This was the week of the long-anticipated first presidential debate, a U.S. Senate debate, and a presidential visit to our town. The presidential campaigns spent much of the early week lowering expectations by explaining how their candidate really was tired, distracted and just not really into it. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the Obama campaign was not making that up
It's not clear to me how Obama's guys let him get through the entire evening without once bringing up the number of dancing horses the Romney's own, the number of Cadillacs in the Romney garage, the number of dollars Mitt has squirreled away in the Cayman Islands or the number 47. He didn't even talk about the proper way to transport a dog on a family vacation. Lots of missed opportunities there, Mr. President.
With these developments, a lot more seems to be riding on the vice-presidential debate. Reports are that Joe Biden is going to wax and detail the Camaro this weekend so that he can drive to the debate in style. Meanwhile Paul Ryan is working frantically with MIT math researchers to get two and two to equal five in order to balance his proposed budget.
After the debate, the president visited Madison and mispronounced my name yet again. This time he was way off. Cieslewicz doesn't sound anything like Soglin.
And there were still more debates. In the race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Herb Kohl, our own Tammy Baldwin squared off against former Governor Tommy Thompson. Tommy started out irritated and worked his way through annoyed, finishing totally pissed. And he does have ego issues. Most people who are in the private sector might just claim to be part of it. But Tommy said, and I quote, "I am a private sector." So, Tommy apparently sees himself as an entire sector all to himself. Now, I admire confidence in a candidate, but that's a little over the top, I'd say.
By contrast, Tammy Baldwin came off cool, intelligent, a steady person of good judgment who studies the issues and cares about the people she hopes to represent. In other words, she has no business in modern American politics.
In sports, the Packers went one and one against the NFL officials (this time the real ones), surviving yet another bad call, and the Brewers ended their season with a surge to finish above .500 and just out of the running for a wild card birth. And that's not all the good news. The Wisconsin Badgers football team is setting its sight on the Jaworksi's Storm Door and Roofing Company Bowl in Holland, Michigan. Seems like a stretch to me, but every team has to have its goals.
That's all I've got for now. Have a good weekend, kids!
