MILWAUKEE, Wisc. -- Making his first campaign stop in the Badger State, Newt Gingrich was quick to share his Wisconsin ties.

“We own a share of Green Bay stock so we have ties to the whole state in that sense,” Gingrich said, adding that his wife, Callista, grew up here and her mother still resides in White Hall.

The former House Speaker addressed a few hundred people at Marquette University and wrapped up his almost hour-long lecture speaking about the popular Wisconsin Congressman, Paul Ryan.

Gingrich praised the Wisconsin native hours after the Republican budget passed the house and just as news began to speculate that Ryan would endorse Mitt Romney before Tuesday’s primary in the state.

“His budget is very, very positive and it’s very exciting,” the Speaker said, acknowledging that Ryan responded well to critiques. “His budget is dramatically better than the Congressional Budget Office will score it because the bureaucrats at CBO completely misunderstand the power of people changing their behavior and it’s really unfortunate.”

Ryan, who represents Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional district, saw his $3.5 trillion budget plan pass the House Thursday will all but ten Republicans voting in favor of it.
 
But last May, Gingrich referred to Ryan’s plan as “right wing social engineering,” showing little admiration for the Republican budget proposal on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Tonight, Gingrich’s tone was different, and he said his remarks last spring were “vastly overblown by the news media.”

“I’ve always endorsed his [Ryan’s] proposal to block grant Medicare, I mean Medicaid, I think it’s a good idea. And I admire both his intelligence and his courage because he’s doing a lot of things,” he said.

While tonight mark’s Gingrich’s first appearance in the state, Callista has been campaigning on her husband’s behalf all week – her first solo campaign trip all cycle.

While there were few applause lines for Gingrich in the college auditorium, there was a lively back and forth between one attendee and the Speaker over where your rights come from.

After listening to Gingrich describe “American values,” a man questioned if Gingrich meant specifically Christian values and how that is fair under the first amendment and freedom of religion.

“What about people who maybe are agnostic or atheist. What about those Americans?” the man in the audience, who left as soon as the interaction was over, asked.

“They can live here but they have no explanation of where their rights come,” Gingrich shot back.

This back and forth continued for almost five minutes until the Speaker finally said, “next question.”

Gingrich, who is struggling to remain seen as a credible candidate, holds three events in Wisconsin on Friday – including a Green Bay Brats and Beer Rally.

A group called State Tea Party Express paid for the ad below, which has been running on FOX, linking Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), who's running for president. Walker was embroiled in a budget controversy over state-workers’ collective-bargaining rights -- and saw a standoff in which all of the state’s Democratic senators fled Wisconsin.

*** UPDATE *** State Tea Party Express, the group running the ads, is classified as a 501(c)(4) organizations, which are classified as social welfare groups dedicated to charitable or educational purposes. They are different from political action committees because they are not required to disclose donors and less than half of their money must be spent for non-political purposes.

The group appears to be affiliated with the Tea Party Express. The two groups bear a similar masthead and list the same six guiding principles on both of their websites.

Calls to both groups were not immediately returned.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s front-page headline: “Republicans take 4 of 6 in recall elections, hold Senate.”

The Wisconsin State Journal: “GOP holds on to Senate, but Walker recall hopes still strong, opponents say.”

“Outraged Democrats came up just a hair short in their quest for Wisconsin revenge,” the New York Daily News writes.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) will not run for the Senate, a GOP aide tells NBC News.

This now opens up the possibility that former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-WI) will run for the open Senate seat currently held by Sen. Herb Kohl (D).

National Journal first reported the news this morning that Ryan would not run.

*** UPDATE *** Ryan made it official this morning, that he is not running. His office is out with a statement.

"I believe continuing to serve as Chairman of the House Budget Committee allows me to have a greater impact in averting this debt-fueled economic crisis than if I were to run for the United States Senate," Ryan said, adding, "House Republicans have taken bold steps forward in tackling our fiscal and economic challenges - we have led, where others have not. I want to keep building on this progress...."

Full statement below:

"I am grateful for the tremendous outpouring of encouragement that I have received from my friends and supporters since Senator Kohl announced he would not seek re-election to the U.S. Senate. For my family and me, the most important factor in making this decision was determining where I could make the biggest difference. Our nation is quickly approaching a debt crisis that will do serious damage to Wisconsinites and all Americans if it is not properly addressed. I believe continuing to serve as Chairman of the House Budget Committee allows me to have a greater impact in averting this debt-fueled economic crisis than if I were to run for the United States Senate.

House Republicans have taken bold steps forward in tackling our fiscal and economic challenges - we have led, where others have not. I want to keep building on this progress and therefore, I will seek to continue serving my employers of Wisconsin's First District as their Representative in the House."

