Lesbian U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin looks to end Democrats' Wisconsin losing streak in Senate race

BY SCOTT BAUER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

FRIENDSHIP, Wis. -- Rep. Tammy Baldwin stood in the Friendship Cafe, giving voters a populist pitch for why she should be elected to keep Wisconsin's open Senate seat in Democratic hands, where it's been for the last 55 years.

When she began to field questions, a 70-year-old retiree offered the first comment, and hit on one of the most difficult issues confronting Baldwin as she tries to break the Democrats' recent losing streak in the battleground state.

"I'm not sure how to deal with your situation of who you love and who your partner is," said Harry Davis, a retired Internal Revenue Service worker.

For Baldwin, the first openly gay candidate elected to Congress, questions about her sexuality evoke her reputation as an unabashed liberal and a product of left-leaning Madison, and reinforce concerns about her viability in the more conservative parts of the state she'll need to win the Senate seat in November.

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