…is not so much–she comes across as more like a flaky teenager. Someone who thinks the police “promote white supremacy” is not a serious person of the left. And her Twitter blather about Thanksgiving et al. is just embarrassing. Fortunately, the Milwaukee County Executive, David Crowley, prevailed (despite polls showing Hong with a big lead). Crowley is African-American, but Wisconsin has elected an African-American as Lieutenant Governor, so hopefully the racism factor will not hurt too much.

UPDATE: Philosopher Steven Nadler (UW Madison) writes:

You’re absolutely right about the recent Democratic gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin and Francesca Hong’s candidacy. The problem with the media coverage, however, is that the primary is too often depicted as “a blow to the progressive movement” (New York Times, 8/13). In fact, it was nothing of the sort. Despite the NYT consistently calling David Crowley a “moderate”, he (like practically all the other Democratic candidates) is firmly in the progressive camp. The problem with Hong was not that she was a progressive, but that she was a flawed candidate, especially when dealing with the media.