And then there's Eric Hovde, whom the Journal calls a "newcomer." He hasn't held office before. He's "raised almost $110,000 since he entered the race just over a month ago." One month, times 3, is $330,000, so maybe in a quarter, he'd raise half of what Thompson and Neumann have raised. Except that Thompson and Neumann are very well known Wisconsin politicians. Hovde's just getting started. He raised $110,000 in one month. And he seems to have his own money to spend. He was a hedge fund manager, and they say he has $1.6 million on hand, which I assume encourages donors.
And it's the Hovde ad we keep seeing on TV (mainly during Brewers games):
Looking for that ad — which I think is impressive — I ran across this other ad of his, which I hadn't noticed on TV:
3 seconds in and I said, out loud, "Wow. I see why he's doing so well" and Meade said, "Yeah." Do I need to spell it out? Here's a clue:
Here's another:
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Ha ha.
It's like being blonde. Some stuff is hard-wired in (disclaimer - I did not say that un PC thing, it was John Derbyshire OKOK, it was me).
Wait, why is he talking about the debt. What about the important issues: Ann Romney, Fluking, Free Contraception, Roof Dogs, etc?
Um, that's why we're doomed.
Good ads and, yeah, he looks better than the other guys - which ain't hard.
But he's hitting the important stuff and, according to Ann, it's hitting home.
PS Screw the "doomed" stuff.
Dictator Zero wants us to think about anything BUT the economy, but, from the looks of things, it ain't working.
Everybody knows what the 800 pound gorilla is - and it isn't Moochelle's ass.
Boy, that second ad is really good. So is the first. Professor, you should get a cut from the donations Hovde will get from your post.
He's "Eric." Good guy Eric. Not part of the old boy network.
Ed
Zero depends on people being stupid.
Unfortunately, too many are.
Voting is overrated. Really. Think about the polling now. How can so many people (even 50%, or 30%) think it's a good idea to re-elect this loser.
No, he's gonna make hey with the Buffet rule etc. Lots of American dopes.
Hey, I hope you're right and I'm wrong.
I don't live a life of despair, but I try to look at the reality of things, not what I hope they are.
Tommy Thompson had a chance to run against Feingold 2 years ago and he turned it down claiming he wanted to spend time with his family (and make money as a healthcare lobbyist). Thankfully his decision led the the emergence of Ron Johnson.
Now that Kohl is retiring Tommy probably sees an to win but lots of people think his time is past. If Hovde turns out to be another Ron Johnson he'll have a great shot at winning but voters will have to do their due diligence since he's virtually unknown even though his TV ads have resonated with many people.
Why are the guys in the last two pictures wearing rubber masks?
Is it a robbery?
Young, easy on the eye and from the sound of it on target. This is a winning combination.
Pretty people don't lack for dates or jobs.
The first ad has a great hook besides the telegenic Hovde. Trillions in debt is a very abstract concept to all of us. With the 3D chart, he's effectively using graphics to show the rapid acceleration of debt plus the mounting futility of ever getting on top of it. In my opinion he should've made the mountain much steeper, and really struggled to get up onto a taller step.
Ross Perot 2.0. So far I'm intrigued, but the electorate doesn't have much stamina for debt talk. He'll have to move into ecomonic-growth talk soon.
"Tommy Thompson had a chance to run against Feingold 2 years ago and he turned it down claiming he wanted to spend time with his family (and make money as a healthcare lobbyist)."
I was at the rally — it was the 2010 Tax Day rally at the Capitol — when Thompson announced he would not run. He said: "It's time for new voices and new faces."
His face is 2 years older than it was then. He wasn't up for the hard work of defeating Russ Feingold, but he'll plop down in the open seat.
Totally depressing that the clues boil down to the fact that women vote for the better looking guy. But totally realistic as well. Which means there's some hope that the rule of The Malevolent One in the White House will end because Romney is conventionally handsome.
Tank said...
Ed
Zero depends on people being stupid.
Unfortunately, too many are.
Voting is overrated. Really. Think about the polling now. How can so many people (even 50%, or 30%) think it's a good idea to re-elect this loser.
No, he's gonna make hey with the Buffet rule etc. Lots of American dopes.
Hey, I hope you're right and I'm wrong.
No problem, but I think that, now that we're out of the age of centralized media, a lot more truth is getting out and places like Althouse reflect that.
You wouldn't have had the pushback you have now on all of Zero's little ploys (which all seem to be going flat) 20 or 40 years ago when the Lefties controlled the narrative and the debate.
Besides, the economy is so loused up, I think a lot of people who would normally vote for the slug will either go for the Romster or stay home simply out of survival.
"Totally depressing that the clues boil down to the fact that women vote for the better looking guy. But totally realistic as well. Which means there's some hope that the rule of The Malevolent One in the White House will end because Romney is conventionally handsome."
The better looking candidate usually wins.
In presidential elections, you have to go back to Goldwater to get a clear example of the clearly better looking guy losing. Take out the clearly, and you can say you have to go back to Nixon.
Thanks for the reminder about Tommy. It will be interesting to see which candidate the Tea Party embraces.
When I saw that Hovde lives in Madison I thought, "oh great, another RINO".
Most of the issues he lists on his campaign website are economic/fiscal issues, including support for repeal and replacement of Obamacare. The only social issue he takes a stand on is the 2nd Amendment. He says we must "defend the 2nd Amendment". No references about where he stands on gay marriage, abortion, faith, or other social issues. So I suspect he's planning to run as a socially liberal fiscal conservative.
