We know the big winners and losers in Wisconsin’s primary. Obamarama trounced Billary as badly as McGruff beat Huckleberry. And Huck’s supposedly a dead duck.

So Hillary, who revealed for the first time a few days before the primary that she was a duck hunter, couldn’t do any better than a dead duck Republican.

Other Badger State notes:

Worst Wisconsin polliing award.

No polling firm covered itself with glory, with most polls giving Obama only a slight edge and no one forecasting anything like the blowout that occurred.

However, the American Research Group was in a class by itself.

Even while every other poll had Obama slightly ahead, ARG had Clinton ahead, first by 9 per cent and later by 6 per cent two days before the primary. Then, in what must have been the biggest overnight change in political history, it went from Clinton up 6 to Obama up 10 – a 16 point swing in two nights.

It makes you wonder whether they do any voter interviews or simply write down some guesses. (Or decided at the last minute to cover their butt.)

No one’s always right, but this firm, based in Manchester, NH, isn’t just a little off. When it’s bad it is horrid. And it’s been especially bad in its home state.

A quick Google search turned up this item from the Washington Post:

In 2000, the headline on an AP day-before-the-primary story was "Nearing the N.H. finish line; Polls declare GOP dead heat. . . .” John McCain then went on to beat George W. Bush by 18 percentage points.

The New Hampshire-based American Research Group's tracking poll ended up buried deepest in the snow bank: They had Bush winning by two the day before the primary, merely 20 points off the mark. ..

It was the second debacle for ARG in as many New Hampshire Republican primaries. The day before the 1996 contest, ARG's Dick Bennett told the Union Leader, "It looks like Dole's going to win," based on the Kansan's seven point advantage in their tracking poll. He didn't, losing to Pat Buchanan by a single percentage point.

They were off on New Hampshire again this year, putting Obama 9% ahead of Clinton, who actually won by 2%. But everyone else was wrong there, too.

Here’s the best explanation I’ve found. From the firm’s website:

Leahy's Law states that if a thing is done wrong often enough, it becomes right, and as a result, volume becomes a defense to error.

Which would explain, I guess, why they polled so often in Wisconsin.

UPDATE: When Pollster.com asked pollsters to rate each other after the New Hampshire primary, ARG was one rung up from the bottom. Nineteen per cent of their colleagues said they were "somewhat reliable," while 59 per cent rated them "not very" or "not at all" reliable.

Lawton spin for Clinton: Wisconsin’s not important.

The Clinton camp, understandably, was in denial Tuesday night. Barbara Lawton, Clinton’s biggest backer in the state, said Wisconsin didn’t really matter after all. WisPolitics reports:

Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton said despite being outspent, Clinton "ran a strong campaign in Wisconsin."

"She gave us a lot of time and a lot of great surrogates and fabulous staff, and they did a terrific job," Lawton said.

Some had questioned why Clinton didn't campaign harder here, and some Dems believe her campaign sent mixed messages about how important Wisconsin was.

But Lawton said Wisconsin is "not a decisive state" and a national campaign has to make decisions about resource allocation.

Ron Kind got the message.

Rep. Ron Kind, a LaCrosse Democrat who’s a centrist, of the Democratic Leadership Council persuasion, would probably be more comfortable in the Clinton camp. Bill Clinton came out of the DLC, serving as its chair in 1990 before his run for president.

As a superdelegate, he was courted by both Clinton and Obama campaigns, but said last week that he would support the candidate who won his Congressional district, which runs along the Mississippi River in western Wisconsin. Kind said he doesn’t like the whole superdelegate system which seems too undemocratic.

Wednesday, true to his word, he pledged his convention vote to Obama. So Kind is an Obama delegate. Life, as they say, is full of little surprises.