Wisconsin Governor Debate on TMJ4 and WisconsinEye

Notes on the non-candidate's non-campaign, supplied regularly by the Wisconsin news media:

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson told TODAY's WTMJ4: I'm interested - but I don't know." He declined to give a time line for when he will make a decision and only said, "I'm still working on it."

It being the US Senate race. Too bad, while they had him on the line, TODAY'S TMJ4 didn't bother to ask him about a story that ran the same day, about how firms Thompson represents cashed in on the federal stimulus bill -- which he has criticized Sen. Russ Feingold for supporting. But then he might not take their call next time.

One more point for TT to ponder while he continues his never-ending non-decision making process:Feingold has more than $4-million in the bank. The election is less than seven months away, and Thompson doesn't even have a bank account, let alone any money

This is no doubt a typo, but an amusing one nonetheless from Fox6 News in Milwaukee:

New reports say Thompson told his Chief Advisor Bill McCoshen to file an explanatory committee, and that means lots of federal paperwork.

Thompson said recently he didn't need no stinkin exploratory committee, so many an explanatory committee could explain some of the contradictions in his non-campaign.

According to the widely accepted "half your age, plus seven" rule, the youngest woman that Randy Hopper, age 45, could date within normal social standards, is 29 and a half. This, of course, assumes the person in question is not married with young children, in which case, it is never socially acceptable to be dating anyone, no matter what their age... but especially if they are 25!

So, one might expect that Hopper's Chief of Staff would come out and say that Hopper's behavior is shameful and disgusting. Instead, his Chief of Staff released this strange statement calling people that repeated his wife's allegations shameful and disgusting:

Senator Hopper lives and works in the district. He and his wife separated roughly a year ago and are divorcing, which is a personal matter. Senator Hopper and his family have received multiple death threats. These new attempts to personally smear him are shameful and disgusting.

Let's be clear on this point: It is Randy Hopper's estranged wife that is pushing this story:

TODAY'S TMJ4 received a letter from a woman claiming to be Randy Hopper's wife, Alysia Hopper. The letter arrived a letterhead envelope from Alysia Hopper's business. The letter claims Randy Hopper, "started an affair in January 2010 with a then 25 year old Republican aide." It claims "Randy moved out" and "now lives mostly in Madison."

Unfortunately for Randy, Alysia is still very angry about the affair and decided to air that grievance in public. Perhaps she's angry that Randy used her and her kids repeatedly in the last campaign as props in several campaign ads and that as soon as the campaign was over, she got cast aside for someone that is ridiculously young. Just a thought.

Whatever the case, the whole "how dare you" schtick isn't going to work here. It's like yelling at passing cars because they slow down because your standing on your front stoop, not wearing any pants, and pounding on the door for your wife to unlock the door: It's a public spectacle you created, Randy.