Free Republic

Former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, who was ousted in last year's midterm elections, announced Friday that he won't run for retiring Sen. Herb Kohl's seat in 2012. He also said that he wouldn't be a gubernatorial candidate should Democrats in the state attempt to recall Republican Scott Walker. In a note to supporters on the website of the political committee he founded, Progressives United, Feingold said, “I am also well aware that I have a very strong standing in the polls should I choose to run again for the U.S. Senate or in a recall election for governor. After twenty-eight...

Republicans "went right for the jugular" when they chose this state as the place to demonize public employees, destroy the right to vote and abuse the budget process that will continue this week, former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold told supporters Sunday evening near the Capitol Square. "Why are we in a place called Walkerville today?" he asked the energized crowd at the corner of State and West Mifflin streets, amid the tent village that sprang up earlier this month to protest the state budget bill and will remain through June 20 while lawmakers debate the bill. "Because we will not...

Madison -- Former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold led a crowd of hundreds of marchers, taxi cabs and an antique fire engine around the Capitol Square in a demonstration Monday. In the heat, the pro-union demonstrators -- perhaps as many as 1,000 in all -- marched in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker's budget policies that would end most collective bargaining for public workers and cut aid to schools and local governments.Meanwhile a few tents were left up near the square in a "Walkerville" protest area meant to invoke the Depression-era protests against then President Herbert Hoover.

Will Russ Feingold try to get back into the Senate, now that his longtime colleague Herb Kohl has decided to retire? Or will he inadvertently bigfoot other Democrats and damage prospects for a Democratic hold on the seat? Feingold said that he’s considering all of these questions in the first indication that he has an interest in defending the open Wisconsin seat: “I am looking at it, but I feel I should take some time to think this through,” said Feingold, the former senator who was defeated last fall for re-election after three terms. “For me the question right now...

Democrat Russ Feingold leads Republican Tommy Thompson in a hypothetical U.S. Senate matchup in a new Wisconsin survey by Public Policy Polling. You can find the firm’s analysis here, with matchups of other potential candidates on both sides. Feingold and Thompson are easily the best-known of all the political figures in the survey. Wisconsin will have an open Senate seat next year, due to Democrat Herb Kohl’s planned retirement. In the statewide poll of 1,636 voters taken May 19-22, Feingold leads former Gov. Thompson 52% to 42%. Feingold leads other Republicans (Mark Neumann, J.B. Van Hollen and Jeff Fitzgerald) by...

The news of Herb Kohl's retirement plans immediately had the Democrats in Wisconsin thrilling all over to the idea that they could get their beloved Rusty (Feingold) back in office. I have decided to have a little fun with those wascally Democrats - seeing as how they have made our lives so miserable since February. I invite fellow Wisconsinites to do the same. All it takes is an old yard sign and a home printer. Just type these big letters (in your favorite word processing software): Kloppenburg for Senate Print, apply to yard sign and install sign in your front...

Link only - Russ Feingold: Priorities USA 'Playing With The Devil'

April 25, 2011 2:42 p.m. | Madison -- A recently released poll shows Wisconsin voters narrowly oppose a recall of GOP Gov. Scott Walker but are tightly divided on how they would vote if a recall election is held. The poll found that 51% of voters opposed the idea of recalling Walker while 44% supported it. But in a hypothetical matchup against Democratic former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, 48 percent of voters said they would pick Walker and the other 48% said they would support Feingold

I won't link to this, but safe to say that Russ has another scheme cooking. Here is the link to subscribe so that you can get email updates about what the dubious feingold is doing next. https://services.myngp.com/ngponlineservices/EmailSignup.aspx?X=HZh75IFMyTM%3d

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- If the Republican National Committee has its way, the already battered McCain-Feingold law will be stripped of one of its last remaining bastions, reducing the once powerful engine restraining the unbridled use of political contributions to a squeaky nub.

Icon. Maverick. Liberal. Career politician. U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold has been called many things during his time in the spotlight. But after nearly 30 years in politics, the junior senator from Wisconsin is coming home a private citizen. When the final gavel falls on the 111th Congress, Feingold will be unemployed — the victim of an angry electorate bent on change in Washington, D.C.

Feingold Couldn’t Re-Create ’92 MagicNathan L. Gonzales December 8, 2010 · 11:25 AM EDT It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Russ Feingold’s reputation as a maverick and clever campaign ads were supposed to insulate him from the national wave that swept out dozens of his Democratic colleagues. But after 18 years in office, the shine had worn off the Wisconsin Democrat’s independent image, Feingold’s ads this year were remarkably average, and a political neophyte from Oshkosh unseated the incumbent in a state where Republicans haven’t won a Senate race in almost a quarter-century. In 1992, Feingold rode to Washington...

For a brief moment on Tuesday the Senate floor did not feel like part of one of the most partisan Congresses in history. With much of the lame-duck legislation mired in gridlock, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., reached across the aisle to recognize a pillar of liberalism: the departing Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis. In doing so, McCain praised Feingold for his steadfast commitment to his beliefs -- a trait McCain has recently been accused of abandoning. “In his time in the Senate, Russ Feingold, every day and in every way, had the courage of his convictions,” McCain said. “Though I am...

John McCain said a reluctant goodbye to his longtime Senate colleague and “true friend” Russ Feingold on Tuesday. “I have to confess I think the Senate will be a much poorer place without Russ Feingold in it,” McCain said in a floor speech.

Comment from Sen. Feingold creates buzz following electionsPosted: Nov 05, 2010 12:03 PM EDT Madison (WQOW) - Much of the talk since Election Day has been about a comment from Senator Russ Feingold Tuesday night, after being defeated by Ron Johnson. "I hope and I intend to work with you in the future as much as possible. So, it's onto the next fight, it's onto the next battle, it's onto 2012," expresses Sen. Feingold. That fueled speculation that Feingold would be back on the campaign trail soon, possibly to run against President Obama in the democratic primary. The state's democratic...

On a night when America turned from blue to red, few states swung harder than Wisconsin, where Republicans experienced their greatest electoral gains in decades, picking up a governor, Democrat Russ Feingold's U.S. Senate seat, both state legislative chambers and two U.S. House seats. A battleground state that Barack Obama dominated two years ago dealt him and his party a sharp political rebuke Tuesday, as Democrats lost ground with one key voting group after another - independents, blue-collar whites, suburbanites. Nationally, the GOP recaptured the U.S. House and whittled away at the Democrats' big Senate majority, transforming both the balance...

The results are pouring in from the Badger State. Already Walker has been called winner in Governor race and Johnson for Senate. In addition Kagan is going down in Wi-8, Duffy is winning in Wi-7, and Kapanke is holding his own in Wi-3. Also the State Senate is looking like the Dems are being wiped out and the State HOuse of Reps looks like it is going Republican too. The Dems have been totally massacred in my state, they had controlled EVERYTHING, now they will control NOTHING!!!!!

YES!!!!

Woohoo!

Not only are Wisconsin Republicans thrilled at the prospect of unseating 18-year incumbent Sen. Russ Feingold (D) this cycle, they are also hoping to achieve the biggest statewide GOP shift in the country, at every level of government. Democrats currently control just about every aspect of Wisconsin politics — the governorship, both houses of the state legislature, five out of eight House seats, and both Senate seats. Not for long. Slim Democratic majorities in the State Senate (18 D, 15 R) and State Assembly (50 D, 45 R) are widely expected to flip to the Republicans, propelled by the larger...

