This is not a game. It's not a horse race. It's not just politics as usual. This is about the future of Wisconsin.

I know this is supposed to be funny, and the "gambler's guide" is actually a satirical look at the different aspects of the recall in comic strip form. So why do I find the Isthmus cover treatment so offensive this close to the election? Am I just losing my sense of humor? Maybe. But I don't think so.

What bothers me is that this kind of  "inside baseball" coverage focusing almost exclusively on the ins and outs of campaigning -- who's up? who's down? who leads in the polls? --  has come to dominate modern political reporting. It's also a disaster for democracy. The public needs in-depth reporting more than ever, since money so dominates the political landscape.  If the media don't use their scarce resources to focus on the issues and what the election means for the citizens of Wisconsin, who will? What chance will the public have to get the facts they need to make an informed decision?

Certainly, humor can be an effective means of addressing political issues. Just look at Jon Stewart. But not when the humor leads to lame and misleading conclusions like this:

"So where to put your money? Bet on hate. The outcome of the election will please half the state, and enrage the other half. Barrett or Walker, vitriolic politics will continue to dominate Wisconsin for years to come. That's a safe bet!"

This is just one more way of saying it doesn't really make a difference, that the campaign is just a stupid political game,  that everything will continue in just the same hateful manner, no matter who wins. In other words, why bother? Why vote at all?

In reality, a Barrett victory would start heaing the divisions in the state and start undoing some of the damage Scott Walker has done -- because it would be seen as a public rejection of Walker's mean-spirited politics of division. In contrast, a Walker victory would mean Walker's first year was was just his opening act -- the election would be a mandate for further cuts in Badger Care, more assaults on women's rights, a concerted push to make Wisconsin a right to work state, and a likely move to privatize the state pension system.

Smug, superficial cynicism really seems inadequate -- even offensive -- at such a crucial turning point. This is not a game. It's not a horse race. And it's not just politics as usual. It's about the future of Wisconsin.

At the Wednesday Farmers' Market I signed nomination papers for the longest-serving state legislator in the country

Fred Risser was one of the 14 Democratic state senators who left Wisconsin when Scott Walker dropped his budget bomb last year. He turned 85 earlier this month, and I was happy to be able to sign his nomination papers at the Wednesday Farmers' Market for another run this fall. Fred Risser has never lost an election. First elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 1956, he is the longest-serving state legislator not only in Wisconsin history, but in U.S. history as well.

Spiders Seem to Be Getting More Aggressive These Days and Going After Larger Prey

Must be the steroids in the water supply. . .

Nature Walk, Edgewood College, Madison. Photo taken with iPhone 4 with HDR on, BW conversion in Monochromia with orange filter.

Polls don't measure passion very well, and that's why their recall projections can't really be trusted

Polling is based on questioning a sampling of people and extrapolating their responses to a larger population. In order to do that, you have to make assumptions about the population based on past behavior -- especially when it comes to elections. Given the unique nature of the Wisconsin recall, that's difficult, if not impossible. There's no baseline, no pattern of past voting experience for the different voter demographics based on similar elections. There aren't any.

 The recall was driven by a surge of grassroots action unprecedented not only locally, but also nationally. The percentage of the population that signed the recall petitions was the highest in Wisconsin history and also in U.S. history. For example, as a proportion of population, four times as many people signed the Wisconsin recall as signed the petitions to recall Gray Davis, which resulted in his being replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California. From the beginning, a lot of people wanted a do-over after they found out that Tom Barre's defeat was a the result of a deliberate campaign of deceit and deception by Scott Walker. I took this photo on Feb. 19, 2011. People were passionate about this issue. That's why hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in mindwinter at the Wisconsin state Capitol. Passion like that wins elections and is almost impossible to measure in polls.

 Passion will be important on both sides. Certainly hard-core Walker supporters are also passionate about their candidate. They made an effort to turn out large numbers in the primary to demonstrate their strength and intimidate opponents. But even more Walker opponents cared enough to show up and vote in the primary. Those turnout figures might be a better indication of the outcome of the June 8th election than any amount of polling at this stage.

 Despite all the flimflam and distractions Walker and the GOP try to throw at us, the only question as we go into the final weeks of the campaign is whether Wisconsin voters are as passionate about getting rid of Scott Walker as they were last year. If they are, and demonstrate their passion by going to the polls, Tom Barrett will be our next governor. I'm betting he will.

Local Hopheads Granted Asylum

Ale Asylum delivery truck leaving the Madison Trader Joe's. Ale Asylum makes some terrific locally brewed beers on the East side of Madison. They have cool trucks, too.

Recall: What Would Fighting Bob La Follette Do?

"By the recall, a faithless public official may be retired without waiting for the evil to be fully consummated." -- Robert M. La Follette. Sr.

Ever since momentum built for Wisconsin recalls last year, some Republicans have maintained that the recall mechanism in the Wisconsin Constitution is much too easy, that's it's subject to abuse and needs to be tightened up. (This despite the fact that they've tried -- unsuccessfully -- to recall innumerable Democrats in recent years. Usually they didn't even get enough signatures, most recently most recently when they tried to recall state Sen. Bob Jauch over the mining bill defeat.)

What about their contention that the recall should only be used against clear evidence of lawbreaking by elected officials? What would Fighting Bob,  the originator of the recall in Wisconsin, have done?  John Nichols wrote a good article on this the other day. His basic point -- the record is clear that La Follette intended the recall to be interpreted as broadly as possible when an elected official is in serious breach of the public interest.

What would Fighting Bob do? He'd say, "Recall Walker."

Spring comes to the dunes

Spring unfolds more slowly along the Lake Michigan lakefront, but it's greening out now in all its splendor.  Kohler-Andrae State Park, Sheboygan, WI.

Startled Heron Taking Flight

Great Blue Heron, Stricker's Pond, Middleton.