Club for Growth ad targets Thompson and Hovde

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A national Tea Party group is running a TV ad in Wisconsin attacking the two frontrunners in the Republican U.S. Senate primary.

The Club for Growth ad makes no mention of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin. Instead, it goes after former Gov. Tommy Thompson and hedge fund manager Eric Hovde, “On taxes, Hovde’s like Thompson, only worse. Club for Growth Action is responsible for the content of this advertising.”

The club has endorsed former Congressman Mark Neumann in the race for Senate. Two polls released this week showed Neumann significantly behind both Thompson and Hovde.

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Carrol University Political Science Professor Lily Goren says it’s not unusual for a conservative group like the club to get involved in a GOP primary. “This has been going on, to some degree recently, across the country on the Republican side with regards to the Tea Party.”

Democrats have been quick to highlight the disunity among Republicans in the Senate primary. Marquette University Political Science Professor John McAdams says Democrats might be happy to see the Club for Growth ads attacking the Republican frontrunners, “Probably so, although I think it is easy to overestimate the extent to which a divisive primary hurts you in the general election.”

McAdams takes this ad as a sign that Neumann—and his supporters—won’t go quietly in this contest.

The ad is just one of several that are now running for the U.S. Senate race. The group EMILY’s List, which supports Baldwin, is also running an ad attacking Thompson and Hovde.