Now that Tommy Thompson finally announced today that he won’t run for the U.S. Senate, State Sen. Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield) says he will take the next 10 days to decide if he wants to jump into the race to challenge Democrat Russ Feingold.
Kanavas announced earlier this year he would not run for re-election for his state Senate seat. At the time, Kanavas said he was not planning to run for anything else, but he did not close the door on a possible campaign.
Kanavas said he is not worried about the $4.3 million that Feingold has in his warchest because he believes the Middleton Dem is vulnerable on a number of issues.
“Can we ramp up a campaign fast enough that we can create the name ID necessary to compete and to win a primary and go and defeat a sitting U.S. senator?” Kanavas said. “We’ve had some preliminary discussions about that. But that’s the challenge.”
If he decides to enter the race, he will expand the Republican field of primary contestants, which already includes Madison land developer Terrence Wall and Watertown small business owner Dave Westlake. Speculation is growing that former Commerce Secretary Dick Leinenkugel also will enter the race as a moderate Republican.
In a fiery speech at the State Capitol today, Thompson told Tea Party members that he loves what the stand for.
“This movement is for real, and we’re going to take it all the way to Washington,” Thompson said.
To read more about Thompson’s speech, click here. For more coverage of the Tea Party rally, click here. To view a photographic slideshow of images from the Madison rally, click here.
– WisPolitics.com
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