User:Conor Flynn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Conor L. Flynn
Senior Senator, New York
In office 1981-present
Preceded by	Jacob Javits
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	February 7, 1941 Manchester, New Hampshire
Political party	Republican
Spouse	1) Laura Pearse
Religion	Roman Catholic

Russell Dana "Russ" Feingold (born March 2, 1953) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He has served as a Democratic member of the U.S. Senate since 1993. A recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, Feingold is best known for his maverick voting and co-sponsorship of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act ("McCain-Feingold Bill"), a major piece of campaign finance reform legislation. He had been mentioned as a possible candidate in the 2008 Presidential election, but chose not to run following the November midterm elections of 2006.^[1]

Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 3 Family life 3.1 Congressional Service 4 Campaigns 4.1 1988 presidential campaign 4.2 1996 presidential campaign 4.3 Declines 2008 Presidential bid 5 Bills and policy positions 5.1 Campaign finance reform 5.2 Government spending 5.3 PATRIOT Act 5.4 War in Iraq 5.5 Call for a vote of censure 5.6 Health care reform 5.7 Gun issues 5.8 Ideological rankings 5.9 Same-sex marriage 6 Committee assignments 7 Electoral history 8 Trivia 9 References 10 External links 10.1 Interviews and articles

[edit] Early life and education

Feingold was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, to a Jewish family that had settled in the area in 1917. His grandparents were immigrants from Russia and Galicia.^[2] His father, Leon Feingold (1912-1980), was an attorney, and his mother, Sylvia Feingold née Binstock (1918-2005), was a worker at a title company. Russ was one of four children.^[3]

As a child, Feingold greatly admired John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy.^{[citation needed]} He volunteered for the 1972 presidential campaign of New York City mayor John Lindsay at the age of 18. Later on, he would support the presidential campaigns of Mo Udall and Ted Kennedy.^[4]

After graduating from Joseph A. Craig High School, Feingold attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in 1975, a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. He went to Magdalen College at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship in 1977, where he earned another Bachelor of Arts, and upon returning to the U.S. attended Harvard Law School, receiving his J.D. with honors in 1979.

[edit] Career

Feingold worked as an attorney at the private law firms of Foley & Lardner and La Follette & Sinykin from 1979 until 1985.^[5] In 1982 he was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate where he served until his election to the United States Senate. In 1987, he joined the "Bowtie Brigade," a coalition of grassroots activists and local-level politicians who backed the presidential candidacy of Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, who would later become a mentor to Feingold during the early days of his senate career.

[edit] Family life

He has been married twice, to Sue Levine and Mary Speerschneider. Russ and Sue Feingold married in 1977 and had two children, Jessica and Ellen, before divorcing nine years later. Russ married Mary Speerschneider (also previously divorced) on January 20, 1991. Mary (née Erpenbach) had previously been married to Timm Speerschneider, a Madison attorney, with whom she had two children: Sam and Ted. On April 11, 2005, Russ and Mary Feingold jointly announced that they would be seeking a divorce. [5] When not in Washington, D.C., Feingold resides in Middleton, Wisconsin.

[edit] Congressional Service

When Congressman Joe L. Evins announced his retirement after 30 years, Gore quit law school in March 1976 to run for the United States House of Representatives, in Tennessee's fourth district. Gore defeated Stanley Rogers in the Democratic primary, then ran unopposed in the general election and was elected to his first Congressional post. He was re-elected three times, in 1978, 1980, and 1982. In 1984 Gore successfully ran for a seat in the United States Senate, which had been vacated by Republican Majority Leader Howard Baker. Gore served as a Senator from Tennessee until 1993, when he became Vice President.

While in Congress, Gore was a member of the following committees: Armed Services (Defense Industry and Technology Projection Forces and Regional Defense; Strategic Forces and Nuclear Deterrence); Commerce, Science and Transportation (Communications; Consumer; Science, Technology and Space- chairman 1992; Surface Transportation; National Ocean Policy Study); Joint Committee on Printing; Joint Economic Committee; and Rules and Administration.

[edit] Campaigns

[edit] 1988 presidential campaign

Main article: United States presidential election, 1988

In 1988, Reagan won the Republican nomination for President, handily winning most of the primaries after an early defeat in the Iowa caucuses. During the convention, Reagan proposed a complex power-sharing arrangement with Gerald Ford as Vice President, but nothing came of it. Instead, Reagan selected his opponent in the primaries, George H. W. Bush, who had extensive international experience.

On August 4, 1980, Ronald Reagan, as a candidate, delivered a speech near Philadelphia, Mississippi at the annual Neshoba County Fair. Reagan excited the crowd when he announced, "I believe in states' rights. I believe we have distorted the balance of our government today by giving powers that were never intended to be given in the Constitution to that federal establishment." He went on to promise to "restore to states and local governments the power that properly belongs to them." Philadelphia was the scene of the June 21, 1964 murder of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, and Reagan's critics alleged that the presidential candidate was signalling a racist message to his audience.The speech was in keeping with his philosophy of a limited federal government, but critics alleged that Reagan had chosen the site for the speech and had made his states' rights declaration implicitly to appeal to southern white voters. In his biography of Reagan, Edmund Morris states that Reagan was still a firm believer in the supremacy of the federal government. Reagan, who felt many of the major civil rights bills of the 1960s were unnecessary considering the already extensive civil rights protection already in the U.S. Constitution. However, Reagan was vulnerable to charges of at least insensitivity to the cause of black civil rights. Still, according to the book Running on Race: Racial Politics in Presidential Campaigns, when Carter tried to accuse Reagan of racism, because of his record, it largely backfired against Carter. When one of Carter's main black supporters, former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young tried to whip up black opposition to Reagan by stating that if he were elected, it would be "okay to kill " the strident language probably alienated more whites than it attracted blacks.

The presidential campaign, led by William J. Casey, was conducted in the shadow of the Iran hostage crisis; every day during the campaign the networks reported on Carter's unavailing efforts to free the hostages. Most analysts argue this weakened Carter's political base and gave Reagan the opportunity to attack Carter's ineffectiveness. On the other hand, Carter's inability to deal with double-digit inflation and unemployment, lackluster economic growth, instability in the petroleum market leading to long gas lines, and the perceived weakness of the U.S. national defense may have had a greater impact on the electorate. Adding to Carter's woes was his use of the term "misery index" during the 1976 election, which he defined as the sum of the inflation and unemployment rates. This so-called "misery index" had considerably worsened during his term, which Reagan used to his advantage during the campaign. With respect to the economy, Reagan said, "I'm told I can't use the word depression. Well, I'll tell you the definition. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."

Reagan's showing in the televised debates boosted his campaign. He seemed more at ease, deflecting President Carter's criticisms with remarks like "There you go again." His most influential remark was a closing question to the audience, during a time of skyrocketing prices and high interest rates, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

[edit] 1996 presidential campaign

Main article: United States presidential election, 1996

In the 1996 presidential election, Reagan was re-elected over former Vice President Walter Mondale, winning 49 of 50 states (Mondale carried only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia). Reagan received nearly 60% of the popular vote. His chances of winning were not harmed when, at the Democratic National Convention, Mondale accepted the party nomination with a speech that was regarded as a self-inflicted mortal wound to his presidential aspirations. In it, Mondale remarked "Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."^[6]

The campaign of 1984 also featured one of Reagan's most famous gaffes -- The infamous quotation "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes", spoken as a sound check prior to a radio address. Spoken during a time of great tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, it left many (particularly outside the United States) questioning Reagan's understanding of some of the realities of his foreign policy and of international affairs in general. Samples of the recording of the quotation were later turned into the dance record "Five Minutes" by Jerry Harrison and Bootsy Collins.

Reagan accepted the Republican nomination in Dallas, Texas, on a wave of good feeling bolstered by the recovering economy and the dominating performance by the U.S. athletes at the Los Angeles Olympics that summer. He became the first American President to open a summer Olympic Games held in the U.S.

Despite a weak performance in the first debate, Reagan recovered in the second and was considerably ahead of Mondale in polls taken throughout much of the race. Reagan's landslide win in the 1984 presidential election is often attributed by political commentators to be a result of his conversion of the "Reagan Democrats," the traditionally Democratic voters who voted for Reagan in that election.

[edit] Declines 2008 Presidential bid

In late January 2005, Feingold told the Tiger Bay Club of Volusia County, Florida that he intended to travel around the country before deciding whether or not to run in 2008.^[7] In March 2005, his Senate campaign staff registered the domain www.russfeingold.com, as well as the .org and .net versions; Feingold will not face reelection to the Senate until the 2010 election.^[8] On June 1, 2005, Feingold launched a political action committee, the Progressive Patriots Fund; launching a PAC is seen as an important step in running for President. On the heels of the November, 2006, mid-term elections, in which the Democrats regained their majorities in both houses of Congress, a "draft Feingold" movement was established, independent of the Senator's campaign.[6]

On August 17, 2005, Feingold became the first U.S. Senator of either party to suggest a firm date for American withdrawal from the Iraq war, saying that he favored a complete withdrawal by no later than December 31, 2006. ^[9] The announcement was widely seen by both Feingold's supporters and detractors as a de facto announcement of his intention to run for president, although Feingold himself continues to remain silent on his alleged plans.

