Turning red?

The Washington Post identifies Wisconsin as a Gore state that may well swing toward the Republicans in these presidential elections (article here). Along with the Gore-win states of Pennsylvania, Iowa, Minnesota, and New Mexico, Wisconsin seems on the brink of turning a Republican red. Why? The GOP is blitzing the state with ads attempting to move the focus of voters here away from the economy onto cultural issues.

Not being much of a TV watcher, I’m not sure what that means: is the state more culturally aligned with the Republicans these days? What is the source of the alignment? Culture: is it that the Republican-to-his-shrinking-midriff, Tommy Thompson, is at the forefront of the war on obesity (and Wisconsin both has an unreasonable case of Tommy-worship and a problem with obesity)? Is it that Kerry has historically supported gun control, while for many in this state, bliss means draining the contents of one barrel (beer-filled) and filling the contents of another (gun)? [An aside: I have recently learned that there is a town in Texas CALLED Gun Barrel—see site here—how odd is that?]

The Post states that only 18 states seem still in the running: strategists for both sides have all but conceded the remaining to one another. I suppose it is somewhat of an honor to have Wisconsin still in the race, though I was happier when we were heralded as a progressive Edwards-Kerry battle ground. This new image of Wisconsin turning toward the GOP is more disconcerting: haven’t we incorporated enough red already into our Badger state culture?