The results of the Bring the Troops Home referendums send a clear message: Wisconsin wants an orderly but quick withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Thirty-two cities, villages and towns voted Tuesday on the anti-war referendums - most of which called for immediate withdrawal.

The raw vote totals were overwhelming. Sixty-one percent of Wisconsinites who cast ballots on the referendums voted yes for withdrawal, while only 39 percent voted no.

The referendums won in 24 of the 32 communities where they were on the ballot, prevailing easily everywhere from cities such as Madison and La Crosse to suburbs such as Monona and Shorewood, to county seats such as Baraboo and Sturgeon Bay, to tiny hamlets such as Door County's Ephraim, population 353. The highest proportion of yes votes came in rural Sawyer County's Couderay, where a stunning 82 percent of voters said it was time to bring the troops home.

Many of the communities that voted to bring the troops home had previously backed President Bush in presidential elections. Clearly, it was not just progressives and Democrats who backed these referendums. They won support from independents and honest conservative Republicans.

No one expects the tin-eared Bush administration to listen to the people of Wisconsin. But Wisconsinites have every reason to hope that U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl will take note.

Kohl has, up to this point, steadfastly refused to support U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold's courageous call for setting a withdrawal timetable. We respect Kohl enough to believe that the man who says he is nobody's senator but ours will acknowledge the referendum results from across Wisconsin. It is time, Sen. Kohl, to join Sen. Feingold in taking the message of Wisconsin to Washington: Bring the Troops Home!

FAIR USE NOTICE:

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of foriegn policy, politics, peace, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.