Free Republic

With a dozen or so U.S. senators giving serious consideration to running for their party's 2008 presidential nomination, voters will want to know how the political ideologies of these potential candidates rank among their colleagues. Arguably, voters can best discern the relative ideologies by comparing the votes they cast on identical issues. Both the nonpartisan National Journal and the liberal Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) have recently released their 2005 voting guides, ranking the ideological purity of members of Congress. Herewith is a review of those rankings among the five Democratic senators -- Evan Bayh of Indiana, Joe Biden of...

When Gallup polled Democratic voters in February on the party's 2008 hopefuls, it didn't even offer Russ Feingold as a choice. But in one corner of the Democratic universe - the readers of liberal Web logs - the Wisconsin senator has emerged as a political favorite. In an online poll last month on the nation's most widely read liberal blog (DailyKos. com), Feingold led the Democratic presidential field, picked by 30 percent of the 11,000-plus people who visited the Web site and voted. "He definitely is the most popular Democrat among the `netroots,'" said liberal blogger Chris Bowers, referring to...

Feingold becomes the center of attention Wisconsin Democrat in battle of sound bites with the president By KATHERINE M. SKIBAkskiba@journalsentinel.com Posted: Dec. 19, 2005 Washington - He's been criticized by President Bush, though never by name, for five days running. Domestic Spying Photo/APSen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) responds Monday to President Bush’s news conference in Washington. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) was at Feingold’s side. Monday's Speech TextVideo Related Coverage Democrats: Feingold becomes the center of attention Defense: Bush asserts right to spy Editorial: Presidential overreaching Archive Coverage Section: State Politics He's been a sought-after "get" on national news shows.He's shown a...

Few politicians have enjoyed the free ride that the local media have given to Russ Feingold. He is seldom challenged or hit with hard questions and his position on the war is no exception. What, for example, is his plan? What does he believe will happen if we leave Iraq permanently? Does he believe that Iraqis will be better off now that Saddam Hussein is gone, or not? Now that he's running for president, Feingold's exemption from scrutiny is coming rapidly to an end. And here is a good example from the Truth Laid Bear: Here's an appalling little exchange...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The time has come for a "cheesehead" in the White House, although Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., doesn't know if he's the one to take that mantle. He put his chances of seeking the nomination in 2008 at "probably higher" than one in 100 while saying it was too early to commit to the race. "But I do think one thing we can all agree on is that this country is overdue for a cheesehead president. We've never had one," he told ABC's "This Week" from his Madison home. Feingold is mentioned as a possible candidate because of...

(Time for a president from here, he says) WASHINGTON, DC (AP) - The time has come for a "cheesehead" in the White House, although Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., doesn't know if he's the one to take that mantle. He put his chances of seeking the nomination in 2008 at "probably higher" than one in 100 while saying it was too early to commit to the race. "But I do think one thing we can all agree on is that this country is overdue for a cheesehead president. We've never had one," he told ABC's "This Week" from his Madison home....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The time has come for a "cheesehead" in the White House, although Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., doesn't know if he's the one to take that mantle. He put his chances of seeking for the nomination in 2008 at "probably higher" than one in 100 while saying it was too early to commit to the race. "But I do think one thing we can all agree on is that this country is overdue for a cheesehead president. We've never had one," he told ABC's "This Week." A cheesehead is a native or resident of Wisconsin, a leading dairy...

After winning, at the relatively tender age of 51, a third Senate term in 2004 with 55 percent of Wisconsin's vote, five points better than John Kerry's winning percentage, and carrying 27 of the 45 Wisconsin counties that President Bush carried, Russ Feingold went to play golf -- on a public course, this fastidious populist stresses -- in Greenville, Ala. That town might hereafter be known as the birthplace of Feingold's epiphany. Feingold says, implausibly, that ``I don't think about it'' -- seeking the Democrats' 2008 presidential nomination -- ``very much.'' But he does brood about a ``50-state strategy'' for...

