Paul Fanlund: In race against Scott Walker, the high road will be wide open [View all]

[hue]

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One sunny Saturday nearly two years ago at a Williamson Street coffee shop, Tammy Baldwin told me that, yes, she really did intend to run for the U.S. Senate.

It struck me then as quixotic, this locally popular Madison Democrat surrendering a safe U.S. House seat to make herself a dart board for millions of dollars in negative ads. Moreover, she would be a lesbian running in a state that made gay marriage unconstitutional just five years prior.

Her unequivocal statement to me (“I think I am likely to run”) was picked up by national publications and she headed off to tirelessly introduce herself to voters in every corner of the state.

That she could eventually win seemed far-fetched at the time, since that summer was a moment of high tide for Gov. Scott Walker and his Republican Legislature after their successful assault on public unions.

So now, in June 2013, we are again 16 months from a crucial statewide election, this time to determine whether Wisconsin re-elects Walker, its most divisive politician since the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Now, as two years ago with Baldwin, progressives sound more hopeful than confident about their prospects.