When Wisconsin's tourism bureau launched a war on its neighbor by suggesting Wisconsin is actually the "mitten state," Michigan saw an unlikely ally come to its defense: a 30-something video pro named John Kerfoot. READ MORE

Recall is the new Occupy. Today, seven states will see at least 26 separate recalls in 11 jurisdictions. And starting November 15th, a massive Wisconsin-wide petition drive will attempt to fulfill a promise from February to recall Governor Scott Walker. It's a massive undertaking, and there is reason to believe it will succeed, but also reasons it will fail. Once filed, the recall effort will have 60 days to— READ MORE

Bill Ayers is the human wormhole linking those mythical dirty, un-American hippies of the 1960s to the Obama administration to the also-dirty socialists of the rising #occupy movement. On October 13th, the conservative blog American Thinker giddily entertained the hypothetical of an Occupy Wall Street movement that would "morph into something resembling the radical factions of the late 1960s and 1970s"—when "it will not be just Ayers and [spouse Bernardine] Dohrn with blood on their hands. It will be their young protégé in the White House as well." READ MORE

When I moved from Wisconsin to the Lower East Side in January, I quickly discovered my deep Midwest roots were very uncool. After a few smirks and condescending remarks about how I must be feeling “culture shock” in the big city, I learned not to broadcast the fact that I was raised and educated in, as our license plates proudly proclaim, America’s Dairyland. READ MORE

On Tuesday, September 6th, Paul Ryan spoke at the Whitnall Park Rotary Club in Greenfield, Wisconsin. For what has become the only way for even his constituents to see the Congressman during his summer town halls, tickets were $15. And in what looked like a polar negative of the healthcare town halls of 2009, Ryan was disrupted over and over again by those (paying) attendees. Three were arrested. READ MORE

When I started going to Tea Party meetings two years ago, I was sympathetic. Just after attending one in North Dakota in August of 2009, I wrote: "Most tea partiers are not bad people. They're just mad. In many meaningful ways, today's Tea Party attendees' lives have gotten consistently worse for the last 20 years, regardless of which party was in power." I concluded that trying to figure out what they wanted was a dead end because what they wanted was simply to complain—that the Tea Party "is not a group of listen and respond; this is a group of respond and respond." READ MORE

In the long-awaited matter of the Wisconsin recall elections, two Republican state senators were indeed recalled. That puts the state at 17 Republicans and 16 Democrats, and, even with forthcoming recall elections, at the very least the legislature will remain with a Republican majority. READ MORE

Wisconsin. You've heard of it. Maybe it was a fat joke. More likely it was a cheese joke. A drunk joke? Even more likely it was about drunk fat people eating cheese. Yes, Wisconsin Dells. You've certainly flown over it. READ MORE

In yesterday's recall primary election in Wisconsin, the fake Democratic candidates who are actually Republicans lost by huge margins. READ MORE

Not only is Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson getting so robotic about his debt ceiling protest talking points that he's now apparently praising Obama for creating high employment—his echo chamber is going along for the ride too. That was retweeted by popular right wing radio host Charlie Sykes—author of Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, or Add.

Ron Johnson, you'll remember, holds Russ Feingold's old seat.