looked a little, I can tell you, just by tuning in a little bit here during our commercial breaks.
Badgers, a bit discombobulated.
But maybe Dan Schaefer is out there as armor, I don't know, because they're starting to get recapobulated here.
Right now, Wisconsin leads 34 to 27 in the first half.
34 to 27.
Number three, Wisconsin, 34.
Number 14, Montana, 27.
Not
nonetheless.
Yes, not a tremendous lead.
And this is what's worried me understand, because the Grizzlies, they're in Montana at a higher altitude and they're playing in Denver a higher altitude.
The Badgers are coming off of this, you know, four games and four days thing in the Big Ten tournament.
And then they got to fly from Wisconsin out to a higher altitude.
And Brady Ewing was telling us before or just after his segment there in the first half hour that the Badgers apparently incorporated
They a hyperbaric chamber in order to I'm not making this up They did some hyperbaric chamber stuff to help them with their breathing or something interesting We'll see it.
We'll see if it pays office now 36 to 27 Wisconsin leads Montana with two minutes and 55 seconds left in the first half So we'll keep you apprised of that.
It's 11 minutes past the hour of one o'clock time once again for what's worse.
Let's
once again for what's worse no prizes to give away no money involved but it is your chance to have your voice heard across all 11 stations in the civic media news sports and talk network all across the state of Wisconsin every media market there's no better way
to have your message, your voice, your company heard that by advertising with us here on the Civic Media Radio Network, find out how by going to civicmedia.us and you can find out how.
Now remember we said this before the first hour, starting on Monday, we will have prizes to give away another text to win contest.
Fling into spring.
Now what's it called?
I'm not sure.
I forget the name of it.
It's some cool name, but text to win and the grand prize is a verlo mattress, which is fantastic.
enough
Not there you.
Breaking the
that.
Sleep on it.
Um, absolutely.
It's not spring break.
It's break into spring.
That's fantastic.
And so you can win 100 bucks or chances to win 100 bucks every day.
There's chances to win a great Chula Vista getaway in Wisconsin Dells at the resort there and also a chance to win some club level seats for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Tune in starting at seven o'clock on Monday on Civic Media and be here every day for your best chance to win at one o'clock every afternoon.
I'm not sure if it's your best chance to is a chance to win at one o'clock every afternoon with us looking forward to that in nervous anticipation But here now and this is timely timely indeed.
We talked to Brady Ewing in hour number one about how much money is bet on on the NCAA tournament now I do not have any money to bet I Have no money on the line the office pool.
We don't
paying money.
It's just we were in this pool or not or contest where we want to call it.
And then the top couple of people get a nice gift certificate, which is very cool.
Our own Phil Knee here, Richland Center was one of the winners along with our advertising sales director, Chris Morrow.
So those guys know a lot about basketball or at least got lucky and they want some nice gift cards, but a lot of people bet money this time of year.
So here now, what's worse today?
What's worse?
Casinos.
or the lottery.
Casinos or the lottery.
What's worse?
855-752-4842.
855-752-4842.
And Thomas, I'm back in the stream yard here so I can see if you put in the calls there in the old stream yard chat.
Sounds good.
eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five two four eight four two what's worse casinos or the lottery
any thoughts on that summer that is a difficult one because you know both of them you're probably not going to win anything both of them are in like insidiously designed to extract as much money as possible from you but i feel like
I feel like casinos, you can at least make a trip out of it and have more fun.
But I've never been to a casino, so it's hard to say.
You've never been to a casino, really?
Never
casino.
I haven't been to a lot, but I've been to some.
And I always looked at it as, you know, I'll take my 20 bucks or whatever it is, and that's by spending money, my entertainment, and when it's gone, it's gone.
I think that's fine.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people with addiction issues out there, and they just can't stop.
And that's when people get into real trouble.
Sarah listening on WGVW, our great station in Green Bay says, casinos are evil.
Whoa, there is a take for you.
A listener in WAUK, when we ask casinos to the lottery, what's worse, casinos, they control the environment to compel you to gamble.
This is true.
There you go.
Some of this stuff like out in Vegas is very technical.
The lights, they pump in certain smells.
The music that they have is all designed to keep you there.
The
Right.
What's worse, casinos or the lottery?
855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.
Give us a call if you like.
What's worse, casinos or the lottery?
