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News that Democrat Senator Herb Kohl is retiring and will not seek re-election in 2012 has the political world spinning to figure out what will happen with the seat moving forward. Kohl’s decision to step down open’s up the seat for possible GOP takeover and puts Democrats in a very tough position defending it.
2012′s election cycle brought on significant shifts in political power across Wisconsin. The open race for Governor went to Republican Scott Walker by 6 points. Ron Johnson took down Democrat Senator Russ Feingold, and the GOP picked up two House seats. Republicans picked up the Attorney General and State Treasurer’s seats, and the state House fell hard to overwhelming GOP control. Republicans also now control the state Senate, giving them control over the entire state government and pushing Democrats into a weak defensive position politically.
Democrat Herb Kohl was one of the remaining few Democrat strongholds in Wisconsin, and now that his Senate seat is in play, Republicans have a solid chance of moving in for the pick up. Depending on the candidates, this could also mean more national GOP money going to Wisconsin, which could help sway the outcome of the POTUS results in the northern midwest state.
Steve reporting earlier that former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson is throwing his hat in on the GOP side. This move should give the Republicans a strong candidate with good name ID, good fundraiser power and a lot of support across the state.
Kohl won the last race with 67% of the vote, but he did so as an incumbent and a strong Democrat controlled statewide infrastructure. Now that the seat is open and Republicans control most of the state’s government, this seat is very much in play and can easily go either way.
Which also means that Obama could very well lose the state. If this one state’s political shift is any indication of what is to come nationwide in 2012, Democrats are in serious trouble overall.
CampaignTrailReport.com currently has the Wisconsin Senate seat rated as “Toss-Up” and we’ll monitor the race with constant updates. Please be sure you’re subscribed to the feed to get updates as they’re posted.
-Eric Odom
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