Well, Tommy boy finally made it official today at the tax day Tea Party in Madison, ending months of his on-again / off-again dance
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/90943939.html
“My family didn’t want me to run,” Thompson told the Journal Sentinel moments before he gave a speech to thousands at a tea party gathering on the steps of the State Capitol.
Thompson’s daughter, Kelli, said after the speech that her father wanted to run badly.
“He’d do this more than anything else,” she said. “The family can’t do it anymore. It’s too vicious. It’s too hard.”
Do I think Thompson could have beat Feingold? Yes, maybe. Do I think Thompson had a lot of baggage that he brought with him? Yes, maybe. Do I think Wall or Westlake or any of the other contenders will knock off Feingold? One can hope, but I’d have to venture a no on that one right now.
A lot of this will depend on the disposition of the country come November. Had the election been a month or two ago, before the health care vote, I think we would have had a better chance, but I fear we may lose some of our momentum before November. That’s just a long time to stay fired up for the average person.
Then again, this administration is the gift that keeps on giving, so we can only guess what they’ll attempt between now and then.
All in all, I think this takes Wisconsin off the table as a potential Senate takeaway, but it’s nice to at least have some direction on the issue, because Tommy’s been dipping his toes in for months, with no decision.
- Jon
Moe Lane
PG DeFreese
Victoria Coates
Daniel Horowitz
Dan Spencer
It's too vicious. It's too hard.
texasgalt (Diary) Thursday, April 15th at 3:46PM EST (link)Daughter Kelli, the sunshine patriot.
The problem is his delay before declaring.
the_invisible_hand (Diary) Thursday, April 15th at 3:51PM EST (link)Presumably he knew his family’s thoughts from the beginning. If that is is genuine reason for not running, then fine, but he knew that before the dance with running which probably kept a few people in limbo that could be working on electing someone actually interested in running.
The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.
-P. J. O’Rourke
It's a shame.
disintelligentsia (Diary) Friday, April 16th at 3:43AM EST (link)The numbers from Rasmussen had him leading if he declared. We’re realistically only one or two seats from retaking the Senate if the numbers hold from now until then. I’m guessing that if BHO presses on the immigration and cap & trade fronts the blow-back from that will get us there.
I expect that the economy will *not* be making a major come-back before the 2010 elections nor will the job outlook. The states are under serious pressure and I expect they’ll be cutting jobs and when the census ends, all those tens of thousands of jobs will be gone too. On the plus side for the jobs market, there should be a wave of retirements in the next two years as the oldest boomers hit 65, but that will be offset by the loss of productivity (from lost experience) and increased national debt from financing their retirement. Then we have yet more foreclosures happening as another wave of ARMs start adjusting upwardly and we’ve only seen the tip-of-the-iceberg in the commercial foreclosure market. Not that I’m cheerleading a recession for political gain, but I just don’t think the other shoe has dropped yet.
“Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction.” –Thomas Jefferson to Wilson Nicholas, 1803.
We need a push behind Terrence Wall
Brian_Roastbeef (Diary) Friday, April 23rd at 2:47PM EST (link)Rasmussen is showing him down 6, 49-43. I really believe this is within striking distance. The Democrats may not be hurting so much from Obamacare come November, though with support for repeal remaining up over 55% a month later they may.
Even if the anti-Obamacare zeal has waned in the general populace, the Dems will be fighting an anti Cap and Trade movement, an unpopular fight on immigration, or possibly suffering the consequences of being the party of tax hikes. Obama is too arrogant to keep from continuing to overreach. As long as the Dems continue on their path, the mood shouldn’t favor them in November any more than it does now, and possibly significantly less.
Its way too soon to quit on this one. I’ve argued before that Thompson wasn’t necessary. Feingold has money, but not very good numbers. The conservative movement, this site leading the way, has made strong contenders out of Marco Rubio, Marlin Stutzman, Mike Lee, why not Wall or Westlake?