Tommy Thompson "raises more than GOP foes... in the U.S. Senate race" says the Wisconsin State Journal headline.

But let's take a closer look. His campaign says he's raised "roughly $660,000 in the first quarter of 2012," but ex-congressman Mark Neumann has reported $654,000, which is obviously also roughly $660,000.

And then there's Eric Hovde, whom the Journal calls a "newcomer." He hasn't held office before. He's "raised almost $110,000 since he entered the race just over a month ago." One month, times 3, is $330,000, so maybe in a quarter, he'd raise half of what Thompson and Neumann have raised. Except that Thompson and Neumann are very well known Wisconsin politicians. Hovde's just getting started. He raised $110,000 in one month. And he seems to have his own money to spend. He was a hedge fund manager, and they say he has $1.6 million on hand, which I assume encourages donors. 

And it's the Hovde ad we keep seeing on TV (mainly during Brewers games):



Looking for that ad — which I think is impressive — I ran across this other ad of his, which I hadn't noticed on TV:



3 seconds in and I said, out loud, "Wow. I see why he's doing so well" and Meade said, "Yeah." Do I need to spell it out? Here's a clue:



Here's another: