"Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke is trying to make the case that Wisconsin voters should trust her..."

"... in part, because of the nearly 1,000 jobs created in the state by Trek Bicycle Corp., a firm founded and run by her family."

But now Burke is coming under criticism from some within her own party following a decision last week by the U.S. Department of Labor. The federal agency found that up to 20 former Trek Bicycle employees are eligible for special federal aid via the Trade Adjustment Assistance program because they lost their jobs due to foreign trade.

Actually, this is evidence that the Democratic Party does not exploit its power within government to affect electoral politics.

Some labor officials and liberal activists have been slow to throw their support behind Burke — who is aiming to take on Republican Gov. Scott Walker — because Trek is a nonunion company that has moved much of its production to China.

She's not the nominee yet, but she's not being challenged. I suspect that she's filling a spot so it won't look like the Democrats are declining to challenge Walker. She has her own money to spend.

"That's a tough pill to swallow for Democrats that spent last year bashing Romney for sending jobs to China," said a liberal activist. "Totally ridiculous — I'm ashamed to have Burke as our only candidate."

Liberal talk show host John "Sly" Sylvester... [said] "It's always a sad day for this state and America when companies that claim to be job creators turn to slave wage countries like China for their workforce"....

Why did Burke step up? Presumably to burnish Trek's reputation. Now, Wisconsinites want us to hate Trek? Nice way to treat a Wisconsin company!