I love this…
Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald of Horicon took the most votes at the Republican Party’s state convention here, but fell short of the 60% needed to secure the endorsement. It was a surprisingly strong showing for Fitzgerald, who has lagged in fundraising and polling.
Thompson, elected governor four times, was knocked off in the second ballot with 18.5% of the vote. Madison hedge fund manager Eric Hovde was eliminated in the first ballot.
In the final ballot, Fitzgerald edged former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, 51.5% to 48.5%. Fitzgerald and observers said the vote breathed new life into his campaign.
Considering the difficulty Jeff Fitzgerald is having gaining traction with voters and donors, I’d love to see him as the Republican U.S. Senate nominee. What’s more, Fitzgerald’s work to end collective bargaining for public employees in Wisconsin would no doubt be an albatross around his neck in the general election.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see that out-of-state millionaire carpetbagger Eric Hovde wasn’t able to buy his way to a GOP Senate endorsement a la Ron Johnson in 2010.
2 thoughts on “Republican Senate hopefuls fail to gain GOP endorsement”
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I find this just fascinating! Thompson is polling the best with the voters, but the GOPers who are active enough to show up at the convention don’t like him? What’s up with that? Why are they supporting Fitz, who apparently few GOP “regular people” want to vote for? And even if Neumann brings in help from out of state, he still needs residents to actually cast the ballots, right? I would love to hear the inside scoop on how this happened. I bet Thompson was just stunned.
@ Kristin
Republican politics these days are replete with irrationality, an irrationality compounded by arrogance.
After watching the clown car of Republican Presidential candidates careen around the country earlier this year, something which thankfully provided an instructive window of insight into the wild-eyed, intolerant Teapublican soul, nothing should surprise anyone with respect to the irrational dynamics attending Republican politics these days.
“What’s up with that”, you ask?
That’s the best answer available, at this point.
While waiting for a more clinical diagnosis, I would suggest looking back on one of those occasions long ago when you saw someone dealing with a bad acid trip. “Nothing to see here.” You were never in jeopardy, and they eventually “came down”.
Object lesson here [cue the Woodstock P.A. system]? “Do not. . .take. . .the [Teapublican] acid. Do not. . .take. . .the [Teapublican] acid.”