Let’s take the good news where we can find it. Tammy Baldwin, actual liberal, won her third term in the House, holding on to her seat in the Second District of Wisconsin, also known as Madison.
Before you dismiss that, it helps to remember that GOP incumbent and ex-newsanchor Scott Klug held that seat for several years before he ‘term limited’ himself. Furthermore, she won in a reapportioned district. Wisconsin lost a seat in the House after the 2000 Census, and Baldwin’s district was merged with part of a district which had been Republican.
But what’s sweet about this victory is that Baldwin, the first openly lesbian member of the House, blew out homophobe Ron Greer.
Of course, Greer will tell you he’s the victim of some sort of sinister ‘lesbian’ conspiracy, but no. Baldwin has built a strong organization, down to the sub-ward level, in Madison. All Greer got, as far as I can tell, was an endorsement from a right wing website. Even the state’s conservative daily endorsed Baldwin.
Now Greer does try to do good, he runs some halfway houses for ex-cons, but he needs to realize that the reason he’s not liked outside of his circle is because he’s a homophobe in a city that isn’t homophobic.