My son is a poll worker at a UW Madison polling station. Says the turnout is WAY lower than 08. Hope and change must have gone past its 'best if used by' date, lol. Heavy turnout in the 'big three' Republican Counties, Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington. No info on Milwaukee turnout yet, but all bodes well for GOP right now

With most predicting he will go down in defeat, Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold earned compliments from his former GOP ally, Sen. John McCain, on Monday. The Arizona senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee has campaigned hard for Republican Senate candidates this cycle while sharply criticizing their Democratic rivals, such as Sens. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) and Patty Murray (Wash.) But McCain saved kind words for Feingold (Wis.), with whom he worked on landmark campaign finance reform legislation eight years ago.

Sandburg Hall 3400 N. Maryland Ave. Milwaukee Seemed to me that turn-out was light, compared to previous elections. No delays. Plenty of parking. 9:30 a.m.

Neenah, Wisconsin - While much of the political world has been obsessing over the troubles of Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell, or the sparring over Rand Paul and "Aqua-Buddha" in Kentucky, or the controversies surrounding Sharron Angle in Nevada, another Republican newcomer has been running a quiet, direct, and devastatingly effective campaign. Here in Wisconsin, Ron Johnson, a businessman who has never before run for public office, appears poised to pick up a Senate seat for Republicans, defeating Democratic legend Russell Feingold and becoming the first GOP senator elected from the state since 1986.

Russ Feingold has spent 18 years on the fringes of the Senate Democratic Caucus and one very hard year here in his home state, running the opposite of this year’s standard-issue Democratic campaign. But Feingold appears on the brink of going down in a national tide that’s blind to distinction. Infuriatingly to the Wisconsin Democrat, he’s been painted not as a leftist but as, of all things, a Washington insider. He’s been forced to defend a claim to independence that he feels is self-evident – “A guy did his doctorate at Princeton on this,” he says indignantly – against an...

When U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson faced off against U.S. Sen.Russ Feingold D-Wis., in a debate last Friday, two tremendously different people emerged. On one hand you have a man who has been in Washington as long as many of us have been alive and who cares deeply about his job. On the other, you have a man who has been working in the private sector his whole life and who cares deeply about the state of Wisconsin. Right now, Wisconsin needs the latter.

Republican challenger Ron Johnson receives over 50% support against incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold in the fourth consecutive survey of Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Johnson, a wealthy plastics manufacturer, picking up 53% of the vote. Feingold, who has represented the state in the Senate since 1993, draws support from 46%. Only one percent (1%) are undecided at this point.

The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Johnson, a wealthy plastics manufacturer, picking up 53% of the vote. Feingold, who has represented the state in the Senate since 1993, draws support from 46%. Only one percent (1%) are undecided at this point.

Original title of story running on wide-circulation daily Mainichi Shimbun today here in Tokyo is: "米中間�挙：大統領支�率低迷�民主苦戦　ミシェル夫人「好感度�頼�" My summary translation follows (of the main points):

A new poll suggests that Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin is fighting for his political life. A CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Wednesday indicates that the three-term Democratic senator trails businessman Ron Johnson, the Republican nominee Senate nominee, 52 to 44 percent among likely voters in Wisconsin. Johnson's eight point lead is up from a five point advantage in mid September.

The Wisconsin senator boasts of his strong support for gun rights even though the NRA gave him failing grades during his last two re-election bids. The increasingly strained efforts by Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold to ingratiate himself with conservative voters don't appear to be having much effect. His GOP challenger Ron Johnson has led in every major published poll since July, and currently has a lead of seven points in the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls. That hasn't stopped Mr. Feingold from trying to reinvent himself as the original Tea Partier. He plugged away again in this week's debate...

OSHKOSH, Wis. — Until last fall, Ron Johnson was just an intensely private guy with a good business and a nice house on Lake Winnebago. He kept a stack of Wall Street Journals next to his bed, folded just right so he wouldn't forget to read columnist Dan Henninger on this or Paul Gigot on that. A trim, silver-haired businessman, he was rich but unknown, even in this, his hometown, despite big donations to Lourdes High School and his thriving plastics company here. Running for office never crossed his mind. Barack Obama changed all that. Until last fall, Wisconsin seemed...

