Wisconsin GOP Primary Results: Tommy Thompson and Eric Hovde In An Ideological Battle

As the Wisconsin Senate Republican Primary moves into election day, Wisconsin Republicans are being forced to take a hard look at their ideologies to choose their candidate to go up against Rep. Tammy Baldwin. As the race comes down to the wire, three candidates have taken the lead in polling.

Eric Hovde, a hedge fund manager and banker who spent 24 years inWashington, speaks to the heart of the fiscal conservative base and has focused his campaign on preventing financial collapse. He is firmly committed to fiscal reform, and seems to resonate well with the new tide of conservative voters looking for young, bold and aggressive leaders within the party.

Tommy Thompson is a well known establishment republican who served for many years at the Governor of Wisconsin and then went to Washington with the Bush administration. After his departure from theWisconsinlegislature, the Republican Party has taken a more conservative shift from when he held office.

Paul Neumann represents a completely different faction of the Republican Party and has found a great deal of support within the Tea Party arm of his base. The Tea Party handed him their official endorsement because he is “is the only one with a plan that cuts spending, balances the budget and repeals Obamacare.”

In the end, the tight Wisconsin Senate Primary will reveal where on the ideological spectrum conservative voters fall, and could also have series ramifications for the November general elections.