Democratic congresswoman Tammy Baldwin clenched a warm cup of coffee in one hand Tuesday and shook the hands of potential voters on Library Mall with the other.

Baldwin and a group of volunteer campaign members, Students for Baldwin, handed out voter-registration forms and encouraged citizens to the vote in the Nov. 5 election.

Baldwin said her experience at University of Wisconsin and her congressional record are reasons why students should show their support for her on Election Day.

In Congress this spring, Baldwin fought against Republican-supported tuition raises. According to www.tammybaldwin.com, “Baldwin and others were successful in getting this measure withdrawn. The tuition increase would have affected 17,000 students on the UW-Madison campus alone.”

Baldwin said she has pushed for legislation in the past that helps make college more affordable for students and their families.

“I am the co-author of legislation that would increase the Pell Grant level to help keep pace with tuition increases, and I support additional measures for grant funding,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin’s environmental plan challenges President George W. Bush’s energy policy, which calls for more coal fire and fossil fuels. Instead of relying on these natural resources, Baldwin said she supports increasing the use of clean, alternative fuels and renewable energy sources.

“I am also against drilling in the Arctic wildlife refuge,” she said.

Baldwin said broader funding for embryonic stem-cell research is needed.

“We have the potential for life-saving breakthroughs in curing Alzheimer’s and other debilitating conditions. Relief for human suffering should be a priority,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin said Americans deserve accountability and measures that will ensure Social Security.

“If we had invested some of Social Security in [the] stock market recently, we would have had an enormous risk of losing the Social Security safety net,” she said. “Currently, the Social Security program is solvent until the year 2041, and I believe we need modest policy changes to extend its solvency.”

Many UW students have concerns about abortion rights. Baldwin is pro-choice, whereas her opponent, Richard Greer, is pro-life.

“I support the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision and am opposed to the many attempts to repeal the decision,” she said.

Baldwin said she supports universal health care for all students and Americans, regardless of race, gender and sexual orientation.

“I am trying to make health care more affordable,” she said. “Because of anxiety about the economy, parents fear losing jobs and health-care coverage. I am working to pass a stimulus package to strengthen the economy again.” Regarding the potential war in Iraq, Baldwin said she believes that “a policy with unilateral pre-emptive first strike against Iraq in the absence of an immediate threat is a dangerous policy. Instead, we should work with our allies and the United Nations to reinitiate weapons inspections and work to disarm Iraq.”

On campus, students have mixed feelings about the war against Iraq. Freshman Betsy Laikin disagreed with Baldwin’s war policy, “Since 1991, Saddam [Hussein] has refuted the efforts of the arms inspectors. If destruction is not disarmed soon, he will soon have the means to develop nuclear weapons.”

Other UW students have expressed skepticism about Baldwin’s views.

“I think Tammy Baldwin is a crowd-pleaser,” Kristi Dennison, UW freshman, said. “She gives people what they want to hear, while Greer has real values. His views are his own, and he doesn’t care what other people think.”

As a former UW law student, Baldwin said students should support her campaign because she has interest in the university.

“Students are critical to my success,” she said. “I listen, and I am accessible. I have an agenda in students’ self-interest. I want to make the university more affordable and accessible for students of all socio-economic backgrounds. I believe in the power of young people to shape the future of our country. We have proven it before on this campus. I hope students vote, and I hope they vote for me.”