So Wisconsin was the state that created open primaries. This was a reform against party bosses and against the kind of control of the smoke filled rooms. And In 1948, there was this watershed moment. Joe McCarthy had just become the Republican senator in Wisconsin and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, which had been kind of a backwater at that moment, reformed with progressive Republicans, with the people who'd been in the progressive party in the state and with the more liberal Democrats. And it had a new charter, it had new constitution and bylaws, and it said we're going to be neutral in primaries unless there's extremely unusual circumstances, and then we're going to fight like hell in the general elections. (16:09–16:28)
CLAIM
Asserts that in 1948, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin reformed by integrating progressive Republicans and liberal Democrats.
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