WI-05: Bryan Kennedy 2, F. Jim Sensenbrenner 0

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2-0. That's the score in the endorsement race so far. Endorsements, like yard signs and, sadly, blogs, do note vote. But it is a sign when two of the four papers that reach Sensenbrenner's district have said we should abandon the blowhard. (The WSJ hasn't endorsed yet, and, sparse as their website is, I don't think the Freeman has yet, either.)

The Capital Times, the more liberal of Madison's two dailies, had this brief paragraph Friday:

U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Menomonee Falls, has become an embarrassment. It's not just his silly immigrant bashing, it's also his overly partisan chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee and his arrogant refusal to even consider the ramifications of Bush administration assaults on basic liberties. Democratic challenger Bryan Kennedy, a college professor with Capitol Hill experience, would make an excellent replacement for this disappointing incumbent.

Those are not surprising sentiments, as they're shared by a wider and wider segment of the district's--and the state's--population. And it reminds me of a shorter version of my own Kennedy endorsement two years ago.

Of greater note is the endorsement in tomorrow's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I won't reprint the whole thing--it's pretty long and detailed--so you should, as they say, read the whole thing. However, here's a juicy excerpt:

Two years ago, we recommended Jim Sensenbrenner for another term representing Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District. Today, we simply cannot. Sensenbrenner has been wrong on too much, from an immigration policy that puts him at odds with much of his own party and the business community to failure to exert meaningful oversight over White House domestic spying policies. [. . .]

Give Sensenbrenner credit for pushing to renew the Voting Rights Act and for bucking the administration on ethics reform. He was right about the risk for fraud in relief money sent to the Gulf Coast for victims of Hurricane Katrina. But those are meager accomplishments.

In the place of those ellipses, the editorial board submits a list--seemingly dozens of items long--that begin with "Sensenbrenner was wrong." For most of you, I probably don't need to go into those details. You know them as well as I do.

No doubt the Freeman (and possibly the WSJ, though they endorsed Jim Doyle this week) will overlook all those things Sensenbrenner was wrong on, and recommend that voters return the blustering buffoon to office. But it's worth remembering that Congress must change, and soon, and this country's leaders must turn things around. If that doesn't happen, we'll keep heading inexorably toward the cliff precipitated by thoughtless foreign policy, reckless domestic spending, and corruption of the highest order. Sensenbrenner is a part of that inertia; Kennedy will be a great help toward a Democratic majority in the House, which can put the brakes on that inertia.

It's time for change in Washington--and Sensenbrenner is most emphatically not a change. Remember that November 7, and vote for Bryan Kennedy.