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Russ Feingold

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{{Infobox Senator | name=Russell "Russ" Feingold | nationality=american | image name=Russell_Feingold.jpg | jr/sr and state=Junior Senator, Wisconsin | party=Democratic Party (United States) Democratic | term=January 1993–Present | preceded=Bob Kasten | succeeded=Incumbent (2011) | date of birth=March 2, 1953 | place of birth=Janesville, Wisconsin | dead=alive | date of death= | place of death= | spouse=(1) Sue Feingold, divorced
(2) Mary Feingold, divorced
| religion=Jewish }} '''Russell Dana Feingold''' (born March 2, 1953) is an Politics of the United States American politician from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He has served as a United States Democratic Party Democratic member of the United States Senate U.S. Senate since 1993. 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 is a recipient of the Profiles in Courage Award John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. His name has been mentioned as a possible candidate in the U.S. presidential election, 2008 2008 presidential election.

Early life and education
Feingold was born in Janesville, Wisconsin Janesville, Wisconsin, to a Jewish family that had settled in the area in 1917. His father Leon Feingold was an attorney and his mother Sylvia Feingold was a worker at a title company. As a child, Feingold greatly admired John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy. He volunteered for the U.S. presidential election, 1972 1972 presidential campaign of List of mayors of New York City 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. After graduating from Joseph A. Craig High School, Feingold attended the University of Wisconsin University of Wisconsinâ€“Madison and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts academic degree degree with Latin honors honors in 1975, a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society Phi Beta Kappa honor society. He went to Magdalen College, Oxford 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, graduating with a Juris Doctor law degree with honors in 1979.

Career
He worked as an attorney at private law firms from 1979 until 1985. 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 (politician) Paul Simon of Illinois, who would later become a mentor to Feingold during the early days of his senate career.

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 (nÃ©e Erpenbach) had previously been married to Timm Speerschneider, a Madison, Wisconsin 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. [http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/apr05/317534.asp] When not in Washington, Feingold resides in Middleton, Wisconsin.

Campaigns

Senate
Feingold's senatorial career began in 1992 with a surprising victory over incumbent Republican Party (United States) Republican Senator Bob Kasten. Feingold, who had little name recognition in the state and was campaigning in a primary against a pair of millionaire opponents, adopted several proposals to gain the electorate's attention. The most memorable of these was a series of five promises written on Feingold's garage door in the form of a contract. These were: # I will rely on the Wisconsin citizens for most of my contributions. # I will live in Middleton, Wisconsin. My children will go to school here and I will spend most of my time here in Wisconsin. # I will accept no pay raise during my six-year term in office. # I will hold a "Listening Session" in each of Wisconsin's 72 counties each year of my six-year term in office. # I will hire the majority of my Senate staff from individuals who are from Wisconsin or have Wisconsin backgrounds. Also much-noted was Feingold's advertising campaign, which was widely compared to that used by progressive candidate Paul Wellstone in his victorious Senate campaign in Minnesota. Shot in the form of home movies, the ads attempted to portray Feingold, who always referred to himself as "the Underdog (competition) underdog running for U.S. senate," as a down-to-earth, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Capra-esque figure, taking the audience on a guided tour of the candidate's heavily-mortgaged home and introducing them to his children, all of whom were enrolled in public education public school. The ads also contained a significant amount of humor. One featured Feingold meeting with a faux Elvis Presley, who offered Feingold his endorsement. (Bob Kasten responded to the Elvis endorsement with an advertisement featuring an Elvis impersonator attacking Feingold's record.) Another showed Feingold, standing next to a pair of half-sized cardboard cut-outs of his opponents, refusing to "stoop to their level" as the two were shown literally slinging mud at one another. In still another, Feingold was shown conclusively demonstrating that there were no skeletons in any of his closets. During the primary campaign, Feingold unveiled an 82-point plan to eliminate the deficit by the end of his first term. The plan, which called for, among other things, a raise in taxes and cuts in the United States Department of Defense defense budget, was derided as "extremist" by Republicans and "too liberal" by his Democratic opponents. Feingold also announced his support for strict campaign finance reform and a universal health care national health care system and voiced his opposition to term limits and new tax cuts. On primary day, Feingold, whose support had shown in the single digits throughout much of the campaign, stunned observers by surging to victory with 70% of the vote. With only seven weeks before the election, the momentum created by this upset win, along with support from people who came out to vote for presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Ross Perot, allowed Feingold to beat Kasten by 6% on election day. During his 1998 re-election campaign, Feingold once again eschewed big-money campaigning, despite the fact that the National Republican Senatorial Committee had targeted him for defeat. Feingold placed a cap on his own fundraising, refusing to raise or spend more than $3.8 million (one dollar for every citizen of Wisconsin) during the campaign. In addition, he placed the same limits on his fundraising that he would have faced under the McCain-Feingold bill. He refused to allow his party to raise any Soft money#Hard money and soft money soft money to air ads favoring him and he requested that several special interest groups, including the AFL-CIO and the League of Conservation Voters, refrain from airing pro-Feingold "issue ads." His Republican opponent, Congressman Mark Neumann, also limited himself to $3.8 million in spending, but allowed soft money to be used in his favor by a variety of pro-Republican groups. On election day, an extraordinarily strong showing in the Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin Madison allowed Feingold to win by less than one percent of the vote. In the U.S. Senate election, 2004 2004 Senate election, Feingold defeated the Republican candidate, construction magnate Tim Michels, by 12% (56%-44%), earning a third term. During the campaign, Feingold refrained from imposing spending caps on himself as he had in the past, and raised and spent almost $11 million. Although Republicans attempted to use that fact to paint him as a hypocrite, Feingold's records showed that more than 90% of the money came from individuals, that the average contribution was only $60, and that, once again, a majority of it was raised from Wisconsin residents [http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?CID=N00000036&cycle=2004]. Feingold's victory was seen by many pundits as a vindication of the many controversial stances that he had taken during his second term, as it was by far his largest electoral victory thus far. Feingold even won many counties which also supported the re-election of Republican President George W. Bush. Senator Feingold regularly holds what he refers to as "listening sessions" in all 72 Wisconsin county counties to listen to his constituents' concerns, and has held more than 850 since he was elected to office. Perhaps as a result of his success in the 2004 elections, in late December 2004, Feingold was appointed to be one of four deputy whip (politics) whips for the Senate Democrats. Feingold has pledged that the new role would not sway his maverick stance within the party or the chamber.

