When will Tommy learn to step aside?

What does Tommy Thompson have against Scott Walker, Mark Neumann, Dave Westlake, and Terrence Wall?

If you’re one of the two Republicans running for Governor or one of the two Republicans running for U.S. Senate, you can’t be too pleased with the former Governor right now, given his statements that he hasn’t ruled out running for the U.S. Senate or for Governor:

“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… I’ve got more name recognition than anybody else in the state that’s running for governor right now by a long shot.”

This is nothing new for Tommy, given the fact that he loves seeing his name in the paper, loves the attention and speculation surrounding the possibility he might again run for office here in Wisconsin, but for folks like Walker, Neumann, Westlake and Wall, this has to be discouraging. Tommy Thompson has been the proverbial “elephant in the room” in Wisconsin Republican Party politics for 20-plus years, and instead of stepping aside gracefully to allow a new generation of Republicans to crawl out from under his shadow, he continues to seek to have the spotlight all to himself.

When will Tommy Thompson learn to step aside and stop seeking the spotlight?