Thompson bows out of Wisconsin Senate run

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Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson (R), who also is involved with small-market radio group Armada Media, was widely reported to be testing the waters for a run against incumbent Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI). Despite good poll numbers, Thompson has opted to stay out of the race.


Feingold is well-known to the advertising community as the co-sponsor of the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which sought to regulate political contributions and advertising and has been continually weakened in the courts.

Local polling was showing Thompson with a lead in a hypothetical election match-up with Feingold, but he said his family has asked him to stay out of the race.

The Feingold campaign, on the other hand, says that they have been shoring up its own strength that it looked to Thompson like a steeper challenge than he cared to deal with, according to political blog TPM.

Thompson was widely believed to be the best chance for the Republicans to pick off Feingold’s seat in 2010.
The former governor was last on the national stage when he ran for the Republican nomination for President in 2008. That campaign never generated any serious traction.

Thompson has a small stake in the radio group, which was formed by a group of radio executives. It bought numerous stations in small markets in the Midwest, and is said to be currently struggling with its finances.