The donor disclosure issue revved up by President Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee last week took center stage at Wisconsin's senatorial debate tonight between Democratic incumbent Senator Russ Feingold and his Republican challenger, Ron Johnson. But instead of the Obama/DNC one-sided attacks at rallies with pre-screened attendees and in advertisements, Senator Feingold's feigned outrage was met with a swift and decisive response.

One of a surprising number of old, well-established politicians being challenged in this year's election by some unknown newcomer is Senator Russ Feingold in Wisconsin. In a recent debate between Senator Feingold and his new challenger, businessman Ron Johnson, the difference between the old pol and new guy on the block stood out. Feingold was clearly smoother and more glib-- and his arguments may have sounded more plausible to those unfamiliar with the facts. But what Ron Johnson said would have resonated better with those who did know the facts. How many people are in which category may determine the...

'I'm 55 years old. I grew up in an America that values hard work, that celebrates success. . . . We're losing America. I'm just one guy from Oshkosh, but I refuse to let America go without a knockdown, drag-out fight." On the fringes of the World Dairy Expo—we are, after all, in Wisconsin—the rookie Republican Senate hopeful hits these last lines of his stump speech without going up a decibel. Ron Johnson keeps his tone soberly plainspoken—aw-shucks, not angry. A gray suit hangs a size too big on his frame. When the silver-haired businessman with no political experience came...

While it’s a bad year to be running as a Democrat in any state, that’s especially true in Wisconsin. Despite winning the state with 56 percent of the vote in 2008, Barack Obama has seen his approval rating in the state plummet nearly 30 points since taking office. Voters opposed Obamacare to begin with, and now a majority wants it repealed. Two-thirds say they are angry about the federal government’s policies. As a result, Badger State Democrats are scrambling to distance themselves from, well, other Democrats. Sen. Russ Feingold, in the fight of his political life against Republican Ron Johnson,...

Here are a few numbers that help explain why Senate Democrat Russ Feingold has trailed in every public poll this fall. They show the political leanings of likely voters in a recent statewide survey by Marist: Liberals: 20% Moderates: 33% Conservatives: 47% In other words, self-identified conservatives in this random sample of likely voters outnumbered moderates by 14 points and liberals by 27 points. What’s striking about these “likely voters” is not just that how conservative they are. It’s how much more conservative they are than the actual Wisconsin electorate of recent years (I’ll have a broader story on this...

The Wisconsin Senate race between incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold and Republican challenger Ron Johnson may be, in part, a referendum on the future of high-speed rail in America. The battle over a proposed high-speed rail line that would connect a scant 70 miles between Wisconsin’s two largest cities and be funded by $810 million in federal stimulus money has become symbolic of the political cage match for one of Wisconsin’s Senate seats this November...the fevered debate over high-speed rail in Wisconsin could well determine the outcome of Wisconsin’s Senate battle, which could in turn determine the fate of high-speed rail...

Russ Feingold D WI is being promoted by Progressive as the Tea Party Candidate! Russ Feingold: Tea Party Candidate By Ruth Conniff, August 10, 2010 Pro-gun, anti-bank, and a staunch defender of civil liberties, Russ Feingold should appeal to the Tea Party crowd. http://www.progressive.org/rc081010.html Feingold is trailing by double digits.

Down in the polls in his bid for a fourth term, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has decided he is going to hit Republican opponent Ron Johnson where it hurts: calling into question his support for Wisconsin’s own Green Bay Packers. In a new 30-second ad, Feingold’s campaign shows images of pro football endzone celebrations, including one where then-Minnesota Vikings’ Randy Moss is dancing and pretending to moon the audience to boos from the crowd.

Sen. Russ Feingold's (D-Wis.) reelection campaign is changing a television ad after a complaint from the NFL. Feingold's ad shows a series of football players celebrating after scores, and then accuses Republican Ron Johnson of engaging in "excessive celebration" because he leads Feingold in polls. Feingold accuses his opponent of siding with special interests, and says the game between them is not done yet. Most of the players in the ad are unrecognizable and do not seem to be from the NFL, but there is one notable exception sure to draw attention in football-mad Wisconsin. The ad clearly uses 2005 footage of then-Minnesota Vikings...

