Feb. 20, 1979:
Voters in Wisconsin's 6th Congressional District nominate two state senators — Republican Tom Petri and Democrat Gary Goyke — to run for the seat of Rep. William Steiger (R), who died last December.
Among the candidates Petri defeats in the GOP primary is state Rep. Tommy Thompson, who would later become a four-term governor and serve in President George W. Bush's Cabinet.
Petri will go on to defeat Goyke in the April 1979 general election by just 1,200 votes out of 142,000 cast. He was elected to his 15th full term last November with 64 percent of the vote.
(Seriously, what other blog can give you such dramatic moments in political history like this one?)
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