PODCAST · news
The Recombobulation Area
by Dan Shafer
Dan Shafer hosts The Recombobulation Area podcast, covering the discombobulating politics of the state of Wisconsin. www.therecombobulationarea.com
Episodes
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After 16 years of a Republican majority, can Democrats flip the Assembly in 2026? (with Democratic Leader Greta Neubauer!)
Republicans have controlled the State Assembly for the last 16 years, and for 30 of the last 32 years. But in 2026, Democrats have a realistic chance at flipping the Assembly for the first time in a long time. In 2024, the first election held under new maps, Democrats made significant gains,...
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Conversation with Brandy Tollefson, Democratic candidate in Assembly District 88
In many ways, the race for control of the Wisconsin State Assembly goes through Assembly District 88, located in eastern Green Bay, De Pere and Brown County. This northeastern Wisconsin district was home to the closest Assembly race in the state in 2024, where less than 250 votes made the...
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Conversation with Trevor Jung, Democratic candidate in Senate District 21
In this year’s election in Wisconsin, there is, of course, the first open race for governor in 16 years, where David Crowley is facing Tom Tiffany. There is also a major fork-in-the-road election happening up and down the ballot for control of the Wisconsin State Legislature, where Democrats have...
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Tom Tiffany didn’t pay any taxes for years (with Scot Ross!)
Scot Ross did political communications and research at the state and federal levels for 25 years. His last dozen years in politics, he ran One Wisconsin Now, an opposition research and communication outfit, and for the last 15 years, he’s been the liberal pundit for PBS Wisconsin. He has some...
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: Crowley proposes protecting abortion rights, Republicans’ school funding shell game, Tiffany’s radical tax ideas
The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow (The View from UpNorth) of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area. This week’s episode features Dr. Christopher Ford, a board-certified emergency medicine...
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Mark on the Midterms: Congressman Pocan talks flipping the House, Derrick Van Orden’s antics, Bryan Steil’s vulnerability, a Wisconsin trifecta, much more
Mark Pocan served 14 years in the Wisconsin State Assembly before being elected to Congress in 2012, and is now in his seventh term representing Wisconsin’s 2nd Congressional District. Congressman Pocan is running unopposed for re-election this year, and is getting to work helping other…
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: The Billionaires vs. The People
The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow (The View from UpNorth) of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area. There is so much happening in the Wisconsin political universe, and your friends at the...
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What is actually happening with data centers in Wisconsin? (Part II)
As we get closer and closer to the Nov. 3 election, there’s been an issue that’s continued to emerge as an especially contentious one – data centers. Perhaps more specifically, it’s been the type of hyperscale AI data centers that are being proposed or built all over the country, including here…
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What is actually happening with data centers in Wisconsin? (Part I)
As we get closer and closer to the Nov. 3 election, there’s been an issue that’s continued to emerge as an especially contentious one – data centers. Perhaps more specifically, it’s been the type of hyperscale AI data centers that are being proposed or built all over the country, including here…
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ENDORSEMENT: Mark Becker for State Senate in District 1
The Nov. 3 election is coming up soon, and while the race for governor has drawn most of the headlines here in Wisconsin — with good reason, in many cases — the race for control of the Wisconsin State Legislature is also an incredibly big deal, and will determine so much about the future of our...
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ENDORSEMENT: Emily Tseffos for State Senate in District 19
The Nov. 3 election is coming up soon, and while the race for governor has drawn most of the campaign headlines here in Wisconsin — with good reason, in many cases — the race for control of the Wisconsin State Legislature is also an incredibly big deal, and will determine so much about the future...
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ENDORSEMENT: Robyn Vining for State Senate in District 5
The Nov. 3 election is coming up soon, and while the race for governor has drawn most of the campaign headlines here in Wisconsin — with good reason, in many cases — the race for control of the Wisconsin State Legislature is also an incredibly big deal, and will determine so much about the future...
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: Tom Tiffany's press ban, beer garden nonsense, and getting Wisconsin's vote out
The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow (The View from UpNorth) of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area. This episode features Angela Lang, co-executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for...
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: Rising prices, congressional races, constitutional amendments
There is so much happening in the Wisconsin political universe, and your friends at the “Wisconsin Politics Group Chat” podcast are here to break it all down. This episode aired live on the Motherhood for Good YouTube Channel on Friday, Sept. 18, at 1 p.m. For a beat-by-beat breakdown, check out...
