Here I am in a cold-to-the-bone (mid-thirties) rainstorm in Madison, Wisconsin -- a place which seems more full of itself than any of the Midwest places so far. I liked Ann Arbor, which seemed more laid back and reminded me of a snowy Berkeley, but this place.... Maybe it's just the weather; maybe I'm a bit travel-fatigued. But right now I have nothing to do but wait for few hours with no umbrella, so finally I found parking and a Wifi cafe, which beats walking around in the drenching cold rain.

I shouldn't be such a bigot; on a nice day I'll bet this is beautiful.

It was beautiful last night:

In fact, it is beautiful even in today's awful rain. I have no idea what this fortress-like building is, but I saw it when I was driving around so I rolled down the window and pulled out my camera just in time.

Last night I perused a fascinating history of Madison, which has been a left-wing city for over a century (with socialist governments going back to the turn of the century).

Madison also has had a long history of antiwarism. In 1864, Madison's voters were so anti-war that they rejected President Lincoln in favor of Democrat George McClellan (discussed in a previous post). A local pro-Democratic Party newspaper, the Daily Patriot, ran an ad asking, "Who do you want?" and highlighted what they deemed the important differences between the pro-war Lincoln and the anti-war McClellan.

Lincoln was presented as the warmongering, constitution-destroying, inflation causing renegade, and as someone hell-bent on destroying the culture:

Geez, that's almost as bad as Bush. (Er, I guess McCain will have to do as a substitute for leftist wrath.)

As to McClellan, he was presented as the man of peace who would restore the Constitution, take care of the poor, bring back habeas corpus, and finally end Republican corruption:

I'm guessing McClellan was the progressive candidate. Anti-war is left, right? Or is that right?

Anyway, that was Madison in 1864, when it was Lincoln versus McClellan.

This is now (a bookstore window on State Street last night):

As I was writing this post, I heard the sounds of a demonstration on State Street. A demo in the rain? That struck me as beyond the call of duty, so I went outside to investigate. It involved immigrants rights -- especially those of Tope Awe, a local activist facing deportation back to Nigeria for some sort of technical violation.I found a blog post explaining the situation and calling for an emergency demonstration today, which is obviously the one I witnessed.

I took a video, which I tried uploading to Youtube twice unsuccessfully. (Wifi and large uploads don't seem to mix.)

So, this is the only clear picture I have:

As demos go, it was pretty lame; there were around 25-30.

Madison is a mixed bag. If it would stop raining I could have a little more fun, and would probably like it more.

All in all, both Madison and Ann Arbor make me homesick for the Bay Area. Madison is a bit more like San Francisco, and Ann Arbor like Berkeley. (And of course I prefer Berkeley.)