I am behind schedule on my chronicling of the presidential primary, which at least makes me sympathetic to the candidates, who are behind on their schedules. Although in the lead, Donald Trump seems to need a series of perfect victories to reach the delegate majority. Ted Cruz, mostly by default, has become the consensus anti-Trump candidate, but is around one-third of the way to the majority. And John Kasich is just along for the ride.
Pour that situation into Wisconsin, a state with its own complex politics and demographics. Wisconsin was a test case for tea party politics, in the form of Governor Scott Walker's policies. Wisconsin is also a state with a mixture of suburban Republicanism in the Milwaukee suburbs, and a more rural form of Republicanism in the hinterlands. Or at least, this is what political commentators would have us believe. The truth of the matter is, in 2016, with a contested convention and with candidates tweeting insults about each other's wives, pat descriptions of campaigns and demographics don't always work.
But what did come out of Wisconsin was a clear Cruz victory, winning with 48% versus 35% for Trump, and getting 36 delegates to Trump's 6. Early on in the campaign, this would have been a great victory. Now, it signals nothing but a slight narrowing in the delegate margins, and the fact that the campaign will most likely go to a contested convention.