Has Wisconsin flipped? Is Pennsylvania now competitive?
A flurry of recent polls in Wisconsin appears to indicate that the race has flipped from one in which former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) held a small but solid lead, to one in which his opponent Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D) has the lead.
Thompson won a hard-fought GOP primary, and immediately took the lead in general election polls. Thompson had been a popular governor of the state for literally the entire decade of the 1990s. He was first elected in 1986, and was reelected in 1990, 1994 and 1998. He left the governor's mansion to become Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush.
With Baldwin not widely known statewide, Thompson's name recognition and lingering support from Democrats and independents gave him the early lead.