I don't know like I I don't do either one that often not like when the big lotteries the the power ball whatever gets up to like 700 million dollars I'll buy it like a couple of tickets four bucks or whatever because I think well you know you can't you know it just gives you something to talk about right
yeah exactly that's right I think you know well you know what it allows you to daydream a little bit
a little vacation, a $4 vacation and see what happens.
But I don't buy it, like I'm not buying tickets every week or I'm not a big scratch-off person or anything like that.
And casinos, like I said, I went in, in college, when I went to EW Plattville, we went down to East Dubuque to the boat.
And like I said, I'd take my 20, 25 bucks and that was it.
I've been to Vegas a couple of times and I'm not a big Vegas person.
I guess in fairness, like I've never done the shows.
And I think I would enjoy that, like the performances.
But just the big casinos to gamble, not really my thing.
Now, the Wisconsin casinos, I've been to a couple of those like Ho-Chunk and at Oneida and Red Cliff.
And they're actually the one, in my view, in my personal opinion, not that I've been to a lot of them, but the nicest casino that I've ever been in is Red Cliff up above Bayfield up there.
the casino up there.
It's beautiful.
And you can look out onto the lake in part of it on Lake Superior.
They have a beautiful hotel.
They have campsites there.
It's actually really nice.
And I think it's no smoking.
So
have some they have some really good food as well.
to.
I haven't been to a lot.
But I mean, the ones I've been to weren't like overly noisy.
But here's the thing.
I like I was a slot guy.
So you put your nickel in or your quarter, whatever it is, and you pull the slot.
And then you get like a couple other quarters or a couple other nickels or whatever.
And I like the sound.
Now they've taken the lever away and the actual coins, and it's just all like a computer game.
Exactly.
Exactly.
What's worse, casinos are the lottery.
8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.
Come on back.
It's the title of all show for a Thursday on the Civic Medium.
Ready?
Network.
pursuing truth wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.
Welcome back to the title of all show on the Civic Media Ready Network.
And it's 21 now past the hour one o'clock on Thursday, the 20th.
By the way, it's the first day of spring.
We'll talk a little bit about that later as well.
We are live here at WRCE, the studios at Richland Center, Wisconsin of Civic Media, while our home studio, where Mr. Zamers is, is getting a little makeover.
Dan Schaffer is in charge.
He's going to recapobulate our studios back home.
So looking forward to that.
I think I may be new
to him,
but.
Half time of the Wisconsin Montana game as third seated Wisconsin leads 14th seated Montana by a score of 40 to 32.
Wisconsin 40, Montana 32.
at the half.
It is all but all over as Creighton is leading Louisville by a score of 83 to 71.
Louisville has come back and tried to make a game of it, but a little over a minute left as it looks like Louisville will lose to Creighton number eight beating, pardon me, number nine, beating number eight there.
Also, this is very interesting, interesting indeed in the second half and Purdue
is leading high point number four ranked per uh number four seated i should say perdu leading 13th seated high point 56 to 50 perdu only a six point lead on high point with a little over nine minutes to go in that one and number one seated houston 27 si u edwardsville nine
With about nine minutes to go in the first half there, again, Wisconsin leads Montana by a score of 40 to 32 at the half.
You can listen to that Badger game on select stations in civic media land.
over the air or not able to stream it, but if you're in Richland Center, Wisconsin Rapids or AMRE, you can hear those games over the air.
That game, I should say, the Wisconsin game.
Let's go back to the phone lines, 855-752-4842.
Talking about a couple of things right now.
We're right in the middle of what's worse today.
What's worse?
Casinos.
or the lottery and also a little bit earlier was talking about the fact that today was Mr. Rogers birthday.
Fred Rogers of the comparable Mr. Rogers neighborhood, Los Angeles we go and LA Tom, LA you want to talk a little bit about Fred Rogers.
What do you have?
Yeah, so probably something kind of take the hate to take a look to a stop here by grinding my gears.
And that is
That people keep saying and throwing away or throwing around words like far left and left liberal I I mean, I'm I'm just trying to figure out no one gives examples What they mean when they say far left or left or middle the road or I kind of think I know what right means Right to me is more corporate
But like I said, these words get thrown around a lot.
And I think there's a misconception out there that the Democratic Party is solely focused on LGBTQ plus rights, which is further from the truth.
I don't think Kamala Harris ever mentioned LGBTQ plus in any of her speeches.
