Paul Ryan will not take his Randian vision to the US Senate, staying in his leadership position as Chair of the House Budget Committee rather than run for the seat vacated by Sen. Herb Kohl. Ryan’s association with the deeply unpopular Medicare privatization plan would have been a very difficult hurdle for him in a statewide race and may even haunt him in his district, although he may get bailed out by the redistricting process. That is, as long as Republicans finish redistricting before Democrats take over the state Senate post-recalls, which isn’t all that likely. So it’s possible for Ryan to have a real House race on his hands next year, too.

As for the Senate seat, it looks like Tommy Thompson will take a run at it.

The announcement by Sen. Herb Kohl (WI) that he will not be seeking re-election makes him the sixth member of the Democratic caucus that has chosen not to run again this year. With Democrats forced to defend 23 of the 33 senate seats up in 2012, the loss of the incumbent advantage in another race is a minor setback for the party as it hopes to retain control of the Senate in 2012.