I recently saw a nationwide layout of how each state voted in the 2004 election and there was a big patch of blue in the upper Midwest. It was Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. I live in a blue state now. I knew this before, but the map reminded me that this is a supposedly pretty liberal state. I find this utterly surprising.
If anything, Wisconsin seems much redder than Colorado does. A lot of the people look like they belong in Wyoming. They are a little rough around the edges; wear Harley shirts to work, love their trucks and guns, and care about the Packers, the Badgers, and cheese curds. I wouldn’t expect these people to have voted for Kerry in 2004, but I wouldn’t expect them to have voted for Bush, either.
I’m just guessing here, but Kerry might have really appealed to some Wisconsinites because he wasn’t Bush, and that’s about it. The Wisconsin way seems extremely laid back and homey. They don’t leave the state that much, which is odd because a big chunk of them seem oddly disappointed with where they live, like they have been sentenced here for life (for proof, see quotes at end). And not many people move here. Wisconsinites enjoy sticking around for a while, a long while. It doesn’t seem their style to bother with anyone’s affairs, whether it is some other part of the country, world, or even county.
This is something that some people seemed to already have figured out about Wisconsin before Kate and I moved here. I would say to them, “We are moving to Milwaukee.”
“Milwaukee? Why are you moving there?” They would say.
And, if we didn’t get that, we got this when we got here.
“So, where did you move from?” They say.
“Colorado.”
“Are you mad? Why’d you move here?” They clearly aren’t joking. I am pretty sure I could have mentioned any one of some forty states and I would get the same reaction.
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