She talked about a $50,000 break on people's homes.
uh, first time homebuyer, she talked about businesses having, you know, different things like this that were policy ideas.
But when the Republicans are constantly, they're the ones that are obsessed with LGBTQ plus rights or LGBTQ plus because every commercial that they have, you would think that that is the only policy that progressives talk about.
And like I said, I'm getting tired of the fact that people saying all these far left, Democrats are really focused on the far left agenda.
What's that?
Medicare, social security, strengthening it?
Because that to me is what far left me.
Now, I wanted to ask you, because I know that you were conservative, or you are.
And again, there's social issues, there's financial, different things.
But my sister even said the other day, she said,
I'm a middle of the road independent.
And I go, what do you mean by middle of the road independent?
Because the pendulum has shifted so far.
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and we're probably more right of Eisenhower even.
Can you help me with this because it really really bothers me that people throw things out like this and they don't really explain what
We can talk I mean we'll talk more about this after the break with ben wickler the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party who's gonna join us I I thought we were talking about Fred Rogers Tom that's why I went to your call um, but uh, I I think I think well number one
I was a member for those that don't know of the Republican Party up until 2011 when I left the party and I voted Democratic ever since just because I think that's the only major party left that truly believes in an action and deed in in democracy is small D. I think that the labels get thrown around.
I think to appoint your correct Lucy Goosey.
But I also think it depends on an individual's perception of what those those things might mean something different to other people.
I mean, to me, when I say far left, it's people.
We have a small number, I would say, but we have a member members, five, six members of the Wisconsin State Legislature who are Democrats, who spent a lot of time, in my opinion, trying to be federal Congresspeople.
There's nothing that the state assembly or Senate can do on Palestine or Gaza, but yet they want to go out and make that a key issue.
It's fine to speak out on it, but not to be using that as your your main calling card for a lot of these things.
When when Kamala Harris came to Wisconsin, it was talking about kitchen table issues.
They were interrupting her and saying, you know, from the river to the sea, an anti-Semitic tribe, anti-Semitic slogan and shouting her down.
To me, that is the extreme left.
If you can't support Kamala Harris, a viable candidate who could have won for Democrats, then that to me is far left.
And those folks that are part of that, a bunch of that group, also in Dearborn, Michigan, who said, we're not going to vote in this election because we want to send a message to Kamala Harris.
The same people that voted for Jill Stein in 2016.
I'm not.
Hillary Clinton needs to be sent a message.
23,000 people in Wisconsin voted for Jill Stein.
Donald Trump won Wisconsin by approximately 23,000 votes.
So to me, that is the far left.
They're not pragmatic.
They don't really care about winning elections.
They'd rather lose and be right in their opinion than actually be pragmatic and win elections.
That went off the rails a little bit.
But we'll try to get back on the rails when we come back.
Chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, Ben Winkler joins us.
Stay tuned.
We're live from Richland Center on the Civic Media Ready Network.
to the town of all show on the Civic Media Ready Network.
It is 34 minutes now past the hour of one o'clock on this first day of spring.
It is Thursday, March 20th, 2025.
Glad to be with you on location.
W R C E in Richland Center, the old hometown while our home studio back in Madison gets a little refresh as Omers is back there.
By the way, Wisconsin Badgers are at halftime right now in their first round game.
The NCAA they lead the Montana Grizzlies by a score
of 40 to 32.
Again, this Wisconsin 41, 10 of 32 at halftime right now.
You can hear those games on select stations.
The second half across Wisconsin and Richland Center, Wisconsin Rapids and Amory.
We do not, we're not allowed to stream it.
So you have to listen to it on the air, but the game is not, not resumed.
It is a perfect time.
to talk about politics during halftime of the game.
And for that, we are joined live via StreamYard by the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, Ben Wickler.
Chairman Wickler, great to have you back on the show.
Thanks for coming.
A lot's going on indeed.
Wisconsin, they lose when they go home and it occurs to me in this race coming up on April 1st, no joking folks, there is an election on April 1st.
For a lot of folks in Wisconsin, again, explain to folks why this race is so important in terms of the lasting effects until the next game changing Supreme Court justice.
This one,
You know, we lose this one.
We in terms I'm not a Republican or a Democrat, but independent.
But we the people of Wisconsin, if this one goes the wrong way, it is kind of go home on a lot of these issues.
