4-18-14 petri goes "between the lines"

Fond du Lac Republican congressman Tom Petri says his staff didn’t even know his plans to retire until just before he made the announcement.  Petri officially announced that he would not be running for re-election at a town hall meeting in Neenah Monday afternoon.  Petri has served the 6th Congressional District since 1979.   Petri talked about his decision and other issues in an exclusive interview on AM 1170’s Between the Lines program Thursday.    Petri says there wasn’t one specific reason…but acknowledged the fact he was going to face a challenger from his own party was a factor.  "You know human nature, you really want to rise to the fight.  That was basically my instinct,"  Petri said.  "But on the other hand you say, well okay, that would be a lot of trouble and you probably might not do it again...maybe it would be a good idea to open it up and let a lot of people get in...maybe people from other parts of the district who have been thinking about it."   Petri says he expects there will be several candidates and even though he's held the seat for 35 years Petri says a Democrat as a good chance of winning the seat.  "Oh yes.  A lot of the elections in this area are quite close.  The state senate seat was a cliff-hanger, had been Democratic, was Republican.  The Assembly seat in Fond du Lac has been Democratic and Republican. The District went for Obama first time narrowly and slightly for Romney this last time,"  Petri said.  "Winnebago County has a Democratic assemblyman, Manitowac and Sheboygan counties have been voting more Republican lately but the truth is if you did a poll and asked people if they were Republican, Democrat or Independent the largest number of people say they are Independent."    Concerning the governors' race Petri thinks its going to be close and says Walker is not a shoe-in.  "I think he (Walker) is quite controversial and the polls show he's ahead but that its narrow and they say if you're an incumbent and you're under 50 percent (approval rating) watch out.  He's at about 47 percent."