WASHINGTON -- For months, the politics of the Iraq war have been frozen in place, with stalwart Republicans defending President Bush's policy and most Democrats shunning a direct challenge. Now, the ice has begun to crack. In the face of solidifying public opposition to the war, a mounting U.S. body count and a renewed focus on the faulty intelligence used to justify the war, Democratic lawmakers and candidates have sharpened their critique of the administration's policy and, in some cases, urged a withdrawal of U.S. troops. "The mood has really shifted," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who in August became...

Washington - Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold, who supported the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court, voiced serious questions Thursday about the qualifications and independence of President Bush's latest nominee, White House counsel Harriet Miers. A member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Feingold said in an interview that he was "puzzled" by the choice. He said the selection of Miers raised at least two issues that were not present in the confirmation of Roberts, now chief justice of the United States. "The president has chosen someone here about whom objectivity and independence is a very real question. He's selling...

(Defends timetable) MANCHESTER, N.H. - The presence of American troops in Iraq with no plan for withdrawing them makes it easier for terrorists to train recruits to fight what they see as the U.S. occupation, Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold said Friday. Feingold, a Democrat who may be exploring a possible run for president, came to Manchester to support Mayor Bob Baines, who is running for re-election. But he took questions on national and international issues after a downtown stroll. Feingold said it's too early to talk about a presidential run, but he said he wants someone to run who will...

POTENTIAL 2008 Democratic presidential contender Senator Russ Feingold has made an early appeal to anti-war activists and set himself apart from possible rivals by calling for a pullout of US troops from Iraq by the end of next year. No other Democrat pondering a run for the White House, nor any of the party's congressional leaders or prominent foreign policy voices, has broken with Republican President George W. Bush and endorsed a timetable for Iraq withdrawal. The lack of strong opposition on Iraq from a deeply divided Democratic Party, even as polls show growing public unhappiness with the war, has...

WASHINGTON - By issuing an early call for a timetable to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, Sen. Russ Feingold could emerge as the Democrats' anti-war candidate of 2008, in the tradition of Eugene McCarthy and Howard Dean. Although Democrats have been critical of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, they have been reluctant to call for a timetable to leave, fearing it could reinforce stereotypes that their party is weak on national security. Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat who is comfortable on the outskirts of his party, counters that setting an end date in Iraq - preferably by the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Russ Feingold, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, will visit New Hampshire next month, the state with the first primary in the nation. Feingold campaign spokesman George Aldrich said Monday that the Wisconsin Democrat has accepted an invitation to appear at a fundraiser and news conference with Manchester's Democratic mayor, Bob Baines, who is up for re-election. Feingold also will speak at the first annual Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner, hosted by the Rockingham County Democrats. But Aldrich said the visit had nothing to do with a possible presidential campaign. "This is a way for him to help...

FAIRCHILD, WIS. -- When Sen. Russ Feingold came here for his 893rd listening session, retired teacher Roland Mead popped a blunt question: "How does President Russ Feingold sound to you?" "Like a lot of work," Feingold replied, moving quickly to the next question. The third-term Wisconsin Democrat says it is too soon to decide whether he will run for president in 2008, but he is looking and sounding like a candidate, promising to travel to all 50 states to make the case for his party. In Washington, Feingold's name is on all the short lists of possible candidates, creating a...

WASHINGTON - Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, a blunt Midwestern maverick who isn't afraid to defy his party, is perfectly placed to make the kind of impression that gets a run for the presidential nomination off to a quick start. Feingold, a potential 2008 Democratic hopeful, has what his more famous colleague from New York, Sen. Hillary Clinton, lacks: a starring role on a Senate committee that will repeatedly make big news over the next six months. The big opportunity: a Supreme Court vacancy. Picture a weeks-long nomination battle in the Senate Judiciary Committee, on which Feingold serves, broadcast live on...