Possible Presidential run
There is talk of Feingold seeking the Democratic Party's Presidential or Vice-Presidential nomination in 2008. In December 2004, a website urging Feingold to run for president was created, followed by others. [http://www.draftruss.org] [http://www.russforpresident.com/]In addition to these sites, there are numerous state blogs appearing at an encouraging pace, such as [http://socalfeingold08.blogspot.com California for Feingold '08], for example. 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. [http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/feb05/298859.asp] In March 2005, his senate campaign registered the domain [http://www.russfeingold.com www.russfeingold.com], as well as the .org and .net versions; Feingold will not face reelection to the Senate until the U.S. Senate election, 2010 2010 election. [http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/features/index.php?ntid=32422&ntpid=1] On June 1, Feingold launched a political action committee, the [http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com/ Progressive Patriots Fund]. Launching a PAC is seen as an important step in running for President. His recent announcement of divorce is believed by some, such as political science political scientist Larry Sabato, to mark the end of his Presidential ambitions, as being twice-divorced is a perceived liability among socially conservative voters. [http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/11377205.htm] Others, such as blog blogger Markos Moulitsas ZÃºniga (better known as "Daily Kos Kos"), have disagreed, pointing to successful Republican political figures with multiple divorces. 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 [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/17/AR2005081701778.html]. 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 John Roberts Supreme Court nomination and hearings hearing on Judge John Roberts's nomination for Chief Justice of the United States, Feingold became one of three Democrats on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary 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 have predicted that this vote will have a negative impact on his presidential aspirations, although Feingold's supporters point out that this is not the first time that he has voted in favor of President Bush's judicial nominees. However, Feingold voted against Samuel Alito in both committee and on the Senate floor. Although Feingold usually receives support in the single digits in opinion polls featuring various potential Democratic presidential candidates, he remains highly popular among Democratic grassroots democracy grassroots activism activists. In a recent nonscientific poll by influential American Liberalism liberal blog, Daily Kos, Feingold took first with 48 percent of the vote [http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/21/122821/923]. 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 U.S. presidential election, 1984 1984 presidential election, managed to campaign his way from 1% in the polls to twenty-six primary election 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. 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'. [http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x11385.xml?ReleaseID=886].

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 (United States) Social Security, abolishing the death penalty, and eliminating wasteful spending. Senator 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 claims 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. However, it was speculated at the time that his vote for Ashcroft was a concession made in order to gain approval of his campaign finance agenda, which passed soon thereafter. Feingold has also been an opponent of NAFTA and other free trade agreements, a popular position among many Democrats, with the exception of those aligned with the Democratic Leadership Council. On December 21 2004, Feingold wrote an [http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/12/21/alabama/index_np.html article] for popular webzine Salon.com regarding his golfing trip to Greenville, Alabama. 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 Red state vs. blue state divide reddest spot on the whole map", in spite of Republican policies that Feingold considered incredibly destructive to the lives of the poor and middle class. Alabama's Governor Bob Riley (Alabama) 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.[http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/NEWSV5/storyV5feingold29w.htm]

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 lobbying 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 Congressmen 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.

Government spending
Feingold is also a well-known advocate for reductions in pork barrel spending and corporate welfare. [http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer Citizens Against Government Waste], the [http://www.concordcoalition.org/ Concord Coalition], and [http://www.taxpayer.net/ Taxpayers for Common Sense], three large, nonpartisan organizations dedicated to those causes, have repeatedly given him awards, words of praise, and endorsements 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 United States Department of the Treasury 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.