MILWAUKEE – The NFL is flagging Sen. Russ Feingold's latest ad, asking the Democratic incumbent to pull unauthorized footage of Randy Moss pretending to moon the Green Bay crowd in 2004. The TV ad, which the campaign said was released statewide Tuesday, opens with a series of clips of football players dancing in the end zone. A four-second clip shows Moss clearly wearing his Minnesota Vikings uniform. The others featured are not playing in NFL games. "We did not license the footage and have contacted the senator's campaign about removing it," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told The Associated Press in...

In a Tweet to his supporters, U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold said Tuesday that he had finished voting in the U.S. Senate in Washington and would join President Barack Obama today in Madison. Here is what Feingold wrote: "@russfeingold Great day to be in Wisconsin! I made it! Finished voting and am proud to join President Obama at my alma mater. Feingold had taken some heat for not being in Madison, though he had said weeks ago that he wouldn't be there because he hasn't missed a vote in the Senate.

In a Tweet to his supporters, U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold said Tuesday that he had finished voting in the U.S. Senate in Washington and would join President Barack Obama today in Madison. Here is what Feingold wrote: "@russfeingold Great day to be in Wisconsin! I made it! Finished voting and am proud to join President Obama at my alma mater. Feingold had taken some heat for not being in Madison, though he had said weeks ago that he wouldn't be there because he hasn't missed a vote in the Senate. Feingold also missed Obama's appearance on Labor Day in Milwaukee,...

Some of Hollywood’s most recognizable names are digging into their deep pockets to help Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold, one of the Senate’s most reliably liberal voices — and a top Republican target this fall. Among Feingold's contributors are filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein, actors Michael Douglas and Edie Falco, as well as NBC’s Jeffrey Zucker, music executive David Geffen, and producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife, Marilyn, according to CQMoneyLine.com. Writer and producer Tom Fontana, creator of the television series “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “Oz,” also ponied up for Feingold, as did actress Kathryn Erbe, who has...

One of the true-blue heroes of the Looney Left is Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. He is ADORED in DUmmieland, KOmmieland, and HUffieland, for being no sell-out to those evil DLC "centrists." No, not our Russ! Truly, Feingold has inherited the mantle of "Pugnacious Prog from the Northwoods," once worn by the sainted Paul Wellstone. Well, guess what? Feingold is LOSING! Yes, you heard me! Our Favorite Russkie is trailing in the polls, even in a poll commissioned by the KOssacks themselves! What's going on here?? Has Wisconsin gone MAD?? Is it a nefarious plot? The KOmmies are BESIDE...

A new poll of the Wisconsin Senate race Tuesday contains dire news for Democrats, showing three-term incumbent Sen. Russ Feingold falling behind political newcomer Ron Johnson by double-digits. The survey, taken by Public Policy Polling for the liberal website Daily Kos, shows Johnson holding an 11-point advantage over Feingold, 52 percent to 41 percent. Seven percent were undecided. It’s the largest polling lead Johnson has held since he clinched the state Republican Party’s endorsement back in May, and a jarring deficit for the state’s junior senator in the traditionally deep blue state. PPP chalks up Johnson’s advantage to “an enormous...

Maybe that Rasmussen poll wasn’t a fluke, after all. PPP, polling for Daily Kos, now shows Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., trailing by 11 points — a very, very bad sign for any candidate, but especially for an incumbent. President Obama is posting some terrible approval-disapproval numbers (40-53) in the state. Wisconsin’s other Democratic senator, Herb Kohl, is also upside down (42-47), but exiting Gov. Jim Doyle, D, is in much worse shape (29-62).

New PPP results for dkos, will post tomorrow -- Feingold down by double digits, MASSIVE intensity gap. W/o gap, it'd be tied race.