MILWAUKEE - The winner of the U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin will be making history — no matter who wins.

If Democrat Tammy Baldwin wins the race, she would be the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Wisconsin. She would also be the nation's first openly gay politician to serve in the Senate.

If Republican Tommy Thompson wins, Wisconsin would have two Republican U.S. senators for the first time since the 1950s. Sen. Herb Kohl's seat hasn't been held by a Republican since Joe McCarthy in 1957.

And, at age 70, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ( http://tinyurl.com/cotegkq) says Thompson would be the oldest person every elected by Wisconsin voters to a first term in the Senate. Thompson would also be the first former governor from Wisconsin to be elected senator.

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Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com