State Political News: Campaign season heats up in Wisconsin

• Elections

Elections

Talk about it

The presidential race in Wisconsin heats up today, with a rally in De Pere by Mitt Romney’s GOP running mate. Janesville’s Paul Ryan will hold a town hall meeting in a Republican-leaning region that helped send Democrat Barack Obama to the White House four years ago.

Romney has beefed up his efforts to become the Republican since 1984 to carry Wisconsin in the presidential race. Recent Wisconsin polls gave Ryan good reviews – and they helped turn the race into a statistical dead heat, after Obama had a notable lead throughout the summer. Meanwhile, the Obama campaign is starting its first major TV ad campaign today – but they’re not saying how much they plan to spend.

Also, vice president Joe Biden will appear tomorrow morning at UW-Eau Claire, after he visited Green Bay 10 days ago. Both the Obama and Romney campaigns called a time-out yesterday to observe the 11th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Ryan observed the day by meeting with police and firefighters in Oak Creek, and with members of the Air National Guard’s 128th Air Refueling Wing in Milwaukee.

_________________________________________________________________

If President Obama is re-elected, Janesville Republican Paul Ryan hopes to slide safely into the U.S. House seat he’s held for 14 years. So with that in mind, the Republican vice-presidential candidate is starting to advertise in Milwaukee today for his House contest in November. Kenosha businessman Rob Zerban is running as a Democrat for that seat. But if Ryan wins – and Mitt Romney takes the White House – another election would be held to fill the First District House seat. State law allows Ryan to run for both offices, but he can only serve in one. Ryan’s congressional campaign confirms that it’s starting Ryan’s House ads today – and they’ll run on Milwaukee and Madison TV all the way up until the November sixth election. Romney’s national campaign covers the costs of Ryan’s vice-presidential bid – while his personal campaign fund of around five-and-a-half million dollars will pay for Ryan’s House bid. Ryan filmed a number of ads for his House post before Romney named him as his running mate just over a month ago.

__________________________________________________________________

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson said it was a mistake for one of his top aides to send disparaging messages about his opponent Tammy Baldwin. Thompson said in Milwaukee yesterday that his political director, Brian Nemoir, should not have sent critical e-mails and tweets which showed Baldwin dancing at a gay pride event. The messages were sent last week in advance of Baldwin’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. Baldwin would become the state’s first openly gay U.S. senator if she’s elected. And Nemoir’s message satirized Baldwin’s emphasis on heartland values which she delivered at the convention. Thompson’s campaign consultant said soon afterward that Nemoir acted on his own, and he was not representing the former governor’s campaign. Thompson said Nemoir should not have sent the message, and he has apologized. Thompson said he didn’t know about the message until it went out, and it made himself. He said sexual orientation is quote, “absolutely not an issue” in his campaign. John Kraus of Baldwin’s camp criticized Thompson for being silent on the matter until now. He called Nemoir’s message a “divisive, personal attack.”

Tags: news, wisconsin, politics