Posted on 08/30/2011 7:52:02 AM PDT by Hunton Peck
MADISON, Wis. — Former two-term Republican congressman Mark Neumann announced Monday that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl.
Mr. Neumann is the first to officially announce his candidacy in the 2012 race, but several other prominent Republicans and Democrats are expected to announce soon. One of them, former Gov. Tommy Thompson, a Republican, released a statement welcoming Mr. Neumann into the race and urging him to focus his campaign on the policies of President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat.
“Republican voters deserve a primary campaign based on the issues,” Thompson consultant Darrin Schmitz said in the statement.
Mr. Neumann, who announced his decision on WTMJ-AM radio in Milwaukee, refrained from criticizing Mr. Thompson even though the former governor has been the target of attack ads being run statewide by the Club for Growth, a national conservative anti-spending group.
The 30-second spot criticizes Mr. Thompson’s fiscal record in Wisconsin and includes a clip of Mr. Obama saying Mr. Thompson supported his health care bill, a plan Mr. Neumann said he would work to overturn.
Mr. Neumann said that he respects Mr. Thompson, but that he views his opponent to be U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat who hasn’t formally announced whether she will run, although she is widely expected to do so. A spokesman for Ms. Baldwin said she had no comment Monday.
Mr. Neumann said the race is about tackling unemployment and crippling national debt.
“The day of reckoning isn’t in 50 years, it’s coming now,” Mr. Neumann said in the statement.
The 57-year-old lawmaker said that to win he must clearly articulate a plan for solving the nation’s debt problem because no other issue looms as large with voters.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
helllllooooooo neumannnnnnnnnn
The Pat Paulson of Wisconsin politics.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Wisconsin...
From Drudge: “Wisconsin Town Bars Republicans from Labor Day Parade” (Actually, about 30 labor unions host the parade, and they are not accepting parade entry applications from Republican officeholders)
If someone wants to post it as an article, feel free. I’ve never posted one.
The latest (that I’ve seen so far) on the Wausau Labor Day parade story: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2770699/posts
Thanks...I searched and didn’t find it, but figured it must be on here somewhere.
Neumann has business/employer credentials as a home builder and cast himself as an outsider during the primary run against now-governor Scott Walker.
He ruffled a lot of party feathers by going negative (some say falsely) against Walker in the primary, but there is little denying that he has considerable voter support out-state and profiles as a fiscal conservative.
Dem frontrunner Tammy Baldwin will end up profiling as a social liberal (first openly gay Senator?) from radical circles in the Berkeley of the Midwest, Madison. She shouldn’t have any chance out-state and would seem to only draw voters in liberal portions of Milwaukee and Madison.
Tommy Thompson is the wild card - the old party Republican calling in markers and gaining establishment support. He will need to reinvent himself to show he can be relevant in the current decade and environment.
My bet is on Neumann - he just seems hungrier and more nimble. Thompson will be stepping up for a coronation and can be had.
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