Before Wall Spends it All, He Should Talk to Tim Michels

There have been numerous reports that Madison area real estate mogul Terrance Wall is seriously considering a run against U.S. Senator Russ Feingold. As soon as that word started to spread people began examining some of Wall's wildly right wing rhetoric. Thanks to some timely research and several blogs that expanded on it, we also know about Wall's questionable business practices, which include trying to shortchange Wisconsin. Now the latest word on the street is that Terrance Wall has been having conversations with national Republicans. People like RNC Chairman Michael Steele and key representatives of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) have apparently been whispering sweet nothings in Wall's ear.

Is Terrance Wall really ready to spend his fortune to try and defeat Senator Russ Feingold? It's pretty clear that the only reason that national Republicans are talking to Wall is because of his status as a zillionaire. I have to wonder if Steele and the NRSC have made the same kind of promises to Wall that they made to Tim Michels in his failed attempt to beat Feingold? If you will recall, in 2004 the NRSC promised Michels that they would help him if he won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Unfortunately for Michels, he was left high and dry by the national Republicans. The NRSC even went as far as to cancel $1.2 million in TV ads that they had reserved for Michels. Obviously whatever promises the national Republicans made to Michels were broken and he was left to write his own checks for the entire grueling process. Is Wall ready to do the same?

Tim Michel's unfortunate experience with the NRSC came during a year where Wisconsin was considered one of the most targeted states in the country. For 2010, several independent political outlets have consistently ranked Feingold's race in the Safe/Solid Democrat category. These rankings are for good reason, because even a recent poll by a right wing organization confirmed that Senator Feingold is one of the most popular elected officials in the state. Senator Feingold is Wisconsin's top vote getter , gathering some 1,632,562 votes in 2004. That year he actually won 27 counties that George W. Bush won, which is a clear indication of his broad array of support. The bottom line is that Russ Feingold is extremely popular and he clearly knows how to win big in both good and bad years for Democrats.

I would imagine that someone that has amassed as much wealth as Terrance Wall, would have the business sense to properly analyze a situation before blindly acting. Given all of the facts, is Terrance Wall really ready to spend it all? We already know that Steele, the NRSC, and other national Republicans are probably flirting and making all kinds promises to Wall, but no matter what they say Wall should know that this race isn't a real priority to his new friends. Terrance Wall shouldn't be listening to Steele, the NRSC, and DC based consultants, the person that he should be talking to is Tim Michels.