David Crowley reenters battleground Wisconsin’s Democratic governor primary with Gov. Evers’ backing

Two weeks ago David Crowley pulled out of the Wisconsin governor's race. Now he's back in, and lo and behold, Tony Evers has suddenly found the endorsement he'd been withholding. That timeline alone tells you everything about how this primary actually works. It isn't voters deciding who represents them. It's a sitting governor and a county executive doing a handshake deal to clear the field before Wisconsin Democrats get a real say.

Crowley didn't drop out because he lost an argument or lost support. He dropped out, and now he's un-dropping out, with the outgoing governor's blessing attached like a bow on a returned gift. Evers gets to play kingmaker on his way out the door, and Crowley gets to skip the part where he has to actually earn anything. Call it strategy if you want. We'd call it stage management.

Wisconsin is as close to a pure battleground as it gets in this country, decided by a coin flip in the last several presidential cycles. The party that wins there in a race this important ought to be able to explain to its own voters why its nominee is who he is, not just that the outgoing governor liked him better on the second try. If Democrats want to complain about back-room politics elsewhere, they might start by looking at their own bench in Madison.