Tammy vs. Tommy for Wisconsin Senate Seat
What was truly amazing was that Thompson, once the undisputed champion of Republican state politics, won by the skin of his teeth, receiving only a third of the vote in a Republican primary.
There's every reason to believe Thompson, who won by only three percentage points, would have been defeated in a two-way race if the anti-Thompson vote hadn't been split among three opposition candidates. Two-thirds of Republicans wanted someone else.
Now that Thompson is in a two-way race against Democratic Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, don't believe anyone who says Thompson's the favorite because he was once a popular figure in this state.
It's true Republicans nationally believe their party dodged a bullet because any of the other three even more extreme Republicans would have been easier for Baldwin to beat.
But Thompson escaped bloodied from that savage primary. Most voters were clearly looking for a much fresher face than Thompson's nearly 71-year-old one.
The state Republican Party Thompson ruled back in 1998 doesn't exist anymore.
Many of Thompson's major accomplishments—guaranteeing two-thirds state funding for public education, championing Wisconsin as a central link for business-expanding high-speed rail, protecting stem cell research at UW-Madison, supporting national health care reform—are now actively despised within his party.
Republicans don't want government accomplishing anything these days. That's why they've even been so anti-American as to block job-creation efforts during the second worst economic disaster in U.S. history.
And that's why the Tea Party Express, the mean-spirited driving force in today's party, was tearing through Wisconsin and trashing Thompson's candidacy during the primary.
Other right-wing Republican groups spent millions of dollars on television ads attacking Thompson.
To defend himself from other Republicans, the former governor had to spend millions of dollars. Baldwin, meanwhile, was amassing a formidable campaign fund to take on Thompson when he crawled out from all that right-wing carnage.
To win, Thompson also had to inflict some damage upon himself. In a Tea Party world, Thompson, like presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has to dishonestly dance around many of his previous positions that are no longer acceptable within his party.
Maybe that's why Thompson seems so angry these days. His bombastic style was always ridiculed outside the state when he attempted a couple of largely unnoticed runs for the presidency. But, within Wisconsin, Thompson was considered a happy warrior who jumbled his syntax through excessive enthusiasm.
Thompson doesn't seem nearly so upbeat these days. Wearing his motorcycle jacket and yelling loudly, he sounds more like a bully trying to show everybody how tough he is.
Fresh Face for Wisconsin
Baldwin also could be a much stronger candidate than the ones burdened with tremendous baggage who had Thompson on the ropes in the primary.
For all those turned off by the ugly street brawling of today's politics, Baldwin could be the fresh face they've been looking for.
This would appear to be an extremely opportune time for a woman to finally break through the petrified male political dominance that has lasted decades longer here than in most other states.
President Barack Obama still appears to be running ahead in the state, even after Romney added Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. Ryan has never run a statewide race and represents only an eighth of the state.
Polls show Obama benefits in Wisconsin and nationwide from an enormous gender gap, as women voters are increasingly repelled by Republican opposition to contraception dictated by the antiquated male hierarchy of the Catholic Church and Republican defunding of Planned Parenthood's life-saving cancer screenings for women.
The ability of both Obama and Baldwin to turn out women voters is mutually beneficial. So is the enormous appeal of both in Dane County.
Thompson would have lost the Republican primary if he hadn't won by a large margin in his previous kingdom of Madison. No one seriously expects Thompson will do as well against Baldwin, the district's extremely popular congresswoman.
This isn't the Tommy Thompson older voters remember. This is a brand-new multimillionaire Thompson who, since leaving government, suddenly has a net worth between $13.1 million and $44 million, according to intentionally vague disclosure forms.
Like other highly placed multimillionaire Republican candidates this year, Thompson is now running to represent millionaires and billionaires, while refusing to release his tax returns so voters can see exactly where all that money came from and who really owns him.
Some see the Senate race between Tammy Baldwin and Tommy Thompson as a contest between today's politics and yesterday's politics.
But a new Tommy also is running against the nearly extinct older model. Voters who remember the old Tommy may not like the reconditioned, multimillionaire, Tea-Party-pandering version.
"Just about everyone has a million dollars now days"? -- Talk about being out of touch, like any other "rich" person!
You must really mean "Anyone that matters" has a million dollars these days.
And if abortion should be expanded, it should go up old enough for your parents to deal with you!
Drive through city after city, Elm Grove, Brookfield, Pewaukee, Merton, Hartland, Cheneqa. Good God man most of these homes are worth $400-600k. Toss in a 401k worth a half million to a million. The time value of money for a pension plan, The condo in Florida, cars, boats, the lock boxes full of gold coins. Seriously dude, it doesn't take much for the average Joe out in Waukesha County to accumulate a million dollars. Get In Touch, come out and see.