A canary in a coal mine?

Democrats won an open seat for Wisconsin state Assembly that was held for 16 years by Republicans.

AP:

Democrat Steve Doyle defeated Republican John Lautz for the Wisconsin District 94 Assembly, flipping a seat held by Republicans for 16 years in a race that focused attention on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan to curtail collective bargaining right for most public employees.

With 92 percent of precincts reporting, Doyle won 54 percent to 46 percent, based on unofficial results in Tuesday's special election. The race flips a GOP Assembly seat for the Democrats, who remain in the minority.

The seat was previously held by Mike Huebsch, who Walker picked in January to serve as secretary of administration. Huebsch was first elected in 1994.

“Union officials in Wisconsin are calling for thousands of ballots to be immediately impounded and recounted following the revelation that a county clerk’s computer error tipped the state Supreme Court election in conservative Justice David Prosser’s favor,” Roll Call reports.

“Nearly a month after the Wisconsin standoff over union rights ended, some of the fervor from that debate has shifted to recall efforts targeting lawmakers in both parties — Republicans who voted to cut back collective bargaining and Democrats who fled the state to try to stop them,” the AP says. “Now that the law has passed, organizers are focusing on signature-gathering efforts. But of the 16 state senators who were originally targeted, only six appear likely to face an election threatening removal. And before recall elections can be held, supporters need to find candidates to run against the incumbents. Still, voter outrage remains high in many places, helping to stir interest in the recalls.”

“A conservative-leaning Wisconsin county corrected its count yesterday, giving an unofficial 7,500-vote lead to the incumbent in the hotly contested state Supreme Court race seen as a referendum on Governor Scott Walker’s divisive union-rights law,” AP reports. “Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus said the votes weren’t reported Tuesday because of ‘human error.’ ‘This is not a case of extra votes or extra ballots being found,’ she said.”

Ctrl-S is your friend: “In one explosive stroke Thursday, the clerk in a Republican stronghold tilted the tight Supreme Court race in favor of Justice David Prosser by recovering thousands of untallied votes for the incumbent,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. “Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus said Thursday that she failed to save on her computer and then report 14,315 votes in the city of Brookfield, omitting them entirely in an unofficial total she released after Tuesday's election. With other smaller errors in Waukesha County, Prosser gained 7,582 votes over his challenger, JoAnne Kloppenburg, leaving the sitting justice significantly ahead for now amid ongoing official counting.”

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
In a race that has become ground zero for liberal anger against Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Democrat JoAnne Kloppenburg has now taken an unlikely, and razor-thin, lead over Republican David Prosser in the battle for Wisconsin state Supreme Court justice.

Updated results from the Associated Press, as of 3:15 pm ET, show Kloppenburg leading by 204 votes, reversing the 585-vote lead Prosser held overnight.

Prosser, the incumbent in the race, was seen as the far-and-away favorite before the budget showdown in Madison unraveled. As NBC's John Yang reported earlier, in the four-candidate February primary, Prosser got 55% of the vote and Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general, just 25%.

A Kloppenburg win would flip control of the Wisconsin state Supreme Court to the liberals. Conservatives currently hold a 4-3 ideological majority on the court.

This race was one of two held yesterday that were seen as referenda on Walker. Democrats won a race for Walker's old job -- Milwaukee County executive -- in a landslide. Democrat Chris Abele, a political novice, defeated Jeff Stone, a veteran Republican state lawmaker, 61%-39%, in a special election to replace Walker.

Both races saw very high turnout for a non-November election, rivaling the 2008 presidential primaries.

AP

Emma Collins, left, Elias Lyam, 14, and Eileen Collins watch early election results for Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg in Madison, Wis. on Tuesday. Kloppenburg faces incumbent Justice David Prosser.

From NBC’s John Yang and Domenico Montanaro
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker wasn't on Tuesday's ballot, but he -- and his effort to limit the collective-bargaining rights for public workers -- may have been the big losers amid near-record, non-November turnout.

In the only statewide race, which went from low-profile to a closely watched referendum on Walker and his controversial measure after protests roiled the state capitol, Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, a former Republican Speaker, is locked in a too-close-to-call battle with Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, who has the backing of unions and liberal groups. With 99 percent of the state's precincts reporting, Prosser had a 585-vote lead out of more than 1.4 million ballots cast. A recount is likely.

A Kloppenburg win would change a 4-3 conservative majority on the court into a 4-3 liberal majority.

In the four-candidate February primary, before the controversy over the collective bargaining bill exploded, Prosser got 55 percent of the vote and Kloppenburg just 25 percent.

