GOP primary drama may be good for WI voters

Wisconsin voters hoping to cast a meaningful vote in the state’s April 3rd presidential primary can take heart in the seesaw battle taking place in the Republican presidential race. Newt Gingrich‘s South Carolina victory and current strong showing in polls in Florida, site of the next contest, potentially mean a much longer process than many anticipated.

In 2008, many thought Wisconsin’s February 19th primary would arrive too late to be consequential. But the tight contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and the fact that few other states were holding a primary that day put our state in the national spotlight. Obama’s victory was a large boost to the momentum that eventually landed him in the White House.

That wasn’t the first time Wisconsin played a significant role. 1960 saw a major win for John F. Kennedy over neighbor Hubert H. Humphrey, the Minnesota senator. And there are great stories from the following years as well, recounted here on the Wispolitics.com site.

It seems right that Wisconsin should be a player in the primary game, since the primary was practically invented here as one of Robert LaFollette’s reforms. A brief history written before the 2008 contest is here on the Wisconsin Historical Society’s site.

We’ll see if the drama continues into April, though thirty-two other states and the Virgin Islands will have their say before Wisconsin voters can get to the polls.