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Galileo Galilei
08-15-2010, 11:07 PM
Ed Thompson challenges Kathleen Vinehout in Wisconsin Senate District 31

Ed Thompson has some fight left in him from his younger days but instead of taking the fight to a physical opponent, he's taking the fight to Kathleen Vinehout. The former club boxer (retiring when he was 42) and Mayor of Tomah, Wisconsin has decided to take on one last bout, this time not in the boxing ring but the arena of State Politics. At stake is Wisconsin Senate District 31, a seat that Vinehout has held since 2006. A casual observer may think Ed has the added challenge of having to stand in the shadows of his big brother, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, but his fighting background makes him stand out in his own right.

According to Ed's campaign site, ED THOMPSON FOR STATE SENATE, raised in Elroy, Wisconsin, Ed's father ran a small grocery store while his mother taught in a one-room public school house. Ed helped his father in the family store in his spare time and also worked summers on a nearby farm. Successful in drama and sports in high school, he briefly attended the University of Wisconsin Madison before he enlisted in the US Navy during the Vietnam War. After an honorable discharge he married his then-wife, Kathy, and began a family.

His life has been just as remarkable in many respects as Tommy's. While working several different physical labor jobs and owning a couple of taverns to help feed his family, Ed competed in the Golden Gloves boxing circuit for a number years, quitting at the age of 42. Once out of boxing, he turned his sights on a new venture and restored an old, bankrupt supper club called the Tee-Pee on Main Street, Tomah . He renamed it Mr Ed's Tee Pee Supper Club and for the past 20 years has expanded this one-man risk-taking operation into a city landmark that employs over 30 people. He hosts the annual Tomah Free Thanksgiving Day Dinner; free meals to the less fortunate, in the club, and last year (2009) served over 1,200 people.

He was first elected mayor of Tomah in 2000, ousting a 2-term incumbent democrat, then decided not to run for relection as mayor in 2002, opting instead to head up the Libertarian ticket for Governor. Though he lost, he garnered more 3rd party votes than any candidate in the Governor's race in 60 years. His run was the subject of a 2005 documentary titled "A Remarkable Man", which also details other aspects of his life and his fight against the Doyle-run Attorney General's office in 1980s when it was trying to crack down on video poker in small taverns. So popular was Ed as Mayor of Tomah that the people in the city hoisted him back onto the City Council in 2005 as a write-in candidate. His success as a city council member translated to another run as Mayor in 2007, this time ousting a three-term incumbent.

Ed has again stepped down as Mayor in order to concentrate on his race against Kathleen Vinehout. He and former wife Kathy (Nelson) have had 4 children and 8 grandchildren. In the spotlight today, I interview Ed, and he reveals why he is running, and what sparked his desire to take on this next fight in his life:

Read the rest of the interview at CONSERVATIVEFEATURES.COM

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-la-crosse/ed-thompson-challenges-kathleen-vinehout-wisconsin-senate-district-31