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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Roth makes run for WI-8 official

Today was the day that the Republican field to unseat Steve Kagen got just a bit larger with Roger Roth's entry. The Press Gazette reports:
“This is between me and Kagen,” Roth said Tuesday after kicking off his campaign before a group of supporters at Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Group.

Roth, a 31-year-old Grand Chute homebuilder and two-term lawmaker, is counting on his legislative experience, military background and name identification to help him pull ahead of six other candidates in the 2010 GOP primary.

WBAY included this in the report on their website:

He's the nephew of former U.S. Representative Toby Roth, who served the 8th Congressional District for 18 years.

With the name recognition, legislative experience, and military background Roth will no doubt be a formidable candidate. He will have to be careful not to find himself on the receiving end of a quip like the one Reagan used on Mondale with regard to their respective ages.

I do have to say I'm a bit surprised at how muted the response to Roth's announcement is in general. Perhaps it's just too early, or Obama's Afghanistan speech just looms too large today. Either way, I did think that this particular announcement would have a bit more buzz surrounding it. Though Roth did update his website.

So at this point, Kevin is still right, Roth's entry takes the bulls-eye off of Reid Ribble, but also presents a major challenge to all the candidates. At this point though, I would characterize the race as still wide open with a long way to go toward the eventual goal of defeating Kagen.

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