It's a huge deal because whoever wins cast the deciding vote in 4-3, you know, tight decisions in the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
And there's a lot of 4-3 decisions.
We're awaiting decisions on issues like whether the pre-Civil War abortion ban from 1849 goes into effect in the state of Wisconsin or whether there's a constitutional right to be able to access abortion care.
Decisions about Act 10 and workers' rights and whether public sector workers have the right to organize.
This is also a Supreme Court that ruled for three against overturning the presidential election.
So if we get a redux and we have a mega majority in the Supreme Court, there's real questions around whether elections will be overturned and legitimate ballots thrown out.
And all this is coming to a head because Brad Schimmel, the Republican back candidate, he's running to be, as he put it, Trump support network.
He's saying Trump keeps losing in courts, which I'd say is because Trump keeps breaking the law.
He wants to give him a get out of jail free card.
And same thing, apparently, for Elon Musk.
put $13.2 million into the election.
And on the other side, you have Susan Crawford, who is someone, you know, she represented Planned Parenthood in court when she was in private practice in a case called Planned Parenthood versus Brad Schimmel.
But she's somebody who will just apply the law in the Constitution.
And that's all any of us should want.
You don't want a mega thumb on the scale or any other thumb.
You want justices who actually, you know, do the job and think about what it is that the law in the Constitution require.
You bring up this, I would call what Simmel is talking about here as an activist judge.
And back in the days when I used to be Republican, I left in 2011, but back in the days when I was part of that party, the Republicans used to...
fight against activist judges.
They say, we want judges that interpret the law, the Constitution as it's written.
And now it seems in 2025 that is completely reversed, where now you have, I mean, I've got a piece here in front of me right now.
I was in Shawna with my dad and stepmoms over the weekend, where Republicans are putting stuff out with Donald Trump holding up here to the camera for those watching on the stream yard, putting Trump's face right on there.
It says, President Trump is winning for our country.
And it says, liberal judges across the country are trying to stop them.
Vote April 1st for Brad Schimmel to keep President Trump's agenda moving forward.
I mean, I don't see how more closely you can be in bed with someone other than that.
That seems against the grain of what the Republican Party used to stand for.
He posed in front of a 20-foot tall inflatable Trump statue.
He's doing events with Donald Trump Jr.
This is full mega.
And Elon Musk's organization, but Musk has poured more than any donor has ever given in a Wisconsin Supreme Court election into helping Red Schimel in this race.
Elon Musk's group put out a memo today saying that Schimel should embrace MAGA even harder.
And it's, you know, I can only assume that he's going to do that.
This is like advertising nakedly that you're going to take one side or the other in what is supposed to be a nonpartisan court that's supposed to be a check or balance against an out of control executive branch if that ever should happen.
It is really a defiance of the basic idea of a constitutional democracy.
People fight and die for American freedom on the basis that we swear an oath in this country to the Constitution, not to a king.
It is not to one person.
It is to the American system of government, the American idea.
That's what the flag is supposed to stand for.
And Trump and Schimel and Musk.
They're trying to impeach judges that are getting in their way.
They're just like trying to run completely out of control and trample the basic idea of American democracy.
And that to me is a cause for alarm.
It's also a reason why it's so critical to vote in this election because this is our one chance to win and say that we've had enough and the whole country is watching to see whether we've had enough or whether this kind of extremism is going to be embraced in states like Wisconsin, in which case it'll continue.
We're talking to Ben Wickler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Mr. Chairman, keep me honest, I've talked about this on the show for a little while about part of what you just said.
I agree.
I think that Republicans want this to be a referendum on Donald Trump until maybe a lesser degree Elon Musk, but certainly for Donald Trump.
My concern is that there are not enough Wisconsinites yet who have felt personally or someone that they know have felt personally the effects of Trump's policies.
You know, there is a thought out there that Republicans want this to be a high turnout election, particularly in the third district in Western Wisconsin, to get Trump voters who may not normally vote in the spring election out on April 1st.
And that is going to propel Brad Schimmel onto the Supreme Court.
Is there anything to that in your opinion?
It is very, very simple and direct.
They want this to be.
They want the equivalent of Trump on the ballot so they can get people who support Trump, voted for Trump, don't vote normally in midterms or Supreme Court races to turn out.
