Fitzgerald Keeping Out of Primary Bickering

As the Republican race for U.S. Senate grows more contentious, GOP Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald has decided to stay above the fray.

Hedge fund manager Eric Hovde, former Congressman Mark Neumann and former Gov. Tommy Thompson all mixed it up during a Republican U.S. Senate candidate debate Monday. Hovde and Neumann were especially aggressive, at one point forcing the moderator to cut them off.

Notably absent from the sparring was Jeff Fitzgerald. While the other candidates used nearly all of their allotted rebuttals to hit and hit back, Fitzgerald took a pass.

Fitzgerald said he always thought the race would develop this way. He calls himself the Walker conservative in the race, having carried Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda in the legislature, “You know, it’s a good, positive message. And the more these guys try to beat up on each other, I think a lot of people take a second look at me and say this is a guy who got it done first in Wisconsin and why wouldn’t I go out and vote for him to do it in Washington, D.C. as well.”

There’s another, practical reason you won’t hear Fitzgerald attack in television ads. His fundraising lags the other candidates, making it harder for him to afford TV ad buys.