Just got an email from the Baldwin campaign, gathering signatures to urge her opponent, Former Governor of WI Tommy Thompson, to reject the extreme anti-choice agenda that she is labeling as the Akin Agenda (also the Romney/Ryan/GOP agenda). That's right, the very same agenda that Thompson originally authored back in 2000:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Baldwin is trying to gather 10,000 signatures urging Thompson to reject this extreme platform but of course, he won't. Baldwin knows he won't but it's an excellent start to putting Thompson on the spot over a controversial issue. Thompson does have the name recognition but he's been out of the game for a while now that he's already refusing to answer questions. In fact, he had a mini-meltdown over his refusal to release his taxes and Baldwin is hitting him for pulling a Romney:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Personally, I would emphasize more that Thompson is the original author of the GOP's anti-choice, anti-woman platform but I'm not sure why Baldwin is holding back. She might be worried about making the same mistake Joe Sestak did against Pat Toomey. Sestak was really starting to pull ahead in the polls when his ads compared Toomey to Bush and Santorum but I think he lost some support when he tried to compare Toomey to Christine O'Donnell because both candidates were backed by the Tea Party. Make no mistake, Toomey is an extreme right-wing ideologue but he is a lot smoother than O'Donnell. It's great that she is tying Thompson to Akin and the Akin name might be pretty toxic in Wisconsin.
I know this race will be a tough one but I still believe we can win this. When Senator John Heinz (R. PA) died in a plane crash in 1991 and the special election was held, everyone was calling it for former PA governor, Dick Thornburgh, to unseat appointed Senator Harris Wofford (D. PA) but Thornburgh's ego got the best of him in that race. Thornburgh made a series of gaffes and campaign mistakes and believed he could win solely based on name recognition but in the end Wofford defeated Thornburgh by ten percentage points. Now of course Wofford had Paul Begala and James Carville on his team and sadly Wofford lost the close 1994 Senate race to Rick Santorum but I don't doubt that Thompson's ego will get the best of him. He refuses to answer questions and show his tax returns and when he does answer questions or make statements, they're certainly far from intelligent or smooth. Baldwin can beat him. He's not the same Tommy Thompson people once knew or believed they knew. Yes, he has a shot but his real chance for this seat was back in 2004 going up against Russ Feingold. Thompson turned down that opportunity and I want to make him regret turning down that chance in 2004. Lets help Baldwin put Thompson on the spot regarding his support for denying women an abortion in the cases of rape, incest and a woman's life in danger. Donate to Baldwin's campaign and together we can defeat this Akin Republican:
https://secure.tammybaldwin.com/...