Russ Feingold: Bucking Convention All the Way to the White House?

Washington Post political blog, "The Fix"
by Chris Cillizza
Russ Feingold: Bucking Convention All the Way to the White House?

"Cautious" is not a word that comes to mind when writing about Russ Feingold.

The Wisconsin senator was the first member of his party to propose a timeline for withdrawing American troops from Iraq last fall, and when news broke about the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping campaign, Feingold introduced a resolution to censure the president for violating U.S. law.

Political suicide, says the Democratic political establishment. Phooey, responds Feingold.

"I've heard these pundits, they are people that are paid by Democrats, many of them were in the Clinton administration, these are paid political pundits and paid political consultants who make their living coming up the Capitol and telling the Democratic leadership this is a loser," Feingold says. "It is bad advice. It is advice we got in 2002 and 2004. And we lost because we were perceived as unable to take the tough stands that are needed to change the course in the fight against terrorism."

That's Russ Feingold at his finest. An anti-politician contemplating a run for the highest political office in the country....

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/

Ya gotta love him.

what is his downside? Personally, I am so tired of political posturing...I want another "Mr. Smith" to go to Washington. Feingold appears to stand by his own beliefs without worrying what the rest think of him. We have too many who are contemplating running for `08 which worry me, in that they will fold under pressure like Kerry did. That still bothers me.

Maybe we need to ask the 2 ex's?

But, negatives include:

1. Two divorces
2. Last name
3. Not well-known

If we're trying to flip some puplish-red states (and we are), the first two are, unfortunately, going to play a more significant role in Arkansas, Virginia and New Mexico than they should.

The last one is dependent upon how much the media is reponsible for the total Hillary eclipse of all the other candidates vying for the nomination in 2008 (and we know the corporate hounds won't stop baying for Hillary! so we might as well get used to it).

can't be many negatives. bush** is Negative Central.

You need to get out and talk to some mushy middle voters more if you think that.

While we can agree that Bush is a negative, the fact remains that Feingold or Clark or Gore or which-a-ma-Dem won't be running against Bush. (S)He'll be running against some other Republican - and they have controlled the debate for two decades now, particularly in the South and mid-West.

lately even here in the sinkhole of fairplay and equality they're getting damn sick and tired of what I've heard referred to as the 'shennanigans' of the republican party. I haven't heard anyone use that word in years, but they're using it here. It's amazing.

when it comes to turning this thing around.

I'm, frankly, not as hopeful about 2008 as I am about 2006. I think we can take the House and/or Senate, but I don't think we'll be able to take the presidency in 2008 unless the exact right person is nominated.

There's just too much influence of Reich-wing and fundieness in our media.

I have been watching Feingold with the hope he might turn out to be the real thing. I remember my son (15 at the time) insisting that Jimmy Carter was going to win. We laughed at him, as we had never even heard of Jimmy Carter...knew absolutely nothing about him. Look what happened.

If the establishment hadn't made corn pone out of Jimmy, I still believe he would have been one of our finest presidents. He certainly is one of the finest former presidents.

No matter who wins in `08, they are going to have their hands full just cleaning up the messes left by this administration. But then, cleaning up a filthy house leaves a shining example for those who enter in the future.

Russ has never run with a pile of money and has always won. He knows how to make do with little - refusing certain kinds of contributions (at least before campaign finance reform) as unethical even if they aren't illegal. He runs an uber-clean campaign but will stand up to the worst slander with common sense, sharp wit and even a bit of endearing humor. He never backs down against an opponent. He has developed a crack campaign team who I would describe, especially after his last campaign in '04, as SO ready for prime time.

As a Wisconsin native who has voted for Russ every time, I can assure you he will do just fine on the money front and will campaign like you've never seen anyone campaign before.

To me, a campaign that is built on honesty and hard work is worth much more than one that has all the glitz and fanfare that big money can buy. Feingold might be able to pull off a good, old-fashioned run for the gold...particularly, if he doesn't have a lot of corporate gold behind him.

Instead of Feingold fighting the Swiftfboaters, maybe the public behind him needs to Swiftfboat them right back everytime they pop their heads up and show them we are sick of it and aren't going to take it anymore.

I believe `08 will be an interesting campaign and one, the likes of which we haven't seen for a long time.

Political suicide, says the Democratic political establishment. Phooey, responds Feingold.

He's really good. If Al Gore didn't run he'd be my favorite; he's also my first choice for Veep if Al does run.

"he is a liberal"

both the repukes and the DLC democrats will paint him as such

I have no doubt that Russ will put them in their place

about his marriage. The GOP certainly has a file on all of the dirty little details, whatever they are, and will try to make the most of it.

The media will play up any gossip they can grab and ignore discussion of issues. :(

Nothing - not one hint even that dirty details even existed. Feingold is squeaky clean. Two divorces could be an issue. Being a Jew could be an issue. But none of that has ever come up in a race with Feingold in Wisconsin - and you'll have to trust me when I say we have our full share of backward-thinking neanderthals here.

I'm just concerned that a national election/campaign is one that brings things to a whole 'nother level.

They didn't need scandal to bring down John Kerry - just a pack of lies and a complicit media. Feingold has been the underdog enough he knows how to fight that kind of BS. Admittedly, the national stage is a bit trickier, but he can do no worse than any of the other candidates we've been bantering around and just may surprise you.

Too many senators sat on their hands in 2003 and 4, and would not give back up to Kerry on Tora Bora, the 2 calls to fire Rumsfeld, his Apollo project, and even the Downing Street Memos inquiry in 2005. They also let Kennedy hang on Alito filibuster and forced Kerry to step up when he was supposed to be doing his own committee duties in Davos.

Feingold shouldn't point fingers and make implications about other Dems when he is as guilty of over caution too many times, as well.

I agree with Russ 100% that the Dem pundits and strategists are a HUGE problem. They are talking assholes.

I don't like his approach attacking other Democrats, because it's obvious he's saying Look at me, I'm better, I'm like McCain. That's faux-maverick theatrics for the McCain loving media.

clark likes her too much, kerry will go nowhere.
no one else big n the ring with a consistant progressive voice for the left to rally around