[xzins]

Thompson and Ridge are mysteries.

Highly regarded yet neither able to deliver the electoral votes from their states.

Thompson is a likely future Senator. I don't remember...was Thompson a Rino?

[12 Gauge Mossberg]

was Thompson a Rino

NO. A lot of GOP Governors copied his success.

[steveegg]

I don't remember...was Thompson a Rino?

Not quite a RINO, but definitely not very conservative. I can say three good things about him:

• He's the guy why got welfare reform really off the ground (W-2 was pretty much the model for the national welfare reform).
• School choice wouldn't exist without him.
• He's the consummate wheeler-and-dealer. He connived a Pubbie majority in the State Senate no less than 3 times by getting 'RATs to leave the chamber; unfortunately, then-state Senate Pubbie "leader" Mike Ellis (who Trent Cave-a-Lott modeled his tenure as Senate Pubbie "Leader" after) handed it right back in the next election by throwing away a different district.

Of course, on the flip side, you had an explosion in state gubmint spending, the state picking up 2/3 of school spending (which caused an explosion in local property taxes as every school district went on a building binge by saying the state would pay 2/3rds), and no real decreases in state taxes.

[qam1]

...was Thompson a Rino?

Yes, Tubby Tommy Thompson is a RINO

See

Obesity in America, with Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and Kelly Brownell, PhD.

Tommy Thompson’s Reign of Terror

U.S. Shocks with Promise to Back Anti-Smoking Pact (Tommy Thompson told journalists (WHO)) )

Tommy Thompson Floats New Tobacco Tax

I hope he doesn't become a Senator