I’ve decided to run for the U.S. Senate because I believe Wisconsin families need a senator who will work hard to deliver results for the middle class - a leader with the courage to do what’s right, no matter how tough the odds or how powerful the special interests we have to fight.

In my grandfather's lab, scientists did independent research, and peers reviewed and commented on its merits. Politics, he taught me, had no place in the scientific process.

I had a serious childhood illness - sort of like spinal meningitis - that led to a three-month hospitalization. Afterward, I couldn't be insured because of a pre-existing condition.

Our president has made historic progress toward equality. He repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell” so that no American ever again has to lie about who they are in order to serve the country we love. Republicans want to write discrimination into our Constitution. But the Wisconsin I know believes that with each passing year and each generation, our country must become more equal, not less.

I find it greatly disturbing that the Bush administration has used political and religious ideologies to influence national policy on science and medicine.

It is hard to look the other way when a dictator is being so cruel and violent with his own people.

When I first ran for Congress in 1998, people counted me out.