On to the general

Primary results are in for both Minnesota and Wisconsin and now we can move forward to the general. A few observations on last night's results:

• The most consequential result was Tommy Thompson holding off three other competitors for the Republican slot in the United States Senate race in Wisconsin. Thompson essentially dominated Wisconsin politics during the 1990s and will now face Tammy Baldwin for the seat. I'm of two minds about this development. While there's no question that Thompson is a competent politician and a proven vote-getter, he is 70 years old and has been in the game since 1966. He will likely be the favorite against Baldwin, who is about as pure a Madison liberal as one might imagine. The always astute First Ringer has some thoughts about this race over at Shot in the Dark and I commend them to you.
• Speaking of old dudes getting back in the game, Rick Nolan has emerged as the DFL candidate who will take on Chip Cravaack for the 8th CD in Minnesota. Nolan served in Congress in the 1970s but has been out of Washington for over 30 years. Nolan is a contemporary of Jim Oberstar, who represented the 8th for what seemed like a thousand years (actually 36). Nolan used to represent a rural district in southern Minnesota, but is now trying to claim the Iron Range. We'll see how he does against Cravaack, who won big in the exurban areas of the district in the last election. I think Nolan's last GOP opponent was Wendell Willkie.
• Since Nolan has advanced, that means that Tarryl Clark is out. Clark, as you might recall, ran against Michele Bachmann last time around and decided that she needed to find a constituency that would send her to Washington, so she moved to Duluth to run in the primary. Clark blew through a lot of Emily's List money and her failed campaign has given Cravaack some good ammunition to use against Nolan. At some point GOP Chair Pat Shortridge really ought to send Taxin' Tarryl some sort of lovely parting gift, since few Minnesota politicians have provided more direct benefit to the GOP than the hapless Clark. Now that Clark has been rejected by two different congressional districts, it will be interesting to see what she does next. My guess is that she can park herself at the Humphrey Institute and hang out with her male equivalent, Steve Kelley.