Might Russ Feingold REALLY Run For President?

I would absolutely love it if he did, but has he even talked about it? Or been asked about potential presidential ambitions?

The fact that he is way to the left of Kerry and Edwards, yet got MANY Wisconsin voters who voted for Bush in Wisconsin to vote for him as well definately says something. Although I disagree with his stance on the assault weapons ban, I can live with it, especially since pro-gun people might actually vote for him.

However, the fact that people voted for both Bush and Feingold may merely mean that people support having a relatively powerful representative in Washington. I voted Kerry but voted Republican for my incumbent congressman because I thought that would be best for my local community's interests.

There is a great incentive to vote for an incumbent for the House or Senate. Those bodies give a lot of preference to seniority. If one feels one's congressman and senators are doing a good job at representing their community's interests at the national level (read: brings home the financial bacon), why vote them out and replace them with new faces that have no seniority (and therefore minimal influence)?

Just a tangent.

Now, back to the Feingold thread.

Unless they are a Communist or something. Feingold is generally very liberal, but has occasional mavarick views that are much more conservative.

I think it would be worthwhile for him to be involved in the primary process, at the least.

Feingold does take some maverick views that are more conservative than Kerry then again he does the same on some liberal views. Either guy is great to me, I would be happy to call either Kerry or Feingold my senator.

Believe it or not, Kerry's voting record has been pretty moderate ever since Bill Clinton became president.

They really don't like the government much in Northern Wisconsin as a rule. It wasn't too awful long ago that some people up there tried to secede (aka Republic of Tigerton Dells).

edited to add:

Also, I think his campaign finance policies, for his own campaigns, impress a lot of people in rural Wisconsin. He generally eschews large corporate donations. Consider that our other Senator is a self-made millionaire who finances his own campaigns and who's motto is 'nobody's Senator but yours'. Wisconsin likes our Senators to be independent.

but if he did he would be formidable. I think alot of it will depend on if Gov. Doyle is re-elected in 2006, if so, Doyle would be able to appoint Feingold's replacement in the senate should Russ be nominated and win.

If not the top spot, Russ would definitely be an asset as a VP candidate in '08 possibly with a Edwards or Warner or someone like that.

The consensus on O'Malley is that he isn't ready and must run for governor first. I realize that I'm probably the only person in the world that ever talked about him running in '08. But I love the guy and would be thrilled if he just screwed conventional wisdom and ran.

I also think that Feingold would make a great president and a great candidate. He is a man who I would be so proud to support.

Steve

to be Mayor of Baltimore.

x

He's got charisma, good political sense and ambition but he's not a good Mayor. His cabinet is indifferent. The succession of police commissioners has been embarrassing and costly in terms of continuity and morale. His brash spats with the States Attorney's Office have been unhelpful. I've seen his HCD make a royal hash of community situations.
In short, he's a good politician but a bad executive.

He voted against NAFTA, GATT, the Patriot Act, the IWR and other things I have been against.

He is a senator though. Repugs love to run against them and distort their records...

On the plus side, he gets a lot of Republican crossover in Wisconsin...

Here's a cool MP3 of him in Madison campaigning for Kerry:
http://www.kerrysupport.com/media/Russ-Madison.mp3

against the PATRIOT Act.

I would feel almost obligated to support him for that. That was a true act of courage. He knew he'd be up for reelection soon enough in a state where he wasn't exactly a shoe in.

I'm glad the people of WI recognized that courage and reelected him by a huge margin.

We need good people there too, you know.

And even if he does and fails, that doesn't necessarilly mean that his senate career is over, especially if he looses in the primaries.

...may be the only lawmaker left who's isn't corrupt. Vote Feingold!

we need to win a southern state or 2 so that we dont have to worry about ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, etc...As a jew myself, I truly respect Feingold but we cannot take a chance in 2008....we need the WH back!

As long as we win the white house, that's all that matters.

I am thinking of getting involved in my district in counting the votes...this way I can cheat....soemtimes you have to take a step back (cheating) before you can take a step forward (democracy)!