All eyes on FEINGOLD

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Article includes some indications on his Alito vote, his Anti-Iraq war stance, wiretaps, and what REALLY matters to people: jobs, health care etc. And he takes on a dissenter/FReeper. This guy is the real deal. Forget the has-beens (Gore, Clark, Edwards) in '08.



http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/jan06/385297.asp

All eyes are on Feingold as senator's all ears again:
'Listening session' shows he's attracting attention

Lake Geneva - You're one of the hot acts in American politics, you're coming off a big role in a week of Supreme Court nomination hearings, and the Sunday morning TV talking heads are talking about you.

So, Russ Feingold, how about a dose of where people - or at least many of your supporters - are really at, on matters big and small, global and local, profound and occasionally wacko?

snip

And if the first person you call on wants to air conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11 attacks - it was an inside job - let that be all the more a way of saying that we're not on CNN in prime time at the moment. This is small-town Wisconsin, and anyone is welcome to tell the senator (briefly) whatever he or she wants.

snip

In 1992, when Feingold ran as an underdog for the U.S. Senate, one of his pledges was to visit every county every year and listen to what people had to say. Now he is in his 14th year in the Senate, and the listening session Sunday in Walworth County, which Feingold lost in 2004, was his 942nd. Nos. 943 through 945 are scheduled for Tuesday in Dodgeville, Richland Center and the Sauk County community of Plain.

[IndyOp]

1. Way to go Russ! Can he make it to every county in the Nation?

The session was scheduled to last an hour, but it went 40 minutes longer than that, as Feingold called on more than 60 people who asked whether they could give him their thoughts. His answers to people with individual concerns such as problems getting drugs through Medicare were often that he would have a staff member contact them later.

But he took everyone seriously, including the man who complained that something should be done about the corrupt guards in the jail where he was locked up three years ago.

And when one - and only one - person got up to say that he had voted for Bush and wanted Feingold to vote to confirm Alito, to work on ending legalized abortion and to oppose legalization of marriage between homosexuals, and unhappy murmurs passed through audience, Feingold told everyone to stay quiet.

"He has a right to say that," Feingold said. "I'll listen."

:kick:

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2. Well, the crowd won't have to sign

loyalty oahtes, that's for sure.