TENACIOUS THOMPSON OUT BUT NOT DOWN

Libertarian Candidate Makes Best 3rd-party Showing In 60 Years

Tomah - All those Wisconsin voters who once said they were so angry at the
all-negative campaigns of the major-party candidates for governor that they
were going to vote for Libertarian candidate Ed Thompson didn't do so Tuesday.

Hoping for a Jesse Ventura-like miracle, the Tomah restaurant owner and
younger brother of a four-term Republican governor instead got about 10% of
the popular vote - enough to bleed votes away from the campaign of
Republican Gov. Scott McCallum but nowhere near enough to be elected the
state's chief executive, according to unofficial statewide returns.

It was still enough to give him the biggest third-party vote total since
the 1940s.

Holding court at his Tee Pee Supper Club late Tuesday, Ed Thompson said he
was pleased with his outmatched, outfunded campaign. If he ends up with 10%
of the statewide vote, the Libertarian Party will get a seat on the state
Elections Board, he said.

"We changed the face of politics in Wisconsin," Thompson said. "We've made
the third party viable."

In his concession speech, Thompson added, "We let everybody in Wisconsin
know there's another voice out there - another voice that needs to be heard."

Leaders of the state's two major parties had better watch out, he warned.
They will "know for sure we're watching, my friends," he said.

Here to stay

Thompson vowed to stay active politically in some way. "Right now, I'm
going to stay in it. I don't know if it's running, or maybe taking a back
seat. Maybe there's a better candidate."

Many things made the bid for governor by the self-styled "common man"
unique: He has no health insurance, so he spoke with passion about that
problem. He got $14,000 in income last year from video poker games in his
restaurant, and he backed legal gambling in any community that welcomed it.
He couldn't afford statewide TV ads, and he had to buy his own gas for his
campaign's rumbling 20-year-old motor home. He dismissed the Capitol's
career politicians as "Republicrats."

It was entertaining, and no one could scold Republican Gov. Scott McCallum
and Democrat Jim Doyle like Thompson. But he never had a legitimate shot at
being the first third-party candidate to be elected governor since 1942.

Thompson found support from two types of voters - those so angry at the
all-attack tone of the campaigns of major-party candidates that they
decided to vote for someone who hadn't insulted them, and others who may
not have voted in years but who identified with Thompson's throw-'em-out
appeal.

Voters such as Joshua Lentz of the Village of Pewaukee, for example.

Lentz said Tuesday he voted for Thompson because he believes the
Libertarian candidate would defend his right to own guns and ammunition
without any new registration requirements.

"I know someone who owns almost 70 guns," Lentz said, "and to have to
register all those guns is crazy."

Racine County voter Stuart Feig, 39, said he voted for Thompson because he
didn't like McCallum or Doyle.

"I just felt more comfortable with him, even though I knew he wasn't going
to win," Feig said of Thompson.

Lack of funding

One number - 6% - cost Thompson dearly. He needed that percentage in the
September primary election to qualify for more than $200,000 in campaign
grants - cash he would have used to run TV ads. When he fell far short of
6%, Thompson could afford only radio ads and run a Libertarian Party ad on
legalizing marijuana on Madison's cable TV system.

That showing also kept him out of the first gubernatorial debate aired
statewide - a forum he desperately needed to sell his message to voters. He
appeared in two other debates, however.

While McCallum and Doyle were on track to spend a total of $11 million to
$14 million, the Thompson campaign ran on a relative shoestring, pulling in
$315,607 so far this year, a third of it in the eight weeks before Oct. 21.

The filing of felony corruption charges against four legislative leaders
less than three weeks before election day played heavily into Thompson's
theme of reforming a system gone awry at the hands of career politicians.
But he couldn't afford to respond with TV ads explaining the reforms he
wanted to make in the system.

Breath of fresh air

Thompson freshened the race with a candor seldom seen by the more
circumspect major-party candidates. For example, when his brother, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson,
formally endorsed McCallum, Ed Thompson stole the spotlight by saying his
brother promised him both his vote and campaign cash.

Asked why his brother endorsed McCallum, Ed Thompson said it may have been
the first documented case of the fatal chronic wasting disease making the
jump from deer to people.

"This is the first time we've ever had a chance," explained Thompson backer
Gina Christenson, 35, of Green Bay, who designed the campaign's Web site.

Christenson predicted that Thompson's third-place finish will boost the
Libertarian cause. "It can really help us to get going," she said. "It's
made a chance for people to believe that they can run."

A former Democrat, Richard Wieland, 44, took a week off as a self-employed
carpenter to work for Thompson.

"The people I talked to, they were sick of the garbage on TV," said
Wieland, who gave a one-word reason for why he voted for Thompson: honesty.

Steven Walters reported from Milwaukee and Vikki Ortiz reported from Tomah.
Dennis Chaptman, in Madison, contributed to this report.