And the question for everyone who does not think that our state's highest court should be in the tank for whatever law that Trump and Musk want to break, and Musk, by the way, appears to have broken the law in this campaign by spending money through an organization that didn't file their campaign disclosure forms, if you don't think that we should just
let Trump get away with what ever he wants, then it's important to have turnout on the other side too.
If you poll Wisconsinites right now, poll nationally, Trump is actually not popular.
He's unpopular.
He's more people who disapprove of what he's doing than support.
But the critical thing is for people who are, you know, just want to turn off the news because they find it so stressful what's happening, the attacks on social security, the attacks on the Veterans Administration.
Folks who want to tune out national news need to tune in to this race because this race is going to have huge consequences and it'll send a message about whether we've had enough and whether we're able to fight back.
If you think that our Supreme Court should be independent, if you don't think we should have an abortion ban from before the Civil War, if you don't think the Supreme Court should use a rubber stamp for Trump instead of a gavel to rule on issues, you've got to support Susan Crawford and recruit people to go to the polls because you should assume that folks who who are diehard, they want to just clear the decks for.
or Trump to do whatever he wants, that they will vote in huge numbers, because that's exactly what Musk's millions are telling them they should do.
So this is go time and expect high turnout on both sides.
We're already seeing explosive early vote numbers.
We should expect this to be another nail biter, like 2019, that came down to less than half a percentage point.
And that means if you cast a ballot, your vote could be the one that decides the outcome of this election.
I was talking to my former boss, one of my former bosses, former Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz.
from Richland Center here, you know, a Republican, but he endorsed Tony Evers in his original election.
And of course, he endorsed Kamala vice president Kamala Harris against Trump in the fall.
So, you know, he's a guy who is still, I would say, a conservative, but he is endorsing Democrats because he believes in in that the party that's going to help small D democracy.
Here's a question for you, Chairman.
What we were talking about is why aren't... I know you don't speak for the entire Democratic Party or Susan Crawford, but I guess as a person out here in Southwest Wisconsin, we all know, or you know, certainly the polling, that...
What Trump did in pardoning the January 6 insurrectionists is a no-brainer.
It's like a 70-80 percenter.
People are opposed to that.
Derek Van Norton, the congressman out here, and Brad Schimmel is on record.
His voice is on record saying he thinks the January 6 insurrectionists got a raw deal.
Does it concern you that Democratic candidates, or Susan Crawford, who is endorsed by Democrats, isn't playing that up?
I don't understand why there aren't TV ads or whatever, saying Brad Schimmel is protecting insurrectionists who attacked cops.
We want to back the blue.
We think that people who attack cops should go to jail.
And of course, it is a really important issue.
And yet the folks who are most concerned about that, they're generally the people paying the most attention, who are the most likely to already have a plan to go out and vote.
The people who are only
kind of on the fence about whether to cast a ballot.
A lot of those folks are more concerned about the possibility of a total abortion ban because it'll go right into their lives.
Even if they don't want to think about politics every day, then about these kind of broader questions about democracy itself.
So I think people who listen to this show are probably people who, whether they're Democrats, Republicans or independents like you, they care a lot about democracy and hearing about the stakes for democracy can be really powerful.
But if you're someone who just wants politics to stay out of your life and you think, maybe you think
is pretty broken as it is, then it's the times when politicians kind of, you know, leave the, leave the halls of power, leave the Capitol and go and get into your bedroom and your doctor's exam room that caused the most concern.
And I think that's a lot of why you see ads on TV about abortion and about crime.
Republicans, you know, and Susan Crawford making cases about public safety, because that's the kind of thing that the least political folks still think about sometimes.
I do think that this additional piece about whether, you know, Elon Musk, the world's richest person who's
just destroying the Social Security Administration wants to privatize a postal service, ending child cancer research, whether he should be able to come in and buy a seat for Brad Schimmel, who there's a recording of him saying that he had to buy knee pads at Menards because he's crawling around on his knees saying, please, please, please, fund my campaign.
If you don't think that's how our politics should be and certainly how our judicial system should be, I do think there's an argument that this is time to say enough is enough and vote against Brad Schimmel.
But there's a bunch of issues in this race.
every one of them points to Susan Crawford instead of Schimmel.
And I think your point about the interaction is true.
We don't want to pardon people who attack police officers as they tried to trample and overturn a national election.
And Brad Schimmel seems to be fine with that.