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The state of the race with less than 50 days to go (with Todd Allbaugh)
With less than 50 days to go before the Nov. 3 election, Todd Allbaugh joined the podcast to recombobulate on the state of the race. Todd is a former Republican who left the party during the Walker years, was a legislative staffer for former state senator Dale Schultz, and was the host of the…
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: Trifecta plus Josh and unlock the block
The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow (The View from UpNorth) of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area. Find all of these episodes on The Recombobulation Area’s podcast feed (Apple Podcasts…
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: Moving from the primary to the general
The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow (The View from UpNorth) of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area. Find all of these episodes on The Recombobulation Area’s podcast feed (Apple Podcasts…
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Recombobulating on Wisconsin's wild primary, with Sarah Godlewski, the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor
After a discombobulating primary election night, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley is now the Democratic nominee for governor. And while we knew this was coming — she was uncontested in her run, after all — Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski is now the Democratic nominee for lieutenant...
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: The results are in and David Crowley is the Democratic nominee
The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow (The View from UpNorth) of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area. The Aug. 11 partisan primary is now in our rear view mirror, David Crowley won by a less than…
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Election Night LIVE at The Recombobulation Area: Part II
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.therecombobulationarea.com/subscribe
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Election Night LIVE at The Recombobulation Area (Part I)
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.therecombobulationarea.com/subscribe
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Inside Wisconsin's wild gov primary (on Public Notice with Aaron Rupar)
We are just days away from Election Day for Wisconsin’s wild Democratic gubernatorial primary. To offer a bigger picture perspective on the state of the race — and much more in Wisconsin’s discombobulating politics — Dan Shafer joined Aaron Rupar of Public Notice to recombobulate on this chaotic...
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Have we lost the plot? Time to recombobulate with Angela Lang
With just days to go before the Aug. 11 primary, we have reached the silly season of the Democratic gubernatorial campaign. So, Angela Lang joined the podcast to ask: Have we lost the plot? We pondered that questioned, Angela had a few things to say about David Crowley’s recent comments on “the...
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: Michigan results, woke Thanksgiving, the frenzied final week
The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat podcast features Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Pat Kreitlow of UpNorthNews, Kate Duffy of Motherhood for Good, and Dan Shafer of The Recombobulation Area. There is now less than a week to go before Wisconsin’s Aug. 11 partisan primary, and your friends at the Wisconsin...
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One-on-one with David Crowley
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has had a rather unique campaign in his run for governor, to say the least. He dropped out of the race in early July and endorsed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez a day later, not realizing she had misled him about an unraveling campaign finance crisis in her...
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Live from Eau Claire: A conversation with Ben Wikler
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 for a live conversation to talk about the book, Wisconsin’s...
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: The debate, the polls, the home stretch
It’s been another busy week in Wisconsin politics, with the one and only debate happening Tuesday at Marquette University, two new polls showing Francesca Hong opening up a sizable lead over the rest of the field, and a news cycle unfolding at breakneck pace as we get closer and closer to the…
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'I think the primary is over': Pollster Chaz Nuttycombe on Francesca Hong's huge lead in new State Navigate survey
A new poll of the Democratic primary in the race for governor in Wisconsin was released today by State Navigate, with support from UpNorthNews and Main Street Action. Here are the headline results, showing State Rep. Francesca Hong of Madison with a huge lead. UpNorthNews first reported on the...
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: Campaign chaos in the Democratic gubernatorial primary
Over the past two weeks, the Democratic primary in the race for governor has turned into absolute chaos. Candidates are out, candidates are in, politicians are making endorsements, people are freaking out about the establishment, and this is all very discombobulating. Nobody knows anything, but…
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One-on-one with Francesca Hong
The last two weeks of campaign politics in Wisconsin have been extremely discombobulating, to say the least. Since Tuesday, July 7, the following has happened: * Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley ended his campaign * Crowley endorsed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez * Rodriguez announced she was...
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A discombobulating week in the Democratic primary
Today is is a rather discombobulating day for a variety of reasons. For one, here in the city of Milwaukee, we are experiencing the worst wildfire smoke here that I think we’ve ever experienced here in the city. The air quality is atrocious and everything smells like a campfire — and not in a…
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: The Sara Rodriguez campaign finance crisis
The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat of Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Patrick Kreitlow and Dan Shafer (we missed Kate Duffy this time!) got together once again to talk about all the latest happenings in Wisconsin politics, diving deep into the emerging scandal for a candidate that seemed ascendant just a few...
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In conversation with Kelda Roys, Democratic candidate for governor
State Sen. Kelda Roys is making the case that she’s the candidate in the Democratic primary for governor who can get things done for Wisconsin, and as the person in this race who is the biggest threat to Republicans in a general election. “I think the Republicans looking at this race do see me as...
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: Congressional primaries, data center moratoriums, and all the latest in the Democratic governor primary
The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat of Kate Duffy, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, Patrick Kreitlow and Dan Shafer got together once again to talk about all the latest happenings, from socialism scaremongering to data center moratoriums to the Democratic primary in the race for governor (controversies,...
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Wisconsin Politics Group Chat: The race for governor, the Dobbs decision anniversary, the Giannis trade, much more
The Wisconsin Politics Group Chat got together once again to talk about all the latest in the news of the week. The show streamed live on Patrick Kreitlow’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, and now, you can watch the full show here. Among topics discussed: The Democratic primary in the race for...
