Well mayor a tiny town was enough 'executive experience' for some people to make it the VP spot. How sad things have become that Thompson now looks like the very model of a sober, moderate Republican politico when compared to what else is out there.

Thompson fails to realize he's an idea whose time has come - and gone.

I grew up in Madison and lived there for over 40 years until relocating to DC a couple years ago. I've voted Democratic for years but I'm probably more of a Progressive than anything (Progressivism started in the Republican Party, I believe).

Politically, Tommy Thompson is, for all intents and purposes, a Southern Democrat. He's definitely not a fiscal conservative who wants to hollow out the state or federal government. In fact, he left the state $3.2 billion in debt when he departed to become Bush's SecHHS, mostly because he couldn't say "no" to any road, state, university or prison building project. He completely dominated state Republican politics in a way that no has in either party probably since Fighting Bob LaFollette in the early 1900s. During his 14 years as governor, the Wing Nuts didn't dare even THINK of trying to introduce their crazy legislation like concealed carry, prayer in schools or any of their usual wedge issue stuff because Tommy simply wouldn't tolerate it and they knew it.

Adding to his centrist credo was him pushing the sucking of gambling dollars out of Illinois and Minnesota to pad Wisconsin's budget by starting the Wisconsin Lottery, greyhound dog tracks mostly near the state's borders and, eventually, signing Indian gaming compacts allowing the tribes to start casino gambling on their mostly tourist destination-located reservations, along with an off-reservation casino in Milwaukee for a tribe from far northern Wisconsin (Forest County Potwatomi Community).

In today's Republican party, I'm not sure Tommy would have a prayer if he wasn't as powerful as he still appears to be.

Then again, the utter lack of any Democratic or Republican bench is what might be causing Tommy to toy with the media about the idea of running for governor again. Right now, the only declared candidates are Mark Neumann (lots of family $$$ but no organization and he's never held major public office), Scott Walker (failed Milwaukee County Executive - the state recently took over Milwaukee County's social services department because it was so badly mismanaged) and former Wisconsin state Assembly representative. He's a certifiable Wing Nut, too.

Then there's Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett who declared his candidacy last week, largely at the urging of President Obama and the DNC. Why Obama and his people think Barrett has any chance whatsoever to retain the governor's mansion for the Democrats is simply unfathomable to most Badgers. He probably can't find Ladysmith, Suring, Viroqua or Park Falls on a map (all small, west-central and northern Wisconsin towns), would stand out like a sore thumb in a country bar - places where Tommy made his political bones in during his improbable and successful run for governor in 1986, probably doesn't know how to bait a fishing hook, has never been hunting and will easily be painted as a Milwaukee liberal who's out of touch with the issues affecting the remainder of Wisconsin, save Milwaukee and Madison.

Worse for the Demcorats is that Barrett's reputation in Congress, as a gubernatorial primary candidate in 2002 and as Mayor Milwaukee is this: lazy campaigner, boring and has never accomplished anything substantive politically. Seriously, I'm very confident that you couldn't find five bills that passed Congress and were enacted into law under a Democratic president where Barrett was lead sponsor. As Mayor of Milwaukee, he hasn't accomplished anything meaningful, either. You'd think that someone would have the guts to challenge him in the primary but the Democratic bench is woefully thin.

So, Tommy would likely win the governorship in a landslide, but the real intrigue would be if he ran against Feingold for Senate. Russ might have to take PAC money to compete and I think it would be a real bloodbath of a race.

We'll see.