Uppity Wisconsin

Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson's opponent, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Randy Koschnick, had barely filed his nomination petitions when he began pressing the flesh -- at a gun show in LaCrosse.

Koschnick told WXOW-TV the gun show gave him a chance to meet voters. It was such a good chance he campaigned there two days in a row.

It speaks volumes about the candidate and his candidacy.

And, yes, the gun nuts at the National Rifle Assn. do endorse in Supreme Court races.

If Koschnick doesn't advertise the inevitable NRA endorsement when it comes, the Abrahamson campaign should. The Gableman race notwithstanding, the NRA's track record is pathetic. The vast majority of Wisconsin voters support reasonable restrictions on firearms, which is why the NRA is so ineffective politically.

Doubt that? Ask Gov. Jim Doyle, who was the NRA's number one national target for defeat when he ran for re-election in 2006. How'd that turn out?

Let's hope that Judge Koschnick continues to spend his time at gun shows, while Justice Abrahamson continues to campaign with mainstream voters all across the state, as she's been doing for a quarter century.