The Recombobulation Area is a 19-time 21-TIME! Milwaukee Press Club award-winning opinion column and online publication founded by Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer.
Ben Wikler, the former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, is out on tour, promoting his terrific new book, “This Is The Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy.”
I joined Wikler to host the event in Eau Claire on Sunday, July 26, for a live conversation to talk about the book, Wisconsin’s especially discombobulating campaign season, and much more, on topics from gerrymandering to the filibuster to “the establishment” to state legislative races to the news of the day on Ken Martin and the DNC. He even explained why he agrees with Sen. Ron Johnson on something (yes, really!).
And in case you missed it — which, hey, you might have; there’s a lot going on these days! — we have full audio of the event here.
The event was introduced by Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, who is also running to be Wisconsin’s next Lieutenant Governor. Wikler and I joined next, at the wonderful Pablo Center at the Confluence, and talked for about 30 minutes, before we answered a few questions.
You can listen here, on the Substack app, on Spotify (embedded below) or on Apple Podcasts (available here).
The event even made the local news in Eau Claire. We love a newspaper headline, folks!
Event audio recorded by Jonathan Klett, mixed by Jennie Brand.
Dan Shafer is an independent journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He worked with Civic Media from 2024 to 2026. He’s written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 24 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
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Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer, at BlueSky at @danshafer.bsky.social, and on Threads at @danshafer.
