Grothman Makes the Right Choice

Glenn Grothman will NOT challenge Herb Kohl.

He made the right decision. No question about it.

A candidate can't do it alone. Although there's one name on the ballot, the venture is not an individual endeavor by any means.

In addition to cash, the candidate needs a strong supporting organization. Yes, Grothman was getting plenty of encouragement to run; but not much else.

From WisPolitics:

Conservative West Bend Sen. Glenn Grothman dropped his last-minute bid for the U.S. Senate today, saying he did not have time to build the needed campaign structure to take on popular millionaire incumbent Herb Kohl.

Grothman said he collected 3,000 signatures – 1,000 more than he needed to qualify for the ballot – but he admitted he feared a bad loss to Kohl could be seen as a rejection of the conservative ideals he supports.

"In order to run a campaign, you need some commitment of dollars and even more some sort of organization, and at this point, I do not have that solid organization," Grothman said. "I'm a little bit afraid if I go forth now without that organization in place, my lack of organization – and perhaps what would happen because of that lack of organization – would be perceived as a rejection of my ideals, and that scares me."

That makes sense to me.

I don't know why Grothman waited literally until the last minute to come to that realization.

I imagine that the people that collected signatures for him over the weekend feel somewhat used and betrayed. I'm sure they had better things to do with their time than engage in a completely pointless effort.

Other than that however, I don't think Grothman should be criticized for not agreeing to run.

He didn't let Wisconsin conservatives down. The Republican Party of Wisconsin did. It's not like this Senate race caught them by surprise.

The Party had SIX YEARS to prepare.

SIX YEARS -- yet we were waiting to learn of Grothman's decision until the clock struck 5:00 p.m. and the bandwagon turned into a pumpkin.

So, Robert Gerald Lorge has the task of taking on Herb Kohl.

Check out his site.

In an interview on WTMJ with Jessica McBride, Lorge came across like a well-meaning, sincere, nice man.

I don't want to trash the guy. But let's be realistic. Lorge doesn't stand a chance of defeating Kohl.

If in assessing his options Grothman felt that he couldn't put up a credible campaign, how can Lorge believe that he can?

Lorge is stunningly naive.

That's not a trait I want in a Senator, though I'd rather have a naive conservative from Wisconsin in the Senate than a rubber stamp liberal Dem like Kohl.

I wonder. Will Kohl even acknowledge that he has a Republican opponent?

I certainly don't expect Kohl to run any attack ads against Lorge.

I am truly disgusted that Kohl is just waltzing into a fourth term. (Does anyone know if he leads when he waltzes? I really don't know. Does he dance at all?)

I'm also ticked off by Tommy Thompson's dance. He needs to shoulder some blame. Without question, his gyrations were a major distraction.

Nevertheless, in the final analysis, the Republican Party of Wisconsin must be faulted.

The failure to put up a strong candidate to run against Kohl is unforgivable. The Party screwed up, big time.

When it comes to election 2006, I can't get that troubling reality out of my mind.