Our Newshawk Notes: "Tammy Baldwin signed the [Lindesmith open] letter to
the UN, and they question her wisdom in doing that in the editorial."

FOCUS ON REAL 2ND DISTRICT ISSUES

We'll say this for candidate Ron Greer: It didn't take him long to draw
attention to himself.

Trouble is, it's not the kind of attention most candidates for public
office usually want

Greer announced in late June that he's running for Congress in the 2nd
Congressional District, a seat now held by moderate Republican Scott Klug.
Greer wasted little time before getting to the heart of why he's running:
He hates gays and lesbians.

Actually, Greer claims to hate only the "sin" and to love the "sinners," an
attitude the Madison pastor would insist is modeled after the teachings of
Jesus Christ. Or maybe it was Reggie White.

Either way, Greer loves the "sinners" so much that he's built a
fund-raising appeal around Democrat Tammy Baldwin's support for a gay
marriage bill when she served in the state Assembly. The letter warned that
a "left-wing lesbian" with an anti-family agenda could be elected to
Congress, and that he's just the guy to stop her.

Actually, Greer is the wrong candidate to stop the campaign of Baldwin,
mainly because Greer will generate more sympathy for her than her record on
a range of issues warrants.

Yes, Baldwin has been active in support of homosexual rights, but that's
only a tiny slice of slice of her overall legislative record and not all
that relevant to most people who live and work in the 2nd District

What's of greater interest is the rest of Baldwin's record in the Assembly,
where she was one of the most liberal members in the Democratic caucus.

Already in this campaign, she's come out in favor of a "single-payer"
federal health-care system that would involve more government bureaucracy
and disrupt a local care network that, while imperfect, is among the best
in the nation. She also signed a nationally published letter that concluded
the "global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug abuse itself."

More harm? Try telling that to the parents of a kid who's hooked on drugs
smuggled into the United States from one of those drug-producing countries
that Baldwin and friends think are so oppressed.

To their credit, the five other Republicans in the 2nd District race have
come down hard on Greer, explaining that true Republicans don't run a
campaign based on intolerance.

That's fine, but they should also point out that, unlike Greer, they don't
think the cultural war against homosexuals is a first-tier issue. There are
far more important issues in this race than Baldwin's support for a bill
that was never going anywhere in the first place. Let's hear more talk
about federal farm policies, the future of UW-Madison's status as a leading
research university, market-based health-care reforms, federal tax reform
and reshaping Social Security for the 21st century, and a lot less about
issues that will never be debated on the floor of the House of
Representatives.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski