"It's time to send the congressman home."
With those words serving as a headline, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel today strongly endorsed Democrat Bryan Kennedy in his race to unseat incumbent Jim Sensenbrenner in Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District. Chronicling the many times Sensenbrenner has been "an obstructionist to good policy," the paper argued that Kennedy would "restore a sense of dignity and balance" to the district.
"I am very pleased to receive such a strong endorsement from Wisconsin's largest paper," Kennedy said. "After nearly 30 years in Congress, Jim Sensenbrenner has become corrupted by the big money interests in Washington and has failed to stand up for the people he's supposed to represent. I'm glad that the Journal-Sentinel realizes that I will fight for the people of Wisconsin's 5th district."
The endorsement can be viewed here.
Getting the endorsement of the state's major metropolitan newspaper may seem a bit ho-hum to many, but this is huge in Wisconsin politics.
Why?
Because the Journal-Sentinel has waved the banner for Sensenbrenner for almost 30 years - despite repeatedly running stories about his abuses of power and tirades in Congress and Congressional committees.
Also, the Journal-Sentinel is extremely weak in it's coverage of challengers. There has been almost no coverage of this race for example.
This endorsement, although it comes far too late to create the impact it would have created several weeks ago might be just what Kennedy needs to snatch victory in this election.
Trends in this area seem to be following the national trend of displeasure with the current regime, and there is not much love here for Sensenbrenner who is increasingly being viewed as an embarrassment to the state. The main obstacle Kennedy faces is a lack of exposure and weak name recognition in the district. This goes a long way in both areas.
Although there's been a lot of talk that fundraising efforts will be of no help in the final week of the campaign, this is a race where that's not absolutely the case. There is still time for some media time and a last-minute mailer to undecided voters.
I know that most people here have given until they've bled, but I'm going to make one last pitch for Kennedy. If you can, please donate to him through the ActBlue page I set up to raise some money for him. The amount raised is sitting at about $425 - please help me put it over the $500 mark before the day is over.
And, for those of you in the Milwaukee area - or even you crazy liberals out there in Madison - please donate some time this week to help with Kennedy's final canvassing and GOTV efforts. Call Kennedy's volunteer co-ordinator Amy Vertz at 414-807-2983. Tell her DailyKos sent you.
There are also plenty of phone banking opportunities left:
Phone Banking in Waukesha
802 N. Grand Ave.
(262) 446-9059
Mon. - Thur. 5-9pm
Sun. 4-8pm
Phone Banking in Whitefish Bay
At the Campaign Office
400 E. Silver Spring Drive
(414) 807-2983
Mon. - Thurs.
10-1pm, 1-4pm, 4-8pm
As an added note, the Journal-Sentinel endorsement comes on the heels of an endorsement from Madison's Capital Times on Friday.
WHITEFISH BAY, WI - Calling Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner "an embarrassment," "overly partisan," and "arrogant," the Madison Capitol-Times on Friday endorsed Democrat Bryan Kennedy in his bid for Congress in the 5th Congressional District of Wisconsin. In the brief editorial, the paper noted that Kennedy "would make an excellent replacement" for Sensenbrenner.
"I'm grateful for the support of the Capital Times," Kennedy said. "Throughout Wisconsin, the sentiment is clear: corrupt career politicians like Jim Sensenbrenner have betrayed the public's trust in favor of big-money special interests. We need to clean out the corruption in Congress so that we can make progress on the real issues affecting working people, like health care reform."
*Exciting fun-filled update!!!*
The ActBlue page total has gone over $500 - it's currently $526.58!
Being the greedy sort how gets wrapped up in exciting moments, I'm now shooting for putting it over the $600 mark before the weekend ends.
It would be nice for the Kennedy campaign folks to arrive at the office on Monday, after spending the weekend hitting the streets, and see that there were a bunch of contributions while they were out knocking on doors!