Russ Feingold

Poll: Feingold In Good Shape For 2010, Ahead Of Tommy Thompson

Eric Kleefeld | November 24, 2009, 11:17AM

Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-WI)

A new survey of Wisconsin by Public Policy Polling (D) finds Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold ahead of former Gov. Tommy Thompson, who has been mulling a possible challenge to the three-term incumbent.

The numbers: Feingold 50%, Thompson 41%, with a ±3.5% margin of error. Feingold is also tested against the two lesser-known Republican businessmen currently in the race, leading Dave Westlake by 47%-32% and Terrence Wall by 48%-34%.

Feingold has an approval rating of 45%, with a disapproval of 37%, and President Obama's rating is tied at 47%-47%. Thompson, despite having been elected governor four times in the 1980's and 1990's, has not fared well since he left office to become Georg eW. Bush's first Secretary of Health and Human Services, and later an unsuccessful presidential candidate -- his favorable rating is in negative territory, at 38%-45%.

"A lot of Democrats were scared yet another of their seats would go on the vulnerable list when Tommy Thompson said he was interested in running for the Senate last week," said PPP president Dean Debnam, in the pollster's analysis. "But Thompson's popularity is not what it used to be, and it looks like Russ Feingold is in a solid position."

Tommy Thompson

Tommy Thompson Could Run For Senate, Or Governor -- Or Small-Town Mayor

Eric Kleefeld | November 18, 2009, 1:04PM

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-WI)

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson appears to be considering any number of political comebacks, ranging from a return to the state's open governorship, to a Senate run -- in which he would likely be a very strong challenger to Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold -- or perhaps even mayor of a small town.

"I haven't said no," Thompson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "I'm looking at it. I'm looking at governor, I'm looking at senator and I'm looking at mayor of Elroy. One of the three."

For your information, Elroy is Thompson's home town. I just called the city hall, and they told me the population is approximately 1,500 people.

Thompson was elected to four terms as governor, starting in 1986 and only left when President George W. Bush appointed him as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2008, but dropped out in the face of bad poll numbers and fundraising in the middle of 2007. He was frequently talked about as a potential Senate candidate in the 1990s and 2000s, but has never run.

(Via Political Wire)