I’m not surprised that Rep. Paul Ryan has declined to run for the Senate. He’s brought a little too much heat on himself already with his plan to voucherize Medicare, and he’ll be lucky to get reelected to the House. Plus, he’s right; he would have to serve 12-18 years in the Senate to get the same amount of power over policy that he enjoys now. Unfortunately for us, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson is stepping up to run for Herb Kohl’s seat. Thompson also served at Dubya’s first Secretary of Health & Human Services, where he pushed through the controversial Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. That means Thompson might have to fight off a teabagger challenge to win the GOP nomination. Assuming Thompson is the nominee, he’s the strongest candidate the Republicans could hope for.
On the Democratic side, we have our own potential heavyweight in Russ Feingold, but he’s going around calling Steny Hoyer, Claire McCaskill, and Joe Lieberman corporate whores (essentially), which doesn’t strike me as the kind of behavior we should expect from someone who is seriously considering making a bid to rejoin the Senate. Another option is Madison Democrat Tammy Baldwin. She’s a member of the Progressive Caucus, she has one of the most liberal voting records in Congress, and she’s openly lesbian. I like her a lot, and I think she’d have a good shot against any other Wisconsin Republican. But asking her to beat Tommy Thompson? That would be a tough battle. I think Feingold would have a much better chance of holding the seat.
Wisconsin has been giving its electoral votes to Democrats recently, but by the smallest of margins. It’s a toss-up state and not the ideal place for a strong progressive to try to win statewide. On the other hand, if Feingold could win and hold the seat, maybe Baldwin could, too. At least, she might be able to do it in the right cycle. The GOP in Wisconsin hasn’t been winning many converts lately, and the president will probably be a whole lot more popular there in November 2012 than the incumbent governor.
Ultimately, I’d be happy with either Baldwin or Feingold. Most of all, I don’t want some teabagger taking over the seat for a six-year term. Wisconsin already has one of those, and it doesn’t need another.
