Can you say "Governor Russ Feingold"? [View All]

[demwing]

By Steve Kornacki
Salon News Editor
Thursday, Mar 10, 2011 11:29 ET

http://www.salon.com/news/russell_feingold/?story=/politics/war_room/2011/03/10/russ_feingold_governor_recall

The question isn't really if Scott Walker and his fellow Wisconsin Republicans will suffer fallout from their surprise maneuver Wednesday night. It's how severe the fallout will be.

Walker and the state's Republican senators, as you've surely heard by now, decoupled their proposal to strip public workers of their collective bargaining rights from a budget bill, allowing them to push it through the upper chamber with the entire Democratic caucus still holed up across state lines in Illinois. The GOP-controlled Assembly will presumably pass the bill today and Walker will then sign it.

...

Feingold has played a visible role in the fight against Walker's plan, and issued a statement after last night's Senate vote that seemed to endorse the recall push. As I've written before, the breadth of Feingold's popularity in his state was something national observers tended to overstate. He never broke 55 percent in any of his three winning campaigns. But when it comes to the Democratic base, his appeal is deep and abiding. And in the right climate -- in other words, the current climate in Wisconsin -- he's certainly capable of winning a general election as the Democratic nominee.

He wouldn't be the first defeated senator to stage a quick comeback as a gubernatorial candidate. Lincoln Chafee, ousted by Rhode Islanders in 2006, just won that state's governorship as an independent last fall. Lowell Weicker, vanquished by Joe Lieberman in 1988, pulled off the same feat in Connecticut two years later. Feingold shares a quirky maverick streak with both of those men. It's not that hard to see him following in their footsteps.

Feingold for Governor. I LOVE the sound of that! Write or call and let him know Wisconsin still needs him, now more than ever!

Russ Feingold
Progressives United
P.O. Box 620062 Middleton, WI 53562
phone: [phone] | fax: [phone] | email: [e-mail]