Klug vs. Kastenmeier

Can Newsman Klug Beat Kastenmeier? The headline for Richard Eggleston's story on Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District race must have looked laughable 20 years ago. After all, 16-term incumbent Robert Kastenmeier had first been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1959 and had survived 12 different challengers since then. His Republican opponent this time, former WKOW-TV news anchor Scott Klug, was a political neophyte. "He's a face, basically," state Democratic Party chief Jonathan Sender tells Eggleston, "a face that has been recruited to run against one of the most respected men in Congress. Congress is for the big boys." Counters Klug: "To argue that because I was in television I'm unable to handle anything except a hairdryer, that's an insult." Klug goes on to unseat Kastenmeier by a margin of 53%-47%. Reelected three times, Klug steps down in 1998, later becoming CEO of Trails Media Group and more recently serving as public affairs director for Foley & Lardner, LLP. Kastenmeier, now living in Arlington, Va., describes himself as "fully retired" and, at 86, "not up to much these days."