2010 Population of Waukesha County is 389,891, spread out over 556 sq-miles of land.
2010 population of Milwaukee County is 947,735, packed into 242 sq-miles of land.
I guess mathematics failed you in High School when it comes to calculating averages. There are LOTS more people with no net worth, no retirement savings... Oh, but they don't count!
Well then drive through River Hills, Bayside, Fox Point, Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, Wauwatosa where the good people live. Or up to Mequon and Cedarburg. I'd imagine most of those people have a million in assets. Naturally those down in the ghetto who have chosen a career of sloth, drugs, crime, they arn't going to have much. Now they would if they invested properly but they have taken their welfare and plowed it back into lotto and the casino. Giving money to poor people is like giving a gun to a monkey. The worst thing you can do for a poor person is give them money. Unless you are paying federal income tax, people should not be allowed to vote because they have no skin in the game. Democrats pander to this crowd and want to expand the poor base becasue thats who votes for them. If we can elminate the poor people vote, its way better for us Republicans.
Anon: You point out invented dots, but make no real connections. You asssume that everyone wants to be wealthy. Wrong. That's a thinking error. Believe it or not, there are financially responsible public servants, and Ms. Baldwin's record, year after year reflects that. You should stop listening to AM radio tapes in your head - they're based on lies.
You say seriously, but there's not a supported fact in anything you screech. It's all blather and snipe. And no, you only speak for yourself . You don't speak for Ms. Baldwin. You don't know her, and obviously prefer the delusions you've created about her to the reality and her record.
You're a typically fanatical bagger. Do I expect you to agree or admit anything? No, of course not. I expect you to lie some more and to insult.
I don't need know her to not like her. I realize she probably cannot help being a homosexual. Despide having that kind illness I won't hold that against her. Unless the promoted open sodomy or gay marriage. That would be too weird. But she is a Democrat that is promoting socialsim rather than a Charles Darwin society which I prefer. She also wants to tax higher income people more, which is no benefit to me either. She just doesn't promote much of anything that will benefit me.
Bagger sez baggage and "hanging around her neck." Apparently, it can't tell the difference between bad and good. The rhetoric proves nothing, other than the values of the bagger.
Ms. Baldwin has an exemplary record. More fiscal accountability than Thompson coud ever dream about.
Lie all you want bagger. She's running on her exemplary record.
Thompson has no defense. All he seems to have is propaganda. Old RepugnantCONs never change, they just get replaced. CONservatives do not want change. That's why they're unadaptable CONservatives.
Another think I don't like her is she wants to allow a woman the right to have an abortion. Well that is just wrong. Its murder. Even if it can be done the father needs to sign on on this. If some woman aborted my child, it would be the last she ever did on this planet. Abortion is the sickest things a person can do. Its worse than child molestation
Wisconsin horse sense says that the bottom half that does not pay taxes is Democrat, the half that does pay taxes is Republican. In a black and white world with no 50-shades of Gray, this may be true.
But, I believe that the people ARE split in to 3 groups... the top 1% who both run the businesses and have the means to shelter their money from the top tax bracket (circulating it off-shore with a "Double Irish With A Dutch Sandwich"... google it, it is an eye opener!)
The 2nd group is the next 50% who pays taxes. The 3rd group is the bottom 49% who are the ones who do not pay taxes. -- Put groups 1 and 2 together, you got your 51% majority vote. But are those groups really together?
The top 1% is all about money. Race and social issues do not matter because their accountant cannot put a price on it. They want to drop the top tax rate, and create loopholes that can avoid more taxes. The also want to reduce or eliminate those regulations on their business that cost them extra expenses to comply with.
The next 50% aren't so focused on money, they are focused on keeping a good separation between themselves and the 49% below them. They do not care about the top tax bracket, they do not care about regulations that cost their businesses money, these regulations are there to protect them. -- No, there concern is the regulations that affect their "priceless" lifestyle, affirmative action, school integration, serving blacks at white-only counters, racial-profiling traffic stops, voter ID. If money matters to them it is simply on the matter of "Obama wants to redistribute your wealth" (from Middle class to welfare class).
Just remember that your W2-paycheck "Working Consumer" lifestyle is already redistributing your wealth from both ends... Your job pays you a bit less than what your work is worth, and the prices in the store a bit higher than what the product is worth. From both ends, money is already redistributing up, but through private business activity, not through government (taxes are re-spent, and then some... it's called deficit spending!)
Glad I don't have explain my tax returns. Bromides would have a heart attack. I do well and in the single digit tax bracket. Much of the income is tax free munis, return of capital from REITs, and dividends. We lowball the W2 and instead of paying ourselves a paycheck, we declare a dividend.
I'm sure Tommy did well as a lobbiest and he deserves that. You have lifetime of inside contacts and connections. You should get paid for acheiving that.
Anon:
Less blather, more reality, please. Try to look at the pictures above, when you're lost.