A couple of minutes left here, about two and a half minutes left, Mr. Chairman.
I would love to have you back because I respect you so much.
And I think that you've done
for Wisconsin more than maybe anybody else recently in politics and helping get good at people elected.
I was deeply disappointed that the national Democrats chose someone else as the national chairman.
I think you would have done a fantastic job.
And that's because you listen.
You travel the state and listen.
And I think there's a lot of people where I'm sitting right now in rural Wisconsin who feel like they're not listened to enough.
Particularly from the Democratic side, as you move forward, Mr. Chairman, what can Democrats do, not just in this election, but move forward to connect better with voters, particularly in rural
I think showing up and listening is step one and step two is you got to act.
So we've been doing town halls.
We did a town hall in sock city.
We did another one a walk shot, another one in Eau Claire.
We're listening to folks hearing about what they're concerned about, what their fears are, what their hopes are.
And then you got to go out and fight.
You know, most Republicans, most Democrats, most independents.
they want to be able to get health care when they're sick.
And they think their kids should be able to do the same thing.
They want to retire with dignity without social security phone service being shut off, as apparently Musk wants to do.
And these are things where Democrats should be loud and proud and advocate because they're what people are asking for.
People are asking for Democrats to fight back and to be a shield against these kinds of attacks.
And they shouldn't be cowed into fear or submission by the world's richest man flooding the zone with TV ads.
These are things where most of us agree and standing up for common sense values that most Americans
hold no matter where they live.
That is, I think, what a Democratic Party at its best can do.
That's the tradition of fighting Bob Mulfallot.
That's a tradition himself or Republican.
That's something that we need to do today in the Democratic Party.
About a minute and a half left here.
Time always goes fast.
Chairman Wickler, is there anything I haven't asked you or we haven't talked about?
You want to make sure that Wisconsin knows before this April 1st election?
Voting is open now.
You can register when you get to the polls.
If you haven't registered, if you've moved, you can update your registration, bring your photo ID, bring your proof of address.
Go and cast a vote for Susan Crawford.
I would argue for Jill Underly for state superintendent for another term.
There are down ballot races as well in lots of parts of the state, but don't wait on this thing.
There may be another snowstorm on April 1st.
Recruit friends to do it.
Make a list of people who you know, who may or may not vote, text through them.
These elections can come down to a hair's breadth.
You look at 2019-2011 Supreme Court race, also for the majority, they came down to less than one vote per precinct across the state.
So if you recruit one friend to come vote with you, that could be the margin where you are.
And if we do that across the state of Wisconsin, Susan Crawford wins, democracy wins, and we have a chapter that actually brings hope to this country, which sorely needs you right now.
Ben Wickler, the DNC's loss was Wisconsin's gain.
I'm glad to have you back at the helm.
Glad to have you here in Wisconsin.
Thanks for joining us.
You're welcome any time.
much.
Thank you very much.
Ben Wickler, everybody, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Come on back.
We'll wrap things up for Rachel Center after this on the Civic Media.
We're ready to work.
Welcome back to the title ball show on the Civic Media Ready Network.
It is nine before the hour of one o'clock at the top of the hour, ABC or CBS News, depending upon which of our great stations you're listening to across the Civic Media Ready Network.
And then a check of weather and sports with our own Mike Clemens.
Well, Clemens is just a sports.
But would it be great if Mike Clemens did weather as well?
He'd be great.
There's nothing that Mike Clemens cannot do.
I'm serious about that.
He's a great guy and a talented broadcaster.
But no, we have our weather and then we have a little sports with our own Mike Clemens.
And then it's Maggie Dawn across Wisconsin.
The Maggie Dawn show every afternoon from two until four followed by the Dom Selvia show and Pete Schwabba and Nightlight.
Another great fine program as well.
A little update for you.
It is Wisconsin 59 and Montana 47 now.
I think it was like around 12 minutes to go.
So Wisconsin maintains the lead.
They just went to a commercial break there on the old television.
But Wisconsin continues to leave Montana in the NCAA game.
You know, Leeds growing, so that's good news.
Hopefully Wisconsin can move on to the next round out there in Denver.
You can listen to that game live on WRCE in Richland Center, WFHR in Wisconsin Rapids, and WLAK in Amory.
There is no stream, not allowed to stream the NCAA games.
Let's do a little cleanup in aisle two.