I don't live in Wisconsin, but if I did I'd be supporting Neumann. But then I really don't care about a politician's race, gender, how well he looks in a picture, or if he sings like Al Green or reads a teleprompter in an emotional way. I try to consider more substantive things like what policies he's likely to support. Neumann's got a voting record so you know where he stands. He's gotten Club for Growth's endorsement, "As" from the National Taxpayers Union, and he had a lifetime ACU score of 96 when he left Congress. And because he lost his Senate race to Feingold by only 1.5%, he's at least a competitive candidate.
In presidential elections, you have to go back to Goldwater to get a clear example of the clearly better looking guy losing.
I don't know, is Goldwater that much hotter than LBJ?
Ford was not a good looking man, but Carter creeps me out.
And while television has been a boon for superficial pretty boy candidates, the internet has been brutal to them.
Here's a little thing I have noticed on the political ads for the last few elections. The pol doesn't say what party they are, not even on the little type disclaimers at the end of the commercials. Or the yards signs will say,"paid for by the committee to elect Joe Blow, LLC".
Even life long political hacks are trying to disguise that they are at heart party animals.
I had to search to see what party Hovde as in, and at that, it was "republican business man" buried in the article. His web site certainly didn't display it proudly.
Not a bad tactic I guess, but I would have a hard time voting for someone who I didn't know which way he would jump when the Congressional whip flicks him.
On the other hand, what sane person would want to be associated with either party right now? Disdain for Congress is at used car dealer levels for a reason.
I'm too lazy today to look it up, but didn't Washington warn of a 2 party system? Or maybe Jefferson? Or maybe I'm just getting old again.
If Hovde is sincere he's got an up hill battle. The dems will castigate him for being a banker, and the dead elephants are just pissed off that the dems are spending more money that they don't get the credit for, so they'll stab him in the back.
"Totally depressing that the clues boil down to the fact that women vote for the better looking guy. But totally realistic as well. Which means there's some hope that the rule of The Malevolent One in the White House will end because Romney is conventionally handsome."
Before women were given the franchise, candidates were not overwhelmingly elected merely on the basis of their looks. With today's majority participation in voting by women, it's no surprise that our elected officials are all mostly good looking but are otherwise idiots or sociopaths who demonstrate alpha bad-boy behavior. Women voters reward them for it, after all. It's classic hypergamy in action, in the policital sphere.
I sometimes wonder if the solution to all of this is to repeal the 19th Amendment. I'm finding it difficult to see how its repeal would be a bad thing.
Imagine that, a candidate with a clear-headed approach. Give it time, the progs will link him to the Koch bros or some such nonsense.
The fact is, straight-talking guys as Hovde appears to be (really like the ads) are well-intentioned...but face steep odds if/when they get to the cesspool of DC politics.
I think its critical to have high turnover numbers if the people expect to turn around years of fiscal neglect and abuse.
The people have been used as dirty rags long enough. If we can usher in guys like Hovde and many others like him, then there is a chance to overturn the gravy train.
We're buying a stairway to debtin'
Tommy Thompson has the highest name recognition of the three Republican candidates, and relatively high positives. He is also a very strong money raiser, in Wisconsin, In DC and other places as well.
Tommy is also a one-term candidate. He'll be nearly eighty when the next election for that Senate seat comes around again And he is an insider, an ol' boy who'll glad his way through DC not wanting to make enemies of his old moderate friends. He is the RINO's preferred candidate; the candidate of he old establishment in Wisconsin.
Mark Neumann is the former Congressman, former gubernatorial candidate who once said that he wanted to be governor and did not want to return to DC. He has changed his mind.
Neumann has high negatives among the party faithful. He's cold and impersonal when you meet him one-to-one. He damaged Walker in the gubernatorial campaign by staying in too long when he should have dropped out. Conservative voters and Tea Party members cannot stand him, and they are the ones most likely to do the hard get-out-the-vote work for a candidate. Except it won't be for Neumann.
Eric Hovde in new to the race and new to Wisconsin politics. He is an attractive candidate, well educated and well-spoken. He is by all accounts a decent guy, just check YouTube for videos he made years before considering politics - videos of the new schools and churches that he and his foundation built in impoverished and war-torn countries using his money.
People I know in grass-roots politics tell me that they met with Hovde when he was considering a Senate run, sat with him for hours talking about his beliefs and about why he wants to run. He is the real deal, as far as conservatives are concerned.
The big question is whether Hovde can overcome Thompson's name recognition, money raising ability and still-good stump speaking. Tommy does draw a crowd, and seems to know every citizen of Wisconsin on a first-name basis.
We won't know until after the re-call election whether Hovde can get traction. Until then, the recall is consuming 100% of political time, effort and attention.
My opinion: Hovde is worth a serious look by conservative voters. If elected, he could be a multi-term conservative Senator.
In the Hovde add "Why I am running" he said, "Like you I've spent the last several years yelling at my tv set."
Heh, I had to laugh at that image.
Eric's got my vote!
Baldwin v. Thompson is an election I've already seen -- many times -- in Wisconsin. Entrenched Republican vs. entrenched Democrat. The names/sexes/hair color may change, but not the race. Boring!
Baldwin v. Hovde would be much more interesting.
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