A political analyst and former Republican leader says a resurgent Mitt Romney could help the GOP in Senate races in states like Wisconsin.
When former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson won the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Herb Kohl, it looked like a slam-dunk pickup for the Republicans. His opponent is open lesbian and ultra-liberal Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, who has never won statewide office.
But after the Democratic Convention, Baldwin surged in the polls and currently holds a three-point lead in the RealClearPolitics average of polls. Political pundits are scratching their heads and wondering how the same state that earlier this year gave conservative Republican Governor Scott Walker a decisive recall election win would want someone like Baldwin for Senate.
Tom Pauken, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Texas who served on President Ronald Reagan's team, encourages the people of Wisconsin to recognize that Baldwin is not a good choice and that they may merely be influenced by the events of the presidential campaign.
"Clearly they need to make it apparent to the people of Wisconsin, a majority of whom are social conservatives who believe in our traditional values, that a woman like that shouldn't be representing the state of Wisconsin," he remarks.
Pauken believes the senatorial races have been affected by the presidential campaign.
"It can make it tougher if your candidate for president isn't doing well," he notes. "And until the [first] debate, Mitt Romney was not doing well."
So the analyst concludes a resurgent Romney could tip the scales in Thompson's favor.