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As Wisconsinite I can comment some on Thompson's tenure as governor. Thompson does have a record of accomplishment from welfare reform to cutting taxes and improving Wisconsin's business climate. But Thompson was also a big-spender. Under Thompson, the state picked up two-thirds of the cost of new school building projects. So if you go across the state you'll see plenty of new or remodled school buildings. Plenty of new roads were built as well.

In many ways Thompson a typical Main St. Republican. Born and raised in a small town (Elroy) in the central part of the state, he was Dr. No as Assembly Minority Leader, opposing everything the Democrats wanted to do, but when governor and expected to "govern" he reformed, cut taxes and he spent like a lot of Republicans will do in that situation (like George Bush II for example). And yes, he did present a good-looking face to the state's GOP for the 14 years he ruled the state. You don't become the longest-serving governor in an equally-balanced state without an attractive and colorful personality Wisconsinsites appreciated. He did keep conservatives bottled up during his term as well.

But when Thompson left the state in 2001, everything fell apart. The 2000-2002 recession presented a big budget deficit left by big-spender Tommy that his successor Scott McCallum had to clean up and as a result he became unpopular and the GOP lost the governor's chair. Political corruption that flourished during Thompson's tenure exploded and wrecked careers. The conservatives that were kept under wraps during his term came to the forefront in party leadership positions and were very unattractive to voters and caused the GOP to lose seats in the state legislature and in Congress. The upshot: Many witin the state GOP blame Tommy for their ills. What does it say when only 500 Republicans showed up at the state's GOP convention last May and barely showed any enthusiasm for his presidential campaign?

Thompson's problem is that he's dated. If he had ran in 1996 he would have been a formidable candidate. Now he's running eight years past his prime and it shows. Take his plan to deal with Iraq. U.S. forces cannot impose their will on the country and yet, if he becomes President, the U.S. is supposed to divide up Iraq neatly into three sections as if though it was a birthday cake and be able to split the oil revenue equally. It's a plan that sounds good on paper but has no basis of working in reality. In short, it the kind of policy plan put forth by a governor with no foreign policy experience, a sense of action without any chance of succeeding. And does he really think an Iraqi government that needs U.S. forces to preserve itself is going allow those forces to go home? Again, another good-sounding idea not grounded in the reality of the situation.

Thompson is right about one thing, a good chunk of candidates will drop out after Ames, including himself.

Unlike Badger, I have a positive recollection of the Thompson reign. The most notable thing he did was lock the lunatic right-wing elements of his party in the basement. For some reason the WI Republicans only run people for the Assembly and Senate who would make Attila the Hun nervous.

He also spent huge gobs of money on welfare reform and school choice in Milwaukee (can't remember the reason, either courts or the Assembly, but while he was here it was Milwaukee only). Unlike the Clinton welfare reform, Wisconsin spent a lot of money up front trying to help those on get off. Measured against the perfect scenario, you can find a lot wrong with both his welfare reform and school choice. Measured against typical government incompetence, they went off rather well.

And when he left HHS, he said his biggest fear was an attack on the US food supply. Something about no money or system to check our imports of food. And nobody wanted to give him money. Hey wait a minute, I remember reading something about Chinese wheat gluten...

What the heck is Tommy Thompson doing? Until I was ready to drop out, I wouldn't even acknowledge it as a possibility. Guiliani and Clinton don't entertain speculation that they are dropping out, do they? If I were T. Thompson, I wouldn't either. I would be calling any such speculation utterly ridiculous.

http://commenterry.blogs.com

I don't understand any of this hype about T.Thompson. He was a mediocre Secretary of HHS, and ended up leaving that position for reasons, that I can't recall, but I am sure were well founded. I don't know what he did in Wisconsin as a governor, but I thought that he was one of the key people in Bush 2000, that couldn't deliver the vote in mid-west states that he was responsible for. Why did he get into the race in the first place. Does anyone on this post know???

I don't understand any of this hype about T.Thompson. He was a mediocre Secretary of HHS, and ended up leaving that position for reasons, that I can't recall, but I am sure were well founded. I don't know what he did in Wisconsin as a governor, but I thought that he was one of the key people in Bush 2000, that couldn't deliver the vote in mid-west states that he was responsible for. Why did he get into the race in the first place. Does anyone on this post know???

Oh, thank Gawd Tommy stayed in the race. Because, you know, without a tenth old white guy on the GOP side who shares the same name as some TV star guy whose main credentials to be President are that He's Played President On Screen Before, who will probably enter the race as the Right Wing Messiah, without ole Tommy to Confuse the Thompson Mix and all that, we would be stuck with Mitt McRudy and the band of Merry Creationist Pro-torturers.

Man, if I were a Republican, I would go hide in a hole in the ground until 2009.

Rob, last polls had him at around 7% which isn't bad. Maybe some of those are confusing him with Fred though (who was in the low double digits).

Does he stand by his earlier statement that if he doesn't come in the top 2 at Ames he'll pull out? And can he convince Jim Gilmore to join him on the sidelines?

Whoa, stop the presses. Tommy Thompson's staying in? Put on some coffee, Maw, 'cuz it's gonna be a long night...

"The report was released on the day that the House of Representatives passed a bill designed to make it more difficult for people with mental health problems, such as Cho, to buy firearms.

Lawmakers said the measure, the first major gun-control legislation since 1994, would improve the national gun background check system by requiring states to report their list of mentally ill people who are prohibited from buying firearms to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System."

Protect the rights of crazy people to bear arms! Contact your Senator and tell them to vote against this bill! The Second Amendment trumps all the other parts of the Constitution (especially life, as in "Life, liberty and....")! They will take my gun away when they pry it my cold, dead hands stained with the blood of innocents from around it! Support the rights of lunatics to bear arms (or arm bears, I can't remember which one it is).

Does anyone have the poll numbers for Tommy Thompson in Iowa?? His entire campaign is dedicated to winning that state and kicking his campaign off on that momentum.

Yes it is a shared assessment. That also was my assessment of Richardson, although recent polling in early states show him within striking distance of Edwards.

Thompson's record as Governor of Wisconsin is only impressive if you have no clue what actually happened here, and on the important issues (like welfare "reform"), he made sure no one would know by nixing every attempt to audit his programs.

Once a loser, always a loser.

"Thompson is an experienced governmental manager and knows policy."

He seems to have better credentials than public personna. Is that a shared assessment?

A press release claiming someone is in the race is often a good predictor of a later press release withdrawing from the race.

Thompson is an experienced governmental manager and knows policy. He isnt getting any traction (unlike Richardson who has similar experience on the D side, but who is also creeping up in some polls).

At some point, the races in both parties need to become clashes of those who actually have a chance to win the nomination. Thompson is among those needs to get out of the way.

Chris writes
"If Thompson purposely put out a press release that he knew would lead to speculation that he would drop out in order to drum up national media interest in this call, then we applaud him. Well played, sir."

Tommy's best move will not bump him in the polls in the least. It was big of you to give him credit for the play.

why even bother writing about this loser?