Seriously, why do we do this every single election season?
The surest sign of Spring in Wisconsin isn’t the melting snow or first robin; it’s someone close to Tommy Thompson floating that he’s seriously interested in running for whatever statewide race happens to be on the ballot that fall.
Every. Single. Election. Year.
Look, we all love Tommy. What conservative in this state doesn’t? He is a living legend and one of the greatest governors in American history (to say nothing of Wisconsin history). But seriously, this is just getting sad. Every time a statewide race opens, be it for Senate or governor – doesn’t really matter which – Tommy will be seriously considering running for it.
Until he doesn’t. His family will talk him out of it or his heart just won’t be in it this time or maybe this just wasn’t the right fit. The excuse doesn’t really matter because the entire point is to get Tommy’s name back in the news and perhaps raise a little money for his longtime political operatives.
Tommy may well want to run and may well think that he has a chance of winning, but let’s be as honest as we possibly can here: The man is in his mid-80s and last ran for elective office 14 years ago…when he lost by six points.
He is not going to win statewide and, more importantly, he is not going to run. Because he’s done this every single election year since he last ran 14 years ago, and just as he has every single time, he will announce a few months from now that he’s not running because, well, who really cares what the reason is this time?
This sad kabuki theater has been going on long enough and, frankly, it only serves to tarnish a truly great man’s legacy.
