June 5 - Will a Purple State Turn Red or Blue?; Efforts to Reverse Walker Have Fallen Short; Outside Money Swamps the Recall Race; Labor Reporter Locked Out of Capitol by a Corporate Flack

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with Joel Rogers, a professor of law, political science, public affairs and sociology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he directs the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. We discuss the local dynamics of today's recall race that has taken on national significance.

Part 2

Then to get a sense of how politics have become so intense and polarized in a state that has long been considered to be moderate and centrist, we will speak with the Editor of WisPolitics.com, J.R. Ross. He has covered Wisconsin politics and the statehouse for the last decade.

Part 3

Then we get an update on the record amount of out-of-state money that has poured into this recall race. Bill Lueders, a veteran Wisconsin newspaper editor and reporter who is the money and politics project director at WisconsinWatch.org, joins us.

Part 4

Then finally we speak with a reporter on another subject; that is what happens when a labor journalist tries to interview the CEO of a big corporation at a hearing on Capitol Hill. Mike Elk, who writes for Harper’s Magazine, the American Prospect, the Huffington Post and is a staff writer for In these Times, joins us to tell how his microphone was ripped from him by a staffer for a Republican congressman and how the Communications Director of the Honeywell Corporation locked him in a room in the capitol to prevent him from reporting.