"How badly have things gone for Wisconsin's Republican Senate candidate Tommy Thompson in recent weeks?"

"So badly that the former Wisconsin governor—whose once sizable lead over Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin has turned into a four-point deficit in the latest Marquette University poll—is blaming his swoon on 'the presidential thing.'..."

What is even more confounding about this race is that Ms. Baldwin—who represents what some call the "sanity-free zone of Madison"—was rated the most liberal House of Representatives member by National Journal in 2010. Mr. Thompson likes to say that "Tammy's so liberal Nancy Pelosi has to turn to the left to talk to her." Both culturally (she's openly gay) and on pocketbook issues, she hugs the left-field line in a center-field state.

You can't imagine the length of the Meadhouse conversation about the phrasing "culturally (she's openly gay)... she hugs the left-field line."