Posted on 05/17/2011 5:47:00 AM PDT by AuH2ORepublican
From Mike Allen’s morning newsletter today:
Tommy Thompson, the Republican former Wisconsin governor and George W. Bush’s first HHS secretary, has told friends he plans to run for the open Senate seat in Wisconsin. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said Friday that he won’t seek a fifth term in 2012. Thompson’s announcement gives Republicans a popular former two-term governor of state to seriously challenge for this toss-up seat. There’s no chance Thompson would run against Paul Ryan, so the former Wisconsin Governor will await the Budget Chairman’s official announcement on the race before jumping in. Ryan has suggested in private conversations with GOP officials in recent days that he will take a pass on the race and focus on his House chairmanship.
Thompson has been meeting with political associates and telling them he wants back in the game. He is working behind the scenes on campaign, fund-raising and staffing plans — and would enter as a very strong front-runner for the GOP nomination and the seat. There is one reason to think this isn’t an absolute done deal, regardless of what Thompson’s telling friends this week: He has flirted with political runs in the past, including the Senate in 2010, only to bail.
Thompson’s presidential bid in 2008 was short-lived and unfocused, but he would immediately be a top-tier Senate challenger who knows the state well and who is well-versed in health care policy. But will Bush’s HHS guy – running health policy when the Bush administration and a GOP Congress enacted the unfunded entitlement of the Medicare prescription drug benefit – be acceptable to the Tea Parties in Wisconsin?
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
I thought Paul Ryan was running?
Anyways for my neighbors to the north. I pray that any R beats that slime bag Fiengold.
“I thought Paul Ryan was running?”
Ryan may figure he could be the VP candidate, too.
Thompson will probably win this seat now which will definitely be a step up from Herbie.
A Thompson run for the Senate is a huge development. First, it crowds out Feingold, because he would lose to Thompson and won’t take the risk. Second, with Thompson in, the GOP will avoid a primary, albeit there may be token opposition on the right. Third, a Thompson run will hurt Obama in Wisconsin, as well as down-ballot Democrats — note that Thompson is jumping in notwithstanding the fact that Obama is at the top of the ticket.
The whole thing is delicious and there is another Obama state that has become a toss-up.
GOP has HUGE Senate pick up opportunities in 2012.
For open seats, we now have 1st tier GOP candidates in North Dakota, Montana, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Virginia; and we have vulnerable RATS with top-flight GOP challengers in Nebraska, Montana, Missouri, Ohio, Florida; too soon to tell on West Virginia and Michigan.
CT and HA also possibilities with open seats.
McConnell could end up with a 56+ seat majority.
Thank you for saying that. I get so tired of the pseudo-Conservative knee-jerks around here who yell "RINO, RINO" at everybody.
I would prefer a much younger and energetic Tommy Thompson, but he's still probably the best shot we have at getting Kohl's seat. I guess Feingold's 2010 defeat caused Thompson to view Feingold as much more vulnerable and now that there's an open seat he went for it.
The best case scenario would be if Feingold and Ron Kind get into a nasty primary battle while our side unites around one candidate.
Fred was the Thompson to elect(because of his constitutional beliefs) but he really did not have the drive....
Tommy is a RINO
He always capitulated to Madigan and the Combine.
I'll let DJ make the final call on my opinion but I think Jim Edgar is the poster child of the Combine!
I don't know why this popped into my head but when he was Governor his plane got hit by lightning and you would have think the Hindenburg went down! The MSM loves Edgar!
Now we have our own Jerry Brown in Judy Hag Topinka. Too bad she didn't go the way of Betty Loren Maltese but I would imagine Topinka was too busy focusing on which office she'd try to run for next than gamble in Las Vegas.
I never was a big fan of Edgar and I was a kid back then remember he was before Jailbird Ryan, and I believe Blago got in, in 2002 if I remember. So shoot I had to be in Junior High when Edgar last held office.
And you are right Billy he is always begged to run. It is sickening but hey guys we got Da Bulls!!! So that can take our mind off this hell hole state!
BTW off topic I got mail from Randy Hultgren saying he was a target for the dems. Do you guys buy that?
I know Foster won because Oberlooser couldn't win a dog catching race. Then Foster won re-election during the Obamawave.
I would think that the most vulnerable Districts remain the 10th (Kirk's old seat) and Joe Walsh in the 8th District (Bean's old seat). I think Kinzigner in the 11th is safe. Roskam and Biggert are for sure safe.
Hultgren has Hastert's old seat and I find it hard to believe that he is really at risk of being picked off by the Democrats.
If the economy and unemployment remain at their current levels we won't lose a seat and God willing take back the State House. I pray that my IL House Rep Kevin McCarthy is thrown out he is a piece of trash.
