Feingold's campaign models -- Dean and/or McCain?

LAT: Introducing Mr. McDean?
Shades of Dean and McCain are seen in the strategy of a Wisconsin senator who may run for president in 2008.
By Maura Reynolds, Times Staff Writer
March 19, 2006

....Feingold clearly is courting the Dean vote as he positions himself to the left of other Democratic presidential hopefuls. He is reaching out to the Internet-savvy, airing video podcasts on the website for his political action committee and holding an online "listening session."

Howard Dean was one of the first people who recognized the power of the Internet as a organizing tool, and absolutely we are picking up that mantle and using those tools," said George Aldrich, spokesman for Feingold's PAC.

At first glance, Feingold's strategy would appear to make sense. Campaign analysts agree the Democratic field of potential White House contenders is dominated by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who has been staking out territory toward the political center, leaving open the left end of the spectrum. "Basically, the field will be Hillary and the anti-Hillary," said Jennifer Duffy, an analyst for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. "There's this big void out there that needs to be filled. Since (the left wing's) unhappiness is generally about the war and (the NSA) surveillance, Feingold's talking to them and they're listening."...

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One answer offered by other Democrats is that Feingold resembles McCain more than he does Dean.

The two became closely linked on Capitol Hill in the late 1990s as co-sponsors of the campaign finance bill aimed at stemming the flow of large contributions into the political system....Feingold aides respond by touting their boss' "independence," using language often used to describe McCain's breaks with GOP orthodoxy. Feingold's call for censure "is the latest in a long and consistent record of … calling things the way he sees them, without regard to party or politics," his office said in a statement....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-feingold19mar19,0,4849829.story?coll=la-home-headlines

First, I don't know of any actual grassroots Dems who actually support Hillary. Her "domination" of the field is a total media creation, just as fictitious as the Dean Scream. Unfortunately, like the Dean Scream and the Swiftboat smears, it is a fiction that may overwhelm reality, just because the Liberal Media want it that way.

Second, yes, Feingold is using the net effectively, publishing on Kos, etc. But just because he's using the new media well doesn't make him a Dean clone. Calvin Coolidge was the first President to be broadcast on radio. FDR made masterful use of the radio. Does that make him a Coolidge clone?

Third, Feingold is a rebel who has taken courageous stands purely on the basis of conscience. Show me anything the Bush-hugging McCain has done that compares remotely. Remember that he has something like the 3d most toadyish voting record in the Senate.