by clicking here for the video<\/a>.)<\/p>\nThe man elected governor of Wisconsin four times before serving four years as US Secretary of Health and Human Services was every bit the forceful, self-confident, optimistic, almost swaggering figure before about 200 people that Wisconsinites knew so well in the 1980s and 1990s.<\/p>\n
When Gousha said other people running for the open US Senate seat wanted the job as much as Thompson did, Thompson said, \u201cI don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson appeared to be close to taking offense when Gousha said that, if elected, he would be only a junior senator from Wisconsin. \u201cI don\u2019t believe that,\u201d Thompson said. He said he believed he would be regarded as a leader who could bring Republicans and Democrats together to deal with a federal debt problem that is threatening the quality of life in the future and to promote a stronger economy. He said he\u2019d be looked to by other senators as an expert on issues such as health care policy.<\/p>\n
He recounted his successes as governor and as a cabinet member, including Wisconsin\u2019s economic record while he was in office and his roles in reforming welfare policy and launching Milwaukee\u2019s private school voucher program. (He even mentioned a Super Bowl victory by the Packers and Rose Bowl wins by the Wisconsin Badgers while he was governor.)<\/p>\n
\u201cI was able to change the attitude of this state,\u201d he said. \u201cI did this, ladies and gentlemen, with Democrats in charge of both houses of the Legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n
He can do the same as a senator, he said. \u201cWe can build Wisconsin and we can build America, and that\u2019s what I believe America and the public are thirsting for me, and I think they would love to have somebody like me stand up and say, that\u2019s the way we\u2019re going to do it and that\u2019s the direction we\u2019re going to go. And I bet you I got a lot of people who want to follow me,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n
He referred to himself frequently as \u201ca builder\u201d and said he would rather be labeled \u201ca do-er\u201d than any political label such as \u201cconservative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson defended himself against contentions by critics that he had reversed his positions on issues such as the federal health care law and high speed rail. Asked about attacks that he is not sufficiently conservative, attacks largely funded by the national Club for Growth, Thompson said:<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because the Club for Growth nationally is wrong doesn\u2019t mean anyone else has to follow them. They want somebody else to win the Republican primary in Wisconsin. They want somebody to go to Washington just to vote no. . . . They know that I\u2019m going to go out there and shake things up and make things happen, and they\u2019re afraid of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what America wants, they want a builder again,\u2019 Thompson said. \u201cThey want somebody that is optimistic, that believes the United States\u2019 future is still the shining city on the hill that Ronald Reagan talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for others who want to succeed retiring Democrat Herb Kohl in the Senate, Thompson said, \u201cWho are they? . . . Did they ever get endorsed by Ronald Reagan?\u201d<\/p>\n
Other candidates for senator are expected to take part in upcoming \u201cOn the Issues\u201d sessions. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, a Democratic candidate, is scheduled to appear at 12:15 p.m. April 9.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was near the end of Mike Gousha\u2019s interview with US Senate candidate Tommy Thompson. Alluding to critics, many from the right, Gousha asked, \u201cSo when they say –and they do say — Tommy Thompson is part of the problem in Washington, not part of the solution, you say?\u201d \u201cGet out of my way,\u201d Thompson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,48,122,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-law","category-marquette-law-school","category-public","category-speakers","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}