DNC Schedule: Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin to Speak at 5:30 p.m.

Underscoring the toss up that Wisconsin has apparently become in the 2012 Presidential race, the Democrats have given Rep. Tammy Baldwin a prominent spot in Thursday night's line up to talk about "The Wisconsin I Know."

"I’m going to tell the country about the Wisconsin I know. The place where I was raised. The place where we believe in moving forward, not back. The place where we’re going to fight for a huge progressive victory this November," Baldwin stated in a release.

Baldwin's speech will precede the president's acceptance speech by about several hours and will take place around 5:30 p.m. Central time. While the president's speech will air on cable networks, it will not be shown on local networks in prime time. However, you can still watch Baldwin's speech online tonight.

Hoping to provide a counterpoint to Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan's speech, Baldwin told the Huffington Post: "You're going to get a very different impression of the Wisconsin that is actually a state with a proud progressive tradition," Baldwin said, previewing her speech. "I know that much of America really does embrace the heartland values of Wisconsin itself."

Baldwin is running against former Gov. Tommy Thompson for U.S. Senate to fill the seat being left by retiring Sen. Herb Kohl. She was selected to speak shortly after it was made official that Ryan would be Mitt Romney's running mate in August.

"Last week in Tampa, at the Republican National Convention, the nation got to see a bunch of folks from Wisconsin — (Gov.) Scott Walker, (Republican National Committee Chair) Reince Priebus and obviously Paul Ryan," Baldwin said in the interview. "My job...is to introduce folks to the Wisconsin I know, which is one that embraces heartland values, has an incredible work ethic and believes fundamentally in fairness. There ought to be only one set of rules of the road, that too often the big and and powerful interests are attempting to write their own rules."