Billy can correct me on this, but I’m pretty sure the last non-Combiner Governor elected was in 1972 when Dan Walker triumphed over Daley Machiner Paul Simon in the Democrat primary and went on to beat RINO Gov. Dick Ogilvie (who had White House designs of his own for 1976).
Pat Quinn was anti-combine in the 80s and 90s, but he turned a blind eye to corruption once he became Lt. Governor under Blago and needed to ensure Blago won a second term so he'd stay on. He completely sold whatever was left of his soul to get the combine's blessing to run for Governor in own right. Now Quinn's such a combiner he rejected his OWN "Reform Committee" recommendations for transparency in this state.
Peter Fitzgerald was the last non-combine Senator for Illinois. Jack Ryan was asked to oppose him and flat out told the "powers that be" that he wouldn't challenge Fitzgerald in 2004 if Peter Fitzgerald wanted a second term. We saw the price he paid for straying from the combine's little "suggestion" after he eventually did run and win an open primary for that seat.
Yup. I would say we are looking at 10 pickups and solidifying our hold in the house because of redistricting. The POTUS race has me real nervous because we have a VERY weak field. 2 more SCOTUS Justices will be selected in the next 4 years and we could be looking at a 5-4 liberal Court for 20+ years. If we had a solid conservative we could be looking at 6-3 or even 7-2 conservative SCOTUS to act as a bulwark for our Constitution.
I am still in Judy's district by a hair. But they can easily redistrict me to Bobby Rush or Lipinski. Even though he is a rat, I'd take Lipinski any day over Bobby Rush. Lipinski has voted against the party line a few times and I believe he is pro-life although I don't know much about him as you know I had to focus on the 13th Congressional District.
It will be interesting if they redistrict I know Judy and Peter are safe. I worry about Joe Walsh and the guy who won Kirk's seat. I think Adam Kinzinger is safe and I am still wondering why Hultgren is asking for money I can't imagine that being a contestable seat. Foster won because he had horse shit opponents.
Like I said Oberweiss couldn't win a race for town dog catcher!!! If they ran a ham sandwich against Foster the ham sandwich would have won. Foster only won re-election due to Bush, and Obama's coattail effect in this state.
BTW DJ I've been attacked viciously lately by some folks on several threads saying I'm crazy, never worked for Judy, ect... do you think that is a coincidence or due to my thread regarding the Muslim compound after OBL?
This only started after I made that original thread regarding the Pakistanis, BTW FBI responded and suddenly no more mass gatherings at the Pakistani house actually we haven't seen any cars. And I was talking to other neighbors they called the FBI as well so it is good to know that atleast the bureau in Chicago is actively fighting jihadists.
Eh, everybody gets attacked as crazy on here from time to time. Sometimes they’re just pissed for some reason, misunderstand what you’re writing, or just trolling. Some pop out of the woodwork just to have a go at you, only to just as quickly vanish. I still have that nutty, infamous banned troll Danny H. creating new accounts every several weeks and screaming, “You will respect me !” in private FReepmails. Sometimes you also have to be careful what you say publicly, such as revealing your methods for dealing with potential terrorists. Some may just simply dismiss it as whackjob. I would, though, check out the sources of the attacks and find out why they’re doing it. Might just be cranks or might be something else...
Free Republic is a microcosm of the whole society and we ain't all smart, me and you excluded. :-)
FR is a clinic for the idea that the perfect is an enemy of the good. Also keep in mind that although FR is a conservative website we are frequently infiltrated by trolls of the Left whose intent is to discourage us and to discredit our candidates. As long as you keep your confidence and your knowledge of what is happening, we can survive this.
Tommy’s okay. He could beat Democrats when no one else could up there.
You are correct. The future of the Supreme Court is at stake in 2012.
Obama must be defeated, because there is no way that even a GOP senate could defeat qualified liberal jurists nominated by Obama.
For that reason alone, conservatives must vote for the GOP nominee, whether that is Pawlenty, Daniels, Romney, etc.
IIRC, doesn’t Thompson have a penchant of hinting, teasing, considering, mulling, exploring, then ultimately declining?
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Thompson
Thompson is the President of Logistics Health Incorporated. He is senior partner at Akin Gump, a Washington, D.C., law firm, and is a senior adviser at the consulting firm Deloitte and the chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.[18] Thompson taught a class in the fall of 2005 at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government on medical diplomacy.[19]
Shortly after leaving his Bush Cabinet post, Thompson joined and served for two years on the board of directors of Applied Digital Solutions, makers of the controversial VeriChip: a glass-encapsulated RFID chip that can be injected into human flesh for various database-driven identification purposes.
Thompson currently serves on the Board of Directors for Accordia Global Health Foundation [20] and the board of Directors for Pure Bioscience Inc. (PURE.OB) and serves on the Board of Trustees of the non-profit, Medical Missions for Children and is the co-host for their television series, Plain Talk About Health.[21]
3 HUGE Warning Flags here!
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