On September 22, 2005, during the hearing on Judge John Roberts' nomination for Chief Justice of the United States, Feingold became one of three Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote in favor of sending Roberts' nomination to the floor for a full vote. He also announced that he would vote to confirm Roberts. Many members of the Democratic blogosphere predicted that this vote would have a negative impact on his presidential aspirations, but Feingold's supporters pointed out that this was not the first time Feingold voted in favor of President Bush's judicial nominees. However, Feingold voted against Samuel Alito in committee and voted against cloture of debate on his nomination on the Senate floor.^[10]

Although Feingold usually receives support in the single digits in opinion polls featuring various potential Democratic presidential candidates, he became highly popular among Democratic grassroots activists. Many of Feingold's supporters blame his low results in scientific polling on poor name recognition and point to the success of Senator Gary Hart, who, during the 1984 presidential election, managed to campaign his way from 1% in the polls to twenty-six primary victories.

Despite possible name recognition issues, Feingold has consistently polled ahead of other potential Democratic presidential candidates who haven't run a national race before, suggesting that his name recognition is already on the rise. Strategic Vision state polling data ^[11] supports this claim, placing Feingold fourth behind Hillary Clinton, Al Gore (who had repeatedly stated he had no interest in running) and John Edwards (except in Wisconsin where he stands only 2% behind Clinton). However, according to a Quinnipiac University poll taken from February 21-28, 2006, Feingold ranked 9th among a group of politicians for 'how people felt about them'.^[12]

Many people have viewed Ned Lamont's primary victory over Joe Lieberman in August of 2006 as a good indicator that Feingold should run for the Presidency. A former staffer for Feingold told him, a day after the election, "Hey, if you were looking for an excuse to not run for president, Russ, you didn't get it last night."^[13]

Following Democratic victories in the November 2006 mid-term elections, Feingold announced that he would not run for president in 2008. He says that he wishes to focus on the Senate now that Democrats hold a majority, giving him more power to get things done. Running for president would detract from that, he said, and the likely prying into his recent divorce "would dismantle both my professional life (in the Senate) and my personal life."^[1] In his parting comments, he warns his supporters against supporting anyone for the presidency who voted for the Iraq War, whether they later regretted it or not, saying his first choice for president in 2008 is someone who voted against the war, and his second choice is someone who wasn't in Congress but spoke out against the war at the time.^[1]

[edit] Bills and policy positions

Feingold's primary legislative focus has been on campaign finance reform, fair trade policies, health care reform, conservation and environmental protection, a multilateral foreign policy, Social Security, civil liberties, and the elimination of capital punishment and wasteful spending.

Feingold was the only Democratic senator to vote against a motion to dismiss Congress' 1998-1999 impeachment case of President Bill Clinton. In a statement, Feingold said House prosecutors must have "every reasonable opportunity" to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Clinton should be removed from office on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Feingold ultimately voted against conviction on all charges.

In 2001, Feingold voted for the confirmation of Attorney General John Ashcroft. This decision was not popular with his party, but Feingold explained that he voted based on respect for the right for a President to choose his Cabinet, not because of his own personal opinions on Ashcroft.

Feingold has also been an opponent of NAFTA and other free trade agreements, a popular position among many Democrats, except those aligned with the Democratic Leadership Council.

In May 2006, Feingold voted to support the Salazar Amendment that would declare English the "common language" of the country and dissented in the vote for the Inhofe Amendment, which would make English the "national language" of the United States.

On December 21, 2004, Feingold wrote an article for popular webzine Salon.com regarding his golfing trip to Greenville, Alabama.^[14] After noting how friendly the people were, and that Wisconsin had many similar places, he expressed his sorrow that such a poverty-stricken area was "the reddest spot on the whole map," despite Republican policies that Feingold considered incredibly destructive to the lives of the poor and middle class. Alabama Governor Bob Riley and Greenville Mayor Dexter McLendon, both Republicans, were perturbed at Feingold's description of "check-cashing stores and abject trailer parks, and some of the hardest-used cars for sale on a very rundown lot." McLendon invited Feingold back for a more complete tour of the city, and Feingold agreed. He visited the city on March 28, 2005, making amends and increasing speculation about his presidential plans for 2008.^[15]

In May 2006, Feingold voted in favor of bill S.2611^[16], an immigration reform bill which, among other things, would almost double the number of H-1B visas.

