Thompson locked in a three-way fight for Wisconsin’s GOP Senate nomination

FOND du LAC, Wis. — A month ago, many people in this state presumed that Tommy G. Thompson — still a household name here after serving an unprecedented four terms as governor — had a lock on the Republican nomination for the Senate.

Not anymore.

Wisconsin, which has seen more than its share of bare-knuckle politics over the past year, is the setting of an increasingly bitter three-way GOP Senate primary fight whose outcome later this month is anyone’s guess.

The race has been upended by the late entry of Eric Hovde, 48, a banker, investor and hedge-fund manager who had not lived in the state for 24 years until moving back from Washington, D.C., in 2011. Although Thompson likes to point out that Hovde’s first vote for U.S. senator will be the one he casts for himself, the political newcomer has spent more than $4 million of his own money on advertising that portrays him as a fresh face with business expertise.

That created a possible opening for former congressman Mark Neumann, who also has benefited from the backing of national conservative leaders and from $700,000 in attack ads against Thompson and Hovde by the conservative group Club for Growth.

The anti-tax organization is hoping for a repeat of what happened this week in Texas, where the group’s ads were a significant factor in the GOP primary victory of Ted Cruz over the better-known, better-funded longtime Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/thompson-in-a-three-way-fight-for-wisconsins-gop-senate-nomination/2012/08/01/gJQAiaLAQX_singlePage.html

Think Progress reported earlier this year: "Tommy Thompson Was For Expanding Contraception Coverage Before He Was Against It". And I see plenty of blogs calling Thompson a RINO.