Lots to get to here, the last segment here before the top of the hour.
Go back to the phone lines here.
I know Ollie's been waiting.
in the north woods Ali you want to comment I believe on on our what's worse today casinos or the lottery do you have an opinion what's worse Ali casinos or the lottery
well I've only been to the casinos a few times and like you I take a little bit of money and when that's gone I'm done but I just think that the casinos are much worse because when you get up from a stool and the next person that quickly grabs their
that stool sits down and wins, you have to kick yourself all night long, whereas if you buy a lottery ticket and the next person behind you in line gets the winning lottery, you never know.
Right.
That's a good point.
That's a good point.
I've seen that before.
I'm not sure if it's ever happened to me, but particularly the old slot machines, we had to pull the handle.
Yeah, you'd sit there and plug it for 20 minutes and put, you know, $15, $20 worth of nickels in.
You'd walk away and the next person sits down.
Boom, jackpot.
That's great.
I appreciate it, Ollie.
Thank you so much.
Have a great day up there in the Northwoods.
Appreciate you listening and hanging on.
855-752-4842.
855-752-4842.
Let's go to beautiful Wausau, WXCO, Bull Falls Radio.
Dale, standing by in Wausau, listening there.
Dale, you want to bring up one of the political topics, I believe.
Go ahead.
Yes.
I have something to say about the about Social Security.
Social Security is not an entitlement as it has been called.
It is a savings account.
Let's call it the Social Security savings account.
The triple S.A.
The Trump administration and Musk are trying to commandeer our accounts.
Our personal Social Security savings account number for our savings accounts
is better known as our social security number.
Everyone across the country has been putting money throughout our lives into our personal social security savings accounts.
What the Trump administration is doing is no different than your bank zeroing out your bank's savings account, telling you they are taking, i.e.
stealing, stealing your savings account money because they want to build a new bank.
or give a big windfall to their bank president and their president's oligarchs.
The
Trump administration is also saying that it is a Ponzi scheme.
No, it is a personal social security savings account, plain and simple.
Yeah, I appreciate the call.
Thank you so much, Dale.
Now, you're right.
I mean, it's something we all pay into over our course of our lives, and we've earned that right.
I always think of it when it's called an entitlement account.
It means that we're entitled to get our money back.
That's the way I look at it.
But yeah, you're absolutely right that these are things that we pay into and you expect it to be there.
And again, I think a lot of the politically sexy or clickbait as they say things are just outrageous, you know, whether it's attacking Greenland or whatever, that is meant to be a distraction.
for these direct assaults on programs that we have paid into and are entitled to, such as Social Security or Medicaid and Medicare, and the fact that Trump and Musk and the Maga Republicans in Congress are trying to cut those in order to provide large tax breaks to the multi-billionaires, and if those folks needed any more money, but that's gonna be the real grift here, the real steal, the real robbery.
And that's why we have to remain vigilant as we, as we continue on.
And by the way, thank you.
Many thanks to Chairman Ben Wickler for coming on the show.
And there's a guy, Mr. Zomers, who doesn't mind a real question or a tough question.
And, you know, he doesn't give us talking points beforehand.
He just says, I'm going to come on and we're going to have a conversation.
And I appreciate that about him so much.
Oh, absolutely.
It's refreshing.
It really is refreshing.
And I appreciate Chairman Wickler coming on and to his point.
that that's part of why the Supreme Court race in particular matters so much on April 1st, because the courts right now are the final guardrail on democracy.
If you don't like these attempts to steal money that we put into, whether it was Social Security or something else, if you're concerned that there's overreach by the executive branch or the legislative branch, that the judiciary
Judges, whether it's state or federal, who look at the law and interpret it directly, are vitally important.
And that's why I look, like I say, I'm independent these days.
But I'm voting for Susan Crawford on April 1st.
You can guarantee that.
Great show today.
I appreciate everybody being there here, including Ben Wicklow, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, Brady Ewing for our own Richland Center here in former Wisconsin Badger.
Mr. Zabra is doing Yeoman's work down there in Madison.
We'll be back here at Richland Center tomorrow.
Don't miss it.
It's going to be a great time.
Fill me from Richland Center.
It will be our guest then.
Badgers are still in the lead right now.
Hopefully they can pull out a win whatever you're fighting for, whatever you believe in.
Do not give up.
We'll see you tomorrow on the Civic Media Network.
