Too bad.

The Tomah mayor and bar owner would be a refreshing voice at the Capitol -- not to mention a whole lot of fun.

Thompson, the younger brother of former Gov. Tommy Thompson, told me Friday he won 't seek western Wisconsin 's 92nd Assembly District seat even if Rep. Terry Musser retires this fall. (I couldn 't reach Musser on Friday to find out if speculation over his future is true.)

What would make Ed Thompson such an asset at the Capitol are his principles, independence, straight talk and goofy sense of humor.

But Thompson says he's too busy running Tomah government and his expanded Mr. Ed 's Tee Pee Supper Club.

A workaholic, Thompson is nonetheless traveling to Ireland this month with his famous brother and other siblings. It will be Ed's first vacation since a brief trip to Mexico in 1998.

"I'm not too much for vacation, " he said. "I'd much rather be here in Tomah than in some damn airport.

"It was Tommy's idea, " Ed explained. "I know he's flying first class, and I'm flying baggage in the same plane. 'Tommy, where 's Ed at?' 'Oh, he's back there in baggage. Somebody had to watch the dog.' "

Ed's low-budget bid for governor back in 2002 helped make him a folk hero and political force in western Wisconsin. He won two western counties and finished with 10 percent of the statewide vote -- the best showing for a third-party candidate in modern state history.

Thompson, who stepped down as Tomah's mayor to run for governor in 2002, was elected to the city council the next year -- even though he wasn't on the ballot and didn't want or campaign for the job. Yet he agreed to serve after write-in votes made him the surprise winner.

"I wish more people would get involved (in local government) where there isn't a lot of prestige or a lot of ego," he said. "It's getting along with neighbors and trying to help a city grow without hurting anyone else."

Thompson has taken fiery and unpopular stands against the Iraq war and a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Yet he won the job of mayor this spring by a landslide, criticizing high spending on a police station and aquatic center -- "We had a good functioning swimming pool already" -- and the demolition of one of Tomah's oldest building.

Money and spin may trump integrity in state and national politics. But Thompson has proven that integrity can carry "a common man," as he call himself, a long way at the local level.

Even so, Ed, won't you at least consider running for Congress in 2010 if U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, leaves to run for governor, which could happen if Gov. Jim Doyle retires?

"I would really look at that -- to have a different voice" in Congress, he says.

But Tomah and the Tee Pee are his priorities.

"I'm still broke, trying to make a buck."

Milfred is editorial page editor for the State Journal; smilfred@madison.com or 608-252-6110.