Wisconsin candidate would be first out Lesbian U.S. Senator

by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

Wisconsin's Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Tammy Baldwin, has received some help from the new Lesbian political action committee, LPAC, in the form of a $50,000 matching grant.

LPAC announced the grant in an October 9 e-mail pitch to supporters. The committee says it has already contributed $110,00 to Baldwin's campaign. If elected, she will be the first open Lesbian to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Baldwin's Republican opponent, former Wisconsin governor and Bush-era cabinet secretary Tommy Thompson, also received additional financial backing on October 9. Republican operative Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS announced an additional $1.2 million ad buy in the race. This brings Crossroads' total spending on the Wisconsin senate race to $3.8 million.

Rove's latest ad attacks Baldwin for voting to pass President Obama's Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, using a clip of her advocating for single-payer health care.

That ad follows a new Thompson spot released October 8 that accuses Baldwin and her supporters of being liars. Rove is running an 'independent expenditure campaign' and is not allowed to coordinate advertising with Thompson's own campaign.

BALDWIN HOLDS LEAD
A Marquette University poll released at the beginning of October showed Baldwin leading Thompson by 4 percentage points. Their previous poll, released September 18, showed Baldwin up by 9 points.

Baldwin is a seven-term congresswoman, representing Wisconsin's 2nd District, which includes Madison, since 1999. She has been a consistent supporter of both LGBT and women's rights.

In 2002 she voted against the planned U.S. invasion of Iraq, and in 2007 she co-sponsored a bill to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Soon thereafter, Gonzales resigned from office.

Thompson was governor of Wisconsin from 1987 to 2001, and George W. Bush's secretary of health and human services from 2001 to 2005. He was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, but dropped out early after a poor showing in the Ames, Iowa, straw poll.

Like Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Thompson was hurt by videotaped remarks he made to supporters.

Referring to his welfare reform program as governor, Thompson asked a Tea Party group, 'Who better than me, that's already finished one of the entitlement programs, to come up with programs that do away with Medicaid and Medicare?'

He later said his remarks had been misunderstood.

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