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From One Heart to 10,000
The Blake Matthew Mindful Memorial Foundation was founded in 2021 following the loss of Blake Matthew Fenwick, a beloved son, brother, friend, and young Wisconsin man whose life ended far too soon after a struggle with mental health challenges. What began with a father’s desire to honor his son…
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In conversation with Joel Brennan, Democratic candidate for governor
Joel Brennan is one of now six candidates running to be the Democratic nominee for governor. He was the secretary of the Department of Administration for much of Tony Evers’ first term as governor, and before that, was the president and CEO of Discovery World for more than a decade in Milwaukee.…
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After the WisDems convention, who is leading the primary for governor?
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin held its annual convention over the weekend in Madison. And as you might expect, the Democratic primary in the race for governor was the big topic at this year’s event, with candidates hosting hospitality suites and delivering speeches and jockeying for position…
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The future of the Stadium Freeway, and more Milwaukee stories (with Jeramey Jannene!)
The future of the Stadium Freeway is something we’ve covered a whole lot here at The Recombobulation Area. Almost exactly five years ago, I wrote a piece as part of our multi-part “Expanding the Divide” series on why we should tear down the Stadium Freeway and convert it to a boulevard, opening…
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Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition to host "Our Maps, Our Say" rallies across the state on June 4
In light of the Callais decision, the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition is firing up its demand for an Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) that empowers citizens — not political parties. For the past year, they have been building public support for a draft proposal that aims to be…
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Tom Tiffany and the insurrectionist slush fund, the deficit problem in the surplus deal, Sean Duffy's out-of-touch road trip, Milwaukee gets a win, and more (with Angela Lang!)
Angela Lang and I always have a lot to talk about when we get together, so for these podcast episodes, we each bring three headlines or topics to discuss. This time, my headlines were: * WPR: Failed surplus deal would have sent Wisconsin budget into the red, analysis finds * NPR: Transportation...
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Data center politics and Kirk Bangstad's attention-seeking run for governor (with Emily Mills!)
Emily Mills recently won a Milwaukee Press Club GOLD award for their column, “How AI is harming Wisconsin’s path to renewable energy.” So, they joined the podcast to talk about that prescient piece, how the politics of AI and data centers has taken off as a major issue over the past year, and how...
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VIDEO: Celebrating Milwaukee, LIVE at Anodyne (Feat. Dan Shafer, Kristin Brey, Angela Lang and special guests)
Thanks so much to everyone who came out for our LIVE PODCAST event at Anodyne Coffee’s Walker’s Point Roastery in Milwaukee! It might not have been April 14, but we still showed up for the 4-1-4! Turns out you can celebrate Milwaukee Day on May 7, after all. Our guests for the podcast included...
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LIVE from Anodyne, with Dan Shafer, Kristin Brey and Angela Lang
The Recombobulation Area is a 19-time 21-TIME! Milwaukee Press Club award-winning opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media. Thanks so much to everyone who came out for our LIVE PODCAST event at...
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PODCAST: What's next for 794?
The Recombobulation Area is a 19-time 21-TIME! Milwaukee Press Club award-winning opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation recently held a pair of…
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PODCAST: Food trucks, SCOWIS, 1st CD, flooding and infrastructure, a Milwaukee County success story and more
The Recombobulation Area is a 19-time 21-TIME! Milwaukee Press Club award-winning opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media. Our guest for this episode is Angela Lang, the co-executive director of...
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PODCAST: Milan Zori on the 2026 Milwaukee Film Festival
The Recombobulation Area is a 19-time 21-TIME! Milwaukee Press Club award-winning opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media. The 18th annual Milwaukee Film Festival is happening from April 16…
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PODCAST: Alicia Halvensleben, the next mayor of the City of Waukesha
The Recombobulation Area is a 19-time 21-TIME! Milwaukee Press Club award-winning opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media. The Spring Election in Wisconsin was just a couple short weeks ago, and...
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PODCAST: The attention economy and digital detox, with "Your Attention Please" documentary filmmakers
The Recombobulation Area is a 19-time 21-TIME! Milwaukee Press Club award-winning opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media. The 2026 Milwaukee Film Festival officially kicked off last night with...
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The progressive blowout in Wisconsin
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.therecombobulationarea.com/subscribe
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Recombobulation Area have?
The Recombobulation Area currently has 104 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Recombobulation Area about?
Dan Shafer hosts The Recombobulation Area podcast, covering the discombobulating politics of the state of Wisconsin. www.therecombobulationarea.com
How often does The Recombobulation Area release new episodes?
The Recombobulation Area publishes regularly with 104 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Recombobulation Area?
You can listen to The Recombobulation Area on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Recombobulation Area?
The Recombobulation Area is created and hosted by Dan Shafer.
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