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Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson is seriously eyeing the U.S. Senate seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl, according to the National Journal. Thompson, however, isn’t expected to make a final decision on the race until Rep. Paul Ryan — considered one of the GOP’s hottest commodities nationally — decides whether or not he wants to run for the seat.
Thompson has reportedly already spoken with top officials at the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee about making the race.
Thompson, who will turn 70 in November, won four statewide races in Wisconsin between 1986 and 1998 — the last time he faced the state’s voters. Most of them were by comfortable margins.
Following his stint as Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Bush Administration, Thompson has contemplated several political comebacks, including an aborted bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He dropped out after only four months on the campaign trail.
He also briefly considered running for governor in 2010 and toyed with the idea of challenging Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold that same year, but eventually decided against both races.
If Ryan opts to remain in the House, Thompson would almost certainly become the Republican front-runner for Kohl‘s seat, but there’s a strong chance that he would have to duke it out with former congressman Mark W. Neumann in the primary.
Neumann, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor in 2010 — losing badly to Scott Walker — had been thinking of running for Kohl’s Senate seat even before the wealthy four-term lawmaker announced his retirement on Friday.
Moreover, the 57-year-old Neumann has had his sights on the U.S. Senate for more than a dozen years, dating back to 1998 when he gave up his House seat to challenge then-Sen. Russ Feingold — a race he lost by fewer than 40,000 votes.
Several other Republicans, including Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, are reportedly also contemplating entering the Senate race.
RUN TOMMY RUN,,,NOT YOUR LAST HARA,,,JUST PLAINE HURA,.WIAH YOU THE BEST.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,JSCKSON,WI.
OK 24 Hours late the House passes the bill. Its not the Boehner bill amoynre regardless of what the media label is. Its the Tea Party bill. There was one significant change. The bill passed by the House REQUIRES that the Senate (and House) pass the Balanced Budget Amendment. The Boehner bill, when it WAS the Boehner bill only required a vote on the BBA.Its nothing less than amazing to me that this provision isn’t getting discussed for the half-faced extortion that it is, for it presumes to DEMAND that the House can impose the outcome of future Senate vote as a provision of essential legislation. The blackmail isn’t implicit its overtly described in the bill. And the MSM is skipping merely by it. If there is a history nerd in the house, has this EVER happened before in Congress?