Prosser addressed supporters at about 1:40 this morning, saying: "I've weathered the nuclear blast, and I'm still standing." Earlier, Kloppenburg told her supporters: "It's not over yet. We're still hopeful."

And in Milwaukee County, Democrat Chris Abele, a political neophyte who runs his Boston family's philanthropy, trounced Jeff Stone, a veteran Republican state lawmaker, in a special election to replace Walker as County Executive, 61%-39%. Stone's two votes for the collective bargaining bill in the state Assembly were issues in the campaign.

Kloppenburg appears to have benefited from a very high turnout, which rivaled the turnout in past April presidential primary elections -- 1,472,921 people turned out to vote in this election (736,878 for Prosser, 736,043 for Kloppenburg). That’s very close to the total number of people who turned out for the 2008 presidential primaries -- 1,498,068 and more than the hotly contested Democratic primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, where more than 1.1 million people voted.

In the liberal bastion of Madison, officials said turnout was about 70 percent, with Kloppenburg winning 73 percent of the vote. In Eau Claire County, turnout was so heavy that polling places ran out of machine-readable ballots and had to use hand-counted ballots; the challenger won 58 percent. In left-leaning Milwaukee County, where turnout was also driven by the county executive's race, she won 57 percent of the vote.

In the race for Milwaukee County Executive, 222,761 people turned out to vote (134,848 for Abele; 87,913 for Stone). That’s almost as many people who turned out for the 2008 presidential primaries, when a total of 251,942 people voted in Milwaukee County -- and more than the Obama-Clinton primary, when 205,931 people voted.

While the turnout may not be a record, the Supreme Court race did set a record for the amount of money spent by special interest groups: $3.5 million, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. The top spender was the liberal Greater Wisconsin Committee which spent $1.4 million backing Kloppenburg.

Wisconsin does not have automatic recounts. A candidate has three business days after the last county reports its official vote count--usually the Monday or Tuesday after Election Day -- to request a recount. They're free to campaigns as long as the margin between the candidates is less than 0.5%.

“Justice David Prosser clung to a narrow lead over Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg in the state Supreme Court race early Wednesday, after a hard-fought campaign dominated by political forces and outside interest groups,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. “But even with 99% of the vote counted, fewer than 600 votes - about 0.04% of ballots - separated the candidates. And The Associated Press said early Wednesday that the race was too close to call and that it would take hours or most of the day to get a final tally.”

“That close margin had political insiders from both sides talking about the possibility of a recount, which Wisconsin has avoided in statewide races in recent decades. Any recount could be followed by lawsuits - litigation that potentially would be decided by the high court.”

The paper makes this additional point: "In the contest for a 10-year term, Kloppenburg is trying to accomplish the rare feat of unseating a sitting justice. Michael Gableman defeated then-Justice Louis Butler in 2008, but before that it had been 41 years since an incumbent lost a race for a high court seat. Unlike Butler, who was appointed to the post, Prosser was elected to his current term."

In the other race -- for Gov. Scott Walker’s old job as Milwaukee County executive -- “Chris Abele - a 44-year-old philanthropist, scion of a wealthy Boston family and political neophyte - handily defeated state Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale),” the Journal Sentinel also reports.

More: “Abele campaigned with $1 million of his own money as someone with fresh ideas to tackle the county's nagging financial problems. Though light on specifics, Abele outlined an approach that emphasizes efficiency moves. He put much of his advertising firepower into trying to fuse Stone with Gov. Scott Walker and his controversial push to end most collective bargaining for public employees.”

The numbers: Per AP, Abele got 134,848; Stone 87,913.

From NBC’s John Yang
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) will sign the bill curbing union rights into law Friday afternoon.

Under Ohio law, the law goes into effect 90 days after being signed.

During that 90 days, Ohio unions plan to file language for a ballot referendum repealing the law with the Ohio Secretary of State and will try to collect the required 231,000 signatures from at least half of Ohio's 88 counties.

If they succeed, the law would not take effect, pending a statewide referendum on the November ballot.

It would undoubtedly be a huge political campaign, the main battlefront for the issue.

*** UPDATE *** Kasich will actually sign the bill tonight at 7:00 pm ET.

Wisconsin: Law put on hold
AP reports: “A Wisconsin judge ruled Thursday the state's divisive new collective bargaining law had not taken effect, and officials in Republican Gov. Scott Walker's administration say he plans to comply with the ruling and to halt preparations to begin deducting money from public workers' paychecks. … Two Walker administration officials who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the governor hadn't publicly announced his plans said he would announce later Thursday that he would comply with [the judge’s] ruling.”