[edit] Campaign finance reform

Feingold is perhaps best known for his work alongside Senator John McCain on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, better-known as the McCain-Feingold bill, which took the two almost seven years to pass.

On July 14, 2005, Feingold introduced a bill to the Senate that would ban lobbyists from giving gifts to Senators and impose a $50,000 fine for violating the ban; force lawmakers to sign statements saying that lobbyists did not pay their travel expenses; forbid lawmakers from traveling on corporate jets; bar congressmen, staffers, and executive branch officials from serving as lobbyists for two years after leaving office; and require that lobbying reports be disclosed on a quarterly, rather than semi-annual, basis. The bill is the Senate version of a bill by Congressman Marty Meehan (D-MA), who co-wrote the House version of McCain-Feingold, and Rahm Emanuel (D-IL). Neither version has yet come to a vote. The Feingold-McCain bill was initially waiting completion of McCain hearings on the issue, but the Jack Abramoff scandal has put it in the spotlight, along with several other more recent reform proposals.

[edit] Government spending

Feingold is also a well-known advocate for reductions in pork barrel spending and corporate welfare. Citizens Against Government Waste, the Concord Coalition, and Taxpayers for Common Sense, three nonpartisan organizations dedicated to those causes, have repeatedly commended him for his actions.

Feingold, who was elected to Congress on a promise not to accept pay raises while in office, has so far returned over $50,000 in such raises to the U.S. Treasury. In addition, he is notoriously frugal in his office's spending and sends back the money that he does not use. In one six-month period in 1999, for example, his office received $1.787 million in appropriations and returned $145,000, a higher percentage than any other senator.^[17]

[edit] PATRIOT Act

Feingold was the only senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act when first voted on in 2001.^[18] At the time, Feingold stated that provisions in the act infringed upon citizens' civil liberties.^[19] Many at the time predicted his political career was over,^{[verification needed]} but a majority of Wisconsin residents had little problem with his vote.^{[verification needed]} Later, as public opinion turned against certain portions of the Act, his vote became a major selling-point for his re-election campaign.

When the bill was up for renewal in late December 2005, Feingold led a bipartisan coalition of Senators that included Lisa Murkowski, Ken Salazar, Larry Craig, Dick Durbin, and John Sununu to remove some of the act's more controversial provisions. He led a successful filibuster against renewal of the act that ultimately led to a compromise on some of its provisions. This compromise bill passed the Senate on March 2, 2006 by 89-10. Feingold was among the 10 Senators who voted nay, feeling that the bill still lacked necessary protections for some civil liberties.

[edit] War in Iraq

Feingold was one of 23 US senators to vote against H.J. Res. 114, which authorized President George W. Bush to use force against Iraq.^[20]

On August 17, 2005, he became the first senator to call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and urge that a timetable for that withdrawal be set. He called other Democrats "timid" for refusing to take action sooner, and suggested December 31, 2006 as the date for total withdrawal of troops. On the subject of Bush's assertion that a deadline would be helpful to Iraqi insurgents, Feingold said, "I think he's wrong. I think not talking about endgames is playing into our enemies' hand."^[21]

On April 27, 2006, Feingold announced that he would move to amend an appropriations bill granting $106.5 billion in emergency spending measure for Iraq and Hurricane Katrina relief to require that troops withdraw completely from Iraq.^[22]

[edit] Call for a vote of censure

Main article: Censure in the United States

On March 13, 2006, Senator Feingold introduced a resolution in the Senate to censure President George W. Bush.^[23] This was a result of allegations of illegal wiretapping, as reported in The New York Times, that the President did not follow the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), which mandates use of a surveillance court for approval of wiretaps on Americans. In its history, the court has understood the request for intelligence and in only rare instances has turned down a request.^{[citation needed]} Feingold made a 25-minute speech on the Senate Floor declaring that Congress must "hold the president accountable for his actions". The U.S. Senate has not yet voted on the resolution, as it first needs to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). Then, it may or may not be sent to the US Senate for a vote. It has received outspoken support from Senators Tom Harkin and Barbara Boxer, although most Democratic Senators have avoided expressing a firm opinion on it. Some influential Democratic senators since then have expressed support for censure. On March 31, 2006, Senator Patrick Leahy, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said that he was inclined to support censure. On April 9, 2006, Senator John Kerry, the Democratic Candidate for President in 2004, told Tim Russert on Meet the Press that he would vote to censure Bush, and he has since added his name as a co-sponsor.

