Wisconsin's Seventh District, a picturesque region of forests, lakes and dairy farms, has long been an unassailable Republican stronghold. Before last week, the Seventh had not sent a single Democrat to Congress in this century, and it elected Melvin Laird to nine consecutive terms on Capitol Hill before he moved to the Pentagon. Thus, as the G.O.P. nominee in a special election held last week to choose Laird's successor, State Senator Walter J. Chilsen felt pretty good about his chances. Chilsen, 45, a former television newscaster from Wausau, felt so good, in...
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