Cap Times: Run, Tommy, run

Madison's Capital Times, which calls itself a progressive newspaper but not a Democratic one, loves to make mischief for Dems who are not far enough left to suit the paper.

That's pretty much anyone besides Ed Garvey and Barbara Lawton, who rolled up 39% of the vote when they ran as a ticket -- the high-water mark for a statewide leftist campaign in the last 50 years. But winning has never been high on the left's agenda. Their theory is that if you won you must have sold out.

The paper loves Russ Feingold, but even he takes his lumps sometimes when he dares to be too independent.

Today's editorial urges Tommy Thompson to run for something -- US Senate or governor, it's all the same, right? The C-T says it probably wouldn't endorse Tommy, but wouldn't it be a fun campaign?

The Cap Times has never liked the incumbent Dems, Herb Kohl or Jim Doyle, who are too close to the center for their taste. Sometimes it seems like the paper would be just as happy if those two lost.

So, unable to find a primary opponent for Doyle, and any real opponent for Kohl, the paper is on the Tommy bandwagon.

Might as well cause some trouble. And it would be more fun to cover.

Those are the paper's guiding "progressive" principles. And they wonder why no one takes them seriously any more.