After years of being largely ineffective in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, Tammy Baldwin, a liberal Democrat, seems poised to play a larger role in our nation's governance and deserves your vote for re-election tomorrow.
Her ineffectiveness stems in part from her being in the minority party, which might change this election cycle. Nonetheless, she was recently named to the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee, where she hopes to help rewrite telecommunications codes. But Baldwin's true passion is health care and this term she has proposed legislation that by itself has earned her another term.
The bipartisan legislation, she sponsored along with a Massachusetts' liberal representative and two Republicans, would encourage various states to experiment with ideologically different policies to provide health care to the state's uninsured population.
With different states providing data on both liberal health care plans—like universal socialized health care—and conservative plans—like health saving accounts—this legislation lays the groundwork to tackle the nation's health care crisis.
Baldwin's passion for health care reform, as well as her stance on such social issues as gay rights and abortion rights garners this editorial board's respect. But her position on the war in Iraq is a cause for concern.
Baldwin believes that an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces is the best solution to the quagmire that is Iraq.
Her argument that the U.S. presence in Iraq is fueling the insurgency that is destabilizing the nascent democracy is dead on, but Iraq's problems will not leave when U.S. troops do.
An Iraq without U.S. security forces would devolve into a chaotic state that would inevitably become a safe haven for the terrorists whose ultimate goal is another attack on U.S. soil.
Hopefully, Baldwin's radical assessment of the situation in Iraq will be tempered by the more moderate members of her party. Her forte is health care and other domestic issues, and her passion and record on these issues outweighs her shortsighted view of the war in Iraq.
Her Republican challenger, Dave Magnum, is an intriguing candidate with a refreshingly independent voice who is not afraid to take his party to task for their deplorable stance on stem-cell research.
However, Baldwin's work this term has earned her another two year stint in Washington D.C.