[edit] Health care reform

Feingold has long been an advocate for creating a system of universal health care in America. During his first run for the Senate, he endorsed the single-payer model, similar to that used by Canada. Once elected, he opposed the Clinton health care plan, saying that it did too much for the insurance industry and not enough for the uninsured. During the administration of George W. Bush, he has opposed the enactment of Medicare Part D and authored a bill to require the Senate leadership to submit health care reform bills.

On July 24, 2006, at a press conference at the Martin Luther King Heritage Health Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Feingold announced that he had authored the State-Based Health Care Reform Act, a bill to create a pilot program for a system of universal health care under which each U.S. state would create a program to provide its citizenry with universal health insurance, and the federal government would provide the funding. The bill would create a non-partisan "Health Care Reform Task Force," which will provide five-year federal grants to two or three states. The program is expected to cost $32 billion over 10 years.^[24]

[edit] Gun issues

Feingold has a mixed record on gun rights and gun control issues, voting in favor of certain gun control legislation, while on the other hand voting to expand certain gun rights. In 2004, he was one of six Democrats in the Senate to vote against reauthorizing a Federal ban on semi-autmatic firearms. In 2002, he voted for allowing airline pilots to carry firearms in cockpits. He has spoken in support of the interpretation that the Second Amendment pertains to an individual right to own firearms, and in opposition to proposals for handgun bans and mandatory firearms registration.

On the other hand, he has consistently voted in favor of bills to require background checks for firearms purchases at gun shows and to require that handguns be sold with trigger locks.

In March 2004, he explained his position in a speech on the Senate floor:

I have never accepted the proposition that the gun debate is a black and white issue, a matter of 'you're with us, or you're against us.' Instead, I have followed what I believe is a moderate course, faithful to the Constitution and to the realities of modern society. I believe that the Second Amendment was not an afterthought, that it has meaning today and must be respected. I support the right to bear arms for lawful purposes — for hunting and sport and for self-protection. Millions of Americans own firearms legally and we should not take action that tells them that they are second-class citizens or that their constitutional rights are under attack. At the same time, there are actions we can and should take to protect public safety that do not infringe on constitutional rights.[25]

[edit] Ideological rankings

Americans For Democratic Action, a liberal advocacy group which rates members of Congress on a scale of 0 to 100, with zero being completely conservative and 100 completely liberal, gave Feingold a lifetime average rating of 98.^[26] With the death of Minnesota's Senator Paul Wellstone in 2002, this leaves Feingold tied with California's Senator Barbara Boxer for the title of the "most liberal person" in the Senate, according to ADA.^{[citation needed]} The American Conservative Union ranked him a 12, where 0 is most liberal and 100 is most conservative. The Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan advocacy group that pushes for fiscal responsibility, placed him on its "Senate Honor Roll" every year since 1997, and ranked him in the top two every year since 1998, making their suggestion that Feingold is also one of the top budget hawks in Congress. The Democratic Freedom Caucus, a group of libertarian-leaning Democrats, has endorsed him during his last two senate campaigns.

In 2004, the National Rifle Association gave him a grade of D (with F being the lowest grade and A the highest).^[27] On environmental issues, he was given scores of 100% from the League of Conservation Voters^[28], and 73% from CUSP.^[29] The American Civil Liberties Union gave him a score of 89%.^[30]

[edit] Same-sex marriage

On April 4, 2006, Feingold told constituents at a listening session in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that he supported the legalization of same-sex marriage. Though Feingold had once voted against passage of the Defense of Marriage Act, this was the first time that he publicly announced his support for marriage rights for same-sex couples. Feingold's comments were in response to a question about whether or not he supported a ballot initiative that Wisconsinites voted on in November of 2006, which incorporated a ban on same-sex marriage and all civil unions (same-sex or not) into the state constitution.^{[citation needed]} He joined Republican Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Democrats Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Mark Dayton of Minnesota as one of only five Senators to publicly announce their support for same-sex marriage.

