PEWAUKEE, Wis. — Former Gov. Tommy Thompson took a major step in his political comeback Tuesday, winning a four-way Republican primary for an open U.S. Senate seat and setting up a sure-to-be nationally showcased November battle with Democrat Tammy Baldwin.
The Thompson-Baldwin contest will feature two candidates who are ideological opposites. On top of that, if the 50-year-old Baldwin prevails she would become the first openly gay member of the Senate.
Thompson declared victory shortly before 11 p.m., telling cheering supporters gathered at hotel in this Milwaukee suburb that “Wisconsin is on a roll” — a reference to the political star power of Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the newly selected GOP vice presidential choice, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Janesville.
With more than 90 percent of the vote counted, Thompson led his nearest rival by some 20,000 votes.
Thompson, 70, was known as governor for his ability to work with Democrats, but he tacked far to the right in the primary in hopes of swaying tea party Republicans. Baldwin, a veteran congress member from Madison, owns a liberal voting record but in past elections has won over voters in some conservative parts of her district.
Baldwin faced no primary opposition.
Even before the primary vote was tallied, Republicans were lining up to paint Baldwin as a big-spending and out-of-touch liberal. “Baldwin is far to the left of not just President Obama, but to the vast majority of voters in Wisconsin,” read a statement from the National Republican Senatorial Committee issued before the GOP primary votes were even tallied.
Baldwin countered by saying all her potential Republican rivals, Thompson included, had made it clear they would do the bidding of “special moneyed interests” over that of the middle class..
The stakes in November are particularly high for Democrats for hoping to retain control of the Senate, a crucial piece of which would be holding onto the Wisconsin seat held for a generation by retiring Democrat Herb Kohl.
Recent polls show Baldwin holding her own n a head to head matchup with Thompson, the popular former governor and U.S. Health secretary attempting a return to elected office at age 70.
The Senate race will cap quite a year in the national spotlight for Wisconsin politics, beginning with a bruising but failed attempt by Democrats and organized labor to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Just days ago, soon-to-be GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney added veteran Janesville Rep. Paul Ryan to the national ticket.
The November runoff promises rich story lines as well, not the least of which will be a sharp contrast in ideas and approach between Baldwin and whichever Republican she faces. Each has jockeyed to appear the most conservative of the bunch in a play for the same tea party base that propelled Walker into the governor’s office and kept him there through the recall.
Thompson, in recent years an influential Washington lobbyist, was the early favorite to win the primary. But as Tuesday’s vote approached, polls showed him in a tightening race with wealthy hedge fund manager Eric Hovde and home builder Mark Neumann, a former Wisconsin congressman. Also on the ballot was Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, a close political ally of Walker.
As a four-term governor, Thompson amassed a broad wellspring of popularity that he clearly hoped would carry over into the Senate campaign. To woo conservative voters, he has stressed his authorship of landmark welfare-to-work legislation in Wisconsin, which later served as a template for national welfare reforms under the Clinton administration.
But during the primary, Thompson’s rivals attacked him for being a big spender as governor and too willing to cut deals with Democrats. He also came under fire for numerous statements he gave up until a few years ago seeming to endorse the basic premise of the healthcare reforms enacted by Romney in Massachusetts and later on a national scale by President Obama.
To prove his conservative chops, Thompson centered his campaign on a pledge to deliver the decisive vote to repeal Obamacare. His campaign also immersed itself in the closing days with endorsements from icons of the right including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Also highlighted was support from conservative rocker Ted Nugent, Ohio activist and current congressional candidate Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, best known as “Joe the Plumber,” and onetime presidential contender Herman Cain, recently featured on”The Daily Show” pretending to be a president managing a devastating pipeline rupture by blowing a horn to summon “creatures of the forest” and advising all to “run.”
