Wisconsin United States Senate election, 2006

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The 2006 U.S. Senate election for the state of Wisconsin was held November 7, 2006.

Incumbent Senator Herb Kohl, Democrat, won his re-election campaign handily, as was expected throughout the campaign season.

Robert Lorge was the Republican candidate for the seat after being the only Republican candidate to file before the filing deadline on July 11, 2006. His campaign got off to a rough start when it was revealed in late July that he had been accused of child molestation by his niece in a lawsuit filed in December 2005. Lorge has not been charged with a crime and denies the allegations. ^[1]

According to media reports, the lack of a viable Republican in the election was due to the National Republican Senatorial Committee placing all of its eggs in one basket, hoping that former Governor Tommy Thompson would run. Though many prominent members of the Republican Party of Wisconsin urged him to run, Thompson eventually declined to run for senate.^[2] Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker also said he would not jump into the race after dropping out of the Wisconsin gubernatorial contest on March 24, 2006 due to fundraising concerns. By the time Thompson backed out in June, no other viable candidates were prepared to run.^[3]

Contents 1 Candidates 1.1 Democratic Party of Wisconsin 1.2 Republican Party of Wisconsin 1.3 Wisconsin Green Party 2 Election Results 2.1 Democratic Primary 2.2 Republican Primary 2.3 General Election 3 Opinion polls 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Candidates

[edit] Democratic Party of Wisconsin

• Herbert Kohl - Incumbent Senator

[edit] Republican Party of Wisconsin

• Robert Lorge - attorney, 2004 candidate for Senate and 2002 Republican nominee for Secretary of State

[edit] Wisconsin Green Party

• Rae Vogeler - Mother, peace activist, and community organizer

[edit] Election Results

[edit] Democratic Primary

2006 Wisconsin United States Senate Election Democratic Primary [1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Herb Kohl (inc.)	308,178	85.66%
	Democratic	Ben Masel	51,245	14.24%
	Democratic	Other	335	0.09%

[edit] Republican Primary

2006 Wisconsin United States Senate Election Republican Primary [2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Robert Lorge	194,633	99.73%
	Republican	Other	530	0.27%

[edit] General Election

2006 United States Senate election, Wisconsin
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Herb Kohl (inc.)	1,439,214	67.3	+5.8
	Republican	Robert Lorge	630,299	29.5	-7.5
	Green	Rae Vogeler	42,434	2.0	n/a
	Independent	Ben Glatzel	25,096	1.2	n/a
Majority			808,915	37.9
Turnout			2,137,043
	Democratic hold		Swing

[edit] Opinion polls

Source	Date	Kohl (D)	Lorge (R)
University of Wisconsin	October 30, 2006	73%	16%
Rasmussen	October 29, 2006	64%	25%
Rasmussen	September 25, 2006	60%	33%
Zogby/WSJ	September 11, 2006	50.3%	35.3%
Zogby/WSJ	August 28, 2006	50.7%	32.9%
Rasmussen	August 20, 2006	59%	31%
Rasmussen	July 20, 2006	60%	27%
University of Wisconsin	July 5, 2006	63%	13.6%
Strategic Vision (R)	June 8, 2006	65%	25%
Strategic Vision (R)	May 3, 2006	63%	25%
Strategic Vision (R)	April 12, 2006	61%	25%
Strategic Vision (R)	March 8, 2006	59%	27%

[edit] See also

• United States Senate election, 2006

[edit] References

1. ^ Garza, Jesse. "Senate hopeful accused of assault in lawsuit" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel July 14, 2006
2. ^ "Tommy Thompson declines U.S. Senate run" Associated Press, June 20, 2006
3. ^ Borsuck, Alan J. "How did Kohl get a free ride?" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 22, 2006

[edit] External links

• Kohl's Campaign Site
• Lorge's Campaign Site
• Vogeler's Campaign Site

Wisconsin 2006 Elections
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