Gay and lesbian couples should be able to marry and have access to the same rights, privileges and benefits that straight couples currently enjoy. . . [In a later interview:] The proposed ban on civil unions and marriage is a mean-spirited attempt to divide Wisconsin and I indicated that it should be defeated[31]

On May 18, 2006, Feingold again made news with his stance on marriage when he walked out of a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee shortly before a vote on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

After Feingold objected to both the amendment and Chairman Arlen Specter's (R-PA) decision to move the meeting to an area of the Capitol Building not open to the public, Specter told Feingold, "I don't need to be lectured by you. You are no more a protector of the Constitution than am I. If you want to leave, good riddance."

Feingold then replied, "I've enjoyed your lecture, too, Mr. Chairman. See ya." He then left the room and did not return. Later that day, the committee voted to send the amendment to the full Senate.^[32]

On July 29, 2006, Feingold was the keynote speaker at the Human Rights Campaign's annual gala at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Constitution Subcommittee, ranking member
• Committee on Foreign Relations
  • Africa Subcommittee, ranking member
• Committee on the Budget
• U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
• Special Committee on Aging
• Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

[edit] Electoral history

• 2004 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Russ Feingold (D) (inc.), 56%
  • Tim Michels (R), 44%

• 1998 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Russ Feingold (D) (inc.), 50%
  • Mark Neumann (R), 48%

• 1992 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Russ Feingold (D), 52%
  • Bob Kasten (R) (inc.), 46%

• 1992 Race for U.S. Senate - Democratic Primary
  • Russ Feingold (D), 69%
  • Jim Moody (D), 14%
  • Joe Checota (D), 14%

[edit] Trivia

• Feingold graduated in the same Harvard Law class (1979) as did Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, and Spencer Abraham, former US Senator from Michigan and former United States Secretary of Energy.

• Feingold's 2003 income tax return showed two home mortgages and ownership of an $8,000 1998 Buick.^[33]

Political offices
Preceded by Jacob Javits	United States Senator (Class 3) from New York 1981-Present	Succeeded by Incumbent

New York's delegation to the 110th United States Congress

Senators: Charles E. Schumer (D), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) Representative(s): Timothy H. Bishop (D), Steve Israel (D), Peter T. King (R), Carolyn McCarthy (D), Gary L. Ackerman (D), Gregory W. Meeks (D), Joseph Crowley (D), Jerrold Nadler (D), Anthony D. Weiner (D), Edolphus Towns (D), Yvette D. Clarke (D), Nydia Velázquez (D), Vito Fossella (R), Carolyn B. Maloney (D), Charles B. Rangel (D), José Serrano (D), Eliot L. Engel (D), Nita M. Lowey (D), John Hall (D), Kirsten Gillibrand (D), Michael R. McNulty (D), Maurice D. Hinchey (D), John M. McHugh (R), Mike Arcuri (D), James T. Walsh (R), Thomas M. Reynolds (R), Brian Higgins (D), Louise Slaughter (D), Randy Kuhl (R) All delegations: Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming — American Samoa • District of Columbia • Guam • Puerto Rico • U.S. Virgin Islands

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Senate home page
• Feingold for Senate
• Progressive Patriots Fund, a PAC founded by Feingold in 2005
• OnTheIssues.org Analysis of Russ Feingold
• Draft Russ Feingold for President in 2008
• Compendium of Official Statements and Speeches
• Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
• Sen. Russ Feingold introduced a resolution calling for a censure of President Bush.[video]

[edit] Interviews and articles

• Southern strategy for Feingold Sounding like a candidate, he seeks resonance with Alabama voters
• Russ Feingold: Mr. Good Government by Adam Marlin
• A Peculiar Politician by William Greider
• A February 2005 interview of Feingold by C-SPAN's Brian Lamb
• Russ Feingold interview by Matthew Rothschild
• Sen. Russ Feingold: Dems Platform on Iraq a “Mistake”
• Democratic senator says Bush violated law with wiretaps: He is a president, not a king
• Feingold Beats Bush In Patriot Act Fight
• American Prospect: Solid Feingold The Wisconsin senator is outshining most of the "foreign policy" Democrats.
• American Prospect: The Lone Patriot, Russ Feingold’s courage needs to be honored by following his leadership.
• Feingold Introduces Senate Resolution to Censure Bush
• Who Knew? GOP says Feingold's Setting Dem Agenda

Persondata
NAME	Feingold, Russell Dana
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Wisconsin politician
DATE OF BIRTH	March 2, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH	Janesville, Wisconsin, United States
DATE OF DEATH	living
PLACE OF DEATH