Wisconsin Sen. Johnson has another awkward campaign moment

(AP) — Republican Sen. Ron Johnson is suggesting that poor single moms take jobs in the day care centers watching their children, a practice Wisconsin restricted seven years ago after massive fraud involving government subsidies.

Johnson's solution for addressing poverty is the latest awkward comment from the freshman senator who compared voting in November to the decision by doomed 9/11 passengers on Flight 93 to storm the cockpit, criticized "The Lego Movie" as anti-business propaganda and appeared to suggest that a documentary could replace classroom teachers.

Elected in the tea party wave of 2010, Johnson is one of the most endangered Senate Republican incumbents this year in a rematch with the man he beat, former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold.

[...] last year he had to back away from an off-handed comment, again made in a radio interview, when he referred to "idiot inner-city kids" while criticizing liberals on school choice.

When Democrats accused him of comparing his campaign with the heroics of passengers on the doomed flight, Johnson said they were "political hacks" making a "ridiculous charge."

The law for those accepting state payments was tightened in 2009 after an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealed that some day care providers were collecting subsidies while watching each other's kids.