PATRIOT Act
Feingold was the [http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00313 only senator] to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act when first voted on in 2001. At the time, Feingold [http://www.archipelago.org/vol6-2/feingold.htm stated] that provisions in the act infringed upon citizens' civil liberties. Many at the time predicted his political career was over, but a majority of Wisconsin residents had little problem with his vote. Later, as public opinion turned against certain portions of the Act, his vote became a major selling-point for his re-election campaign. In late December, 2005, when the bill was up for renewal, Feingold led a bipartisan coalition of Senators that included Lisa Murkowski, Ken Salazar, Larry Craig, Dick Durbin, and John E. Sununu 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.

Gun issues
Feingold has a mixed record on gun politics gun rights and gun control issues, sometimes voting in favor of gun control legislation, while at other times voting to expand gun rights. In 2004, he was one of only six Democrats in the Senate to vote against reauthorizing the federal assault weapons ban. In 2002, he voted in favor of allowing airline pilots to carry firearms in cockpits. He has spoken out in support of the interpretation that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution 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."[http://www.senate.gov/~feingold/speeches/04/03/2004310624.html]

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 totally Conservatism conservative and 100 being completely political progressivism progressive, gave Senator Feingold a lifetime average rating of 96. 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 progressive person" in the Senate, according to ADA. The American Conservative Union, which also ranks from 0 to 100 but sets 0 as the most liberal and 100 as completely conservative, ranked him a 12. At the same time, the [http://www.concordcoalition.org/ Concord Coalition], a nonpartisan advocacy group that pushes for fiscal responsibility, has placed him on its "Senate Honor Roll" every year since 1997, and he has ranked in the top two every year since 1998, making their suggestion that Senator Feingold is also one of the top budget hawks in Congress. The Democratic Freedom Caucus, a group of libertarianism libertarian-leaning Democrats, has endorsed him during his last two senate campaigns. On April 4, 2006, he endorsed full marriage equality for same-sex couples. In 2004, the National Rifle Association gave him a grade of D (with F being the lowest grade and A the highest). [http://www.nrapvf.org/Elections/State.aspx?y=2004&State=WI] On environmental issues, he was given scores of 100% from the League of Conservation Voters [http://www.capwiz.com/lcv/dbq/vote_info/?sort=Last&command=results&last=feingold&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=go], and 73% from CUSP [http://www.uscongress-enviroscore.org/scoretable3.html]. The American Civil Liberties Union gave him a score of 89%. [https://ssl.capwiz.com/aclu/scorecard/?chamber=S&session=108&x=6&y=14#WI]

Call for a vote of censure
{{main|Censure in the United States}} On March 13, 2006, Senator Feingold introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate for a censure of President George W. Bush. 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. 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 floor of the U.S. Senate for a vote.

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

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%

Trivia
* Graduated in the same Harvard Law class as Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and former U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham. * On March 22nd, 2006, he appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

External links
{{wikiquote}}

Official U.S. Government links

- Senate home page

Political action committees

- Feingold for Senate
- Progressive Patriots Fund, a Political action committee PAC founded by Feingold in 2005

Profiles

- About.com Profile of US Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin
- Politics1: P2008 - Profile of Senator Russ Feingold
- OnTheIssues.org Analysis of Russ Feingold
- Compare Your Ideology with Russ's at OnTheIssues.org

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 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 â€œMistakeâ€?
- 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 Feingoldâ€™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

Feingold for President unofficial sites

- Russ Feingold for President
- California for Feingold '08
- Feingold For Michigan
- Feingold for Illinois
- Iowa for Feingold
- Massachusetts for Feingold
- Missouri for Feingold
- New Jersey for Feingold
- New York for Feingold
- Ohio for Feingold
- Equality for Feingold
- Pennsylvania for Feingold
- Tennesseans for Feingold
- Texas for Feingold
- Washington for Feingold
- Feingold for President Petition

Speeches

- Progressive Patriots Fund Video Podcast
- Compendum of Official Statements and Speeches {{start box}} {{succession box | before = Robert W. Kasten, Jr. .html">List of United States Senators from Wisconsin U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Wisconsin | years = 1993- | after = Incumbent}} {{end box}} {{WI-FedRep}} {{Current U.S Senators}} Category:1953 births Feingold, Russ Category:Harvard Law School graduates Feingold, Russ Category:Jewish-American politicians Feingold, Russ Category:Living people Feingold, Russ Category:People from Wisconsin Feingold, Russ Category:Pro-choice politicians Feingold, Russ Category:United States Rhodes scholars Feingold, Russ Category:United States Senators from Wisconsin Feingold, Russ Category:Wisconsin State Senators Feingold, Russ da:Russ Feingold fr:Russ Feingold ja:ãƒ©ã‚¹ãƒ»ãƒ•ã‚¡ã‚¤ãƒ³ã‚´ãƒ¼ãƒ«ãƒ‰

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