Feingold would be a good choice for VP

[WI_DEM]

Why?
1) Feingold represents a key swing state (Wisconsin) in a crucial region of the country in a state where the latest poll gives Bush a six-point lead and earlier polls show a very close race between Bush and Kerry.

2) Kerry's biggest problem going into the general election is with left leaning Independents and democrats who may flirt with voting for Ralph Nader or the candidate of the Green Party. Feingold is very strong with these progressive voters because of his principled stand on the Patriot Act and in opposing the war in Iraq. At the same time, Feingold isn't the type of candidate who will scare away more conservative voters either.

3) Yes, Feingold is up for re-election this year, but if Kerry made an early choice there is more than enough time for us to field a strong candidate in the general election for his senate seat as Wisconsin has many fine Democrats including Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton or Rep. Tammy Baldwin.

[ulysses]

1. it'd be nice, wouldn't it?

No way it happens, though. The party poobahs would freak.

[wuushew]

2. Feingold's seat is under attack from repubs

He really is doing best job possible as Senator, if he is the VP pick his seat will either go repub or to another fake democrat like Kohl.

[WI_DEM]

4. he hasn't drawn a strong opponent

his most likely opponent will be perennial statewide candidate State Sen. Bob Welch who is too conservative to win the general election.

[NeonLX]

5. What, ya don't think Russ Darrow is a strong opponent?

I mean, everybody trusts car dealers, don't they?

I really hope Russ Feingold continues on as Senator--he actually represents *me*...

[WI_DEM]

6. Russ Darrow

one of Tommy Thompson's biggest donators and cronys. He would be a pushover.

I know what you mean about keeping Feingold in the senate, but he is a logical choice for a candidate whose credibility has been tarnished on the left and in a key battleground state. I doubt Kerry would select him anyway.

[wuushew]

7. Feingold is not universally loved.."progressive Wisconsin" is a myth

Feingold's re-election in 1998 was a close call. Senator Mitch McConnell, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and chief opponent of campaign finance reform, poured millions of dollars into anti-Feingold ads and so did many right-wing organizations from outside Wisconsin. Feingold remained true to his campaign principles by rejecting soft money even from national Democratic committees. Although heavily outspent, he eked out a 50% - 48% victory.


-snip-


At this point in Feingold's reelection contest, there are no current public polls. However, a February 2004 Badger Poll sponsored by two newspapers placed Feingold's statewide approval rating at 46% while 52% said they would reelect Feingold. Republicans claim to have a poll showing Feingold with only 41% approval. Either number shows that Feingold needs to solidify his standing in the state. While Feingold has $2.8 million in the bank, independent observers estimate that he will need to raise another $4 million by election day. Both Darrow and Michels have put $500,000 of their own money into their campaigns and have promised to spend whatever is necessary to win


http://64.177.207.201/pages/8_504.html

[WI_DEM]

9. I know it is a myth

and that Kohl, for instance, is more popular, but it is with progressives in the party that Kerry is in trouble with and who trust and admire Feingold. Having a Wisconsinite on the ticket would be enough in a close race to give the state to the Democrats and help Kerry with voters who lean towards or supported Nader (2.8 million of them) in 2000 without hurting Kerry among other voters. Nationally Feingold is best known for being an ally with Sen. John McCain on campaign finance reform which would not hurt either.

[JI7]

11. not true, many progressives support Kerry

they supported him throughout the campaign. there are some who don't like him but they don't represent all progressives. Kerry and Edwards led bush/cheney at times and they both voted for patriot act. this means kerry should get someone like edwards for vp.

[WI_DEM]

12. Edwards is ok

but I don't think he helps with people who might be trending towards Nader or the Greens in the way that Feingold would.

[JI7]

15. Kerry can trust Edwards more

if those who claim to be progressive don't support kerry even with kerry's record and can't see the risk in bush getting into office then kerry can't depend on them to support him. he can depend much more on moderate type voters who edwards can help bring which was what helped edwards come close to kerry in wisconsin even though kerry won a far larger amount of democratic voters.

[hippiechick]

3. I like Lawton as Lt Gov

I worked for her campaign when she first ran for state senate in 95/96 and got smacked by Gary Drezwicki - the Freeptoid Fundie from Pulaski ...

She's a wonderful lady and I think fulfills the role/office of Lt Gov perfectly. And it's a good stepping stone to future political moves (ahem).


The only problem I have pulling Dem Senators to run for VEEP is that we need all the seats we can get in the House and Senate, so IMO, the VEEP choice should be someone not currently holding office.


:hippie:

[JI7]

8. Kerry's problem is with moderate voters who see him as too liberal

on du it may seem his problem is with left leaning voters but du does not