TAKING OUT KOHL WITH NO HASSLE:

Tommy Thompson looms large (PHIL BRINKMAN, May 12, 2006, Madison.com)

Before Tommy Thompson threw it out, the script for next week's state Republican Party convention in Appleton had a familiar look.

There were the cocktail receptions and hospitality suites, the party-building exercises and keynote addresses, all building to the predictable selection of U.S. Rep. Mark Green as the party's nominee for governor.

But then Thompson wrote a scene for himself that could elevate him from supporting actor to leading man, promising to use the event to announce whether he will run for governor of the state he led for 14 years, or possibly for U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Herb Kohl.