Gingrich Campaigns for Thompson in U.S. Senate Bid

With one week left before the Aug. 14 primaries, former Gov. Tommy Thompson, a frontrunner for the GOP nomination for Wisconsin U.S. senator, picked up support from a national figure Tuesday.

Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who made a run for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, campaigned with Thompson Tuesday morning in La Crosse, expressing his support.

"I believe we need a senator who actually knows what they’re doing," the La Crosse Tribune quoted Gingrich as saying. "We need people who have the knowledge and experience and the skills of getting things done. … I believe he can reach across the aisle and actually help make the Senate effective in a way nobody else in this race could."

According to the Tribune, Gingrich also praised Thompson's history with welfare reform.

The most recent polling data from Public Policy Polling  with businessman Eric Hovde in the lead and Thompson trailing alongside businessman Mark Neumann. The latest poll from Marquette University will be released Wednesday.

Neumann also last week from the Tea Party Express, a national PAC and one of the major Tea Party organizations. TPE will be campaigning for Neumann in Wisconsin this week.

Wisconsin Dems renew calls for tax returns

Ahead of Thompson's press conference with Gingrich Tuesday, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin called for the GOP candidates to release their tax returns, .

As Gingrich asked Romney to release his tax returns when they were on the presidential campaign trail together, the Wisconsin Democrats rhetorically asked if Gingrich would make the same request of Thompson and Hovde.

Here's a statement from the Wisconsin Democrats' Chair Mike Tate:

Like Newt Gingrich, we believe the public has the right to know just what multimillionaire Washington insiders like Tommy Thompson and Eric Hovde are hiding from the public. We have the right to know whether they are investing in foreign corporations, instead of here in America. We have a right to know if they're asking the middle class to pay more, while they advocate tax policies that make them richer. And we have a right to know whether they are taking advantage of huge tax loopholes that just aren't available to average working families in Wisconsin.

Check Patch again on Wednesday for coverage of the newest Marquette University poll on Wisconsin's U.S. Senate race.