[media-credit name=’HALEY VAN DYCK/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]Former radio personality Dave Magnum announced his plans to run for Congress Tuesday against incumbent U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., in the upcoming 2006 election.

This will be Magnum's second bid for the 2nd Congressional District of the U.S. House of Representatives — he lost to Baldwin in the race for the same position in 2004.

"I'm running because this district needs effective leadership," Magnum said. "And by the end of her current term, Tammy Baldwin will have spent 3,000 days in Congress and, yet, she does not have one significant achievement to show for it."

According to Magnum, the values he learned in his modest upbringing as the son of a factory worker combined with his experience as a small-business owner are what give him the know-how to be an effective congressman.

"I am going to be a representative of the whole district," Magnum, a Republican, said. "We need a representative in Congress who represents the people in the whole district and who can unite the people of this district."

Slighting Baldwin for what he called her inability to move health-care reforms forward, Magnum said she promised such action in her 2004 campaign against him.

"Tammy Baldwin said that she was working on a new, bold health-care initiative … but it's now more than a year since the last election and we haven't heard another word," he said. "Her silence on that issue is deafening."

Magnum said he would advocate health-care programs, stand behind stem-cell and other forms of research and work to promote job growth in his district and in the state as a whole.

"The brilliant people that can make today's dreams tomorrow's realities live right here among us," Magnum said. "We want to keep [these people] in Wisconsin — that's going to be one of my goals."

Additionally, he said he would take initiatives to retain college graduates in the state and help ensure they have well-paying jobs here in Wisconsin.

However, Baldwin, a seven-year veteran of Congress, defended her residency in the House and said her sights are set on the well-being and interests of her constituents.

"With a year to go before the election, I can assure you that my attention is squarely focused on the best interests of the people I represent, not politics," Baldwin said in a release.

Baldwin said her presence is particularly vital in Congress, as Republicans are currently attempting to move several partisan initiatives through the House in Washington.

"This is especially important this week, as the party to which my opponent belongs is trying to pass deep cuts to student loan, child support, food stamp and Medicaid programs to fund their next round of tax cuts for the wealthy," Baldwin said in a release.

Despite such actions, Baldwin said she will stand strong against misplaced Republican initiatives and work to ensure the voices of the residents in her district are heard.

"I'm in Washington today, fighting for the interests of hard-working Wisconsin families," Baldwin said.

But Magnum said the reason he lost the 2004 congressional election to Baldwin was because he entered the race too late. This election season, Magnum said, he would do more "grassroots" work early on to kick off his campaign.

For the 2006 election, Magnum said leadership will be key.

"I will never forget that I answer to the people of this district," Magnum said. "This isn't about me, it's about everybody in this district, and there's 685,000 people in this district."

The 2nd Congressional District encompasses Dane, Columbia, Green, Rock and Jefferson counties.