Thompson declines and so do Wisconsin Republican hopes

Tommy Thompson was going to give Russ Feingold a tough race, but he decided not to run. How are Republicans doing now to challenge the three term incumbent? Rasmussen has a look.

As an aside, I want to make a point about Rasmussen questionnaires. When I mentioned that the Ron Paul poll might have been paid for by Ron Paul backers some people thought I was insulting Rasmussen’s polling. Far from it. I’m saying he normally does much better! Just look at the latest Wisconsin Senate poll. Rasmussen gets favorability ratings for all candidates, not just one. In the Ron Paul poll he only asked about Paul, giving people no way to express dissatisfaction with Obama but to back Ron Paul, probably skewing the results.

Moving on, both Republicans have made small progress since Thompson has been confirmed not to be entering the race, and Feingold still has the 49% that just barely puts him in the traditional field of being in jeopardy. But he maintains solid leads against all comers: 43/49 over Terrence Wall (75% chance Feingold leads), 38/49 over Dave Westlake (89% chance for Feingold), and 37/48 over newcomer to the poll Richard Leinenkugel (89%).

I wouldn’t call this race over, but now Republicans start with a sizable deficit. It’s surmountable, to be sure, but this race got a lot less worrisome for Democrats the second Thompson said No.