Cool. So it hit big time. But how about the message? I ask. (He's so friendly, I have to remember to ask him the tough questions.) I mean, this isn't just a game. Our state is being torn apart right now. So is his press release a cyncial effort to exploit resentment of liberal Madison and sow division, or a temper-tantrum-by-press-release, or does he really believe Sumi's judicial judgement is tainted by life on the isthmus?

He explains that as a libertarian (with a little "l", he says, since he belongs to the Republican Party and not the Libertarian Party) he is sick and tired of people in town making him feel "uncomfortable." Waksman, 27, moved to Madison six years ago from the New York city area. Madison is not tolerant of other perspectives, he says. For example, the chair of the county GOP had his car scratched and the mirror knocked off, he says, and now he and other Republicans worry the same thing could happen to them. (Ah, this explains the part in the press release about local Republicans getting their cars "keyed" and having other bad stuff happen to them.) "You walk down State Street, and every store has a sign that if you support the bill you hate teachers or children," he says. "So people can't even walk into the stores without being afraid and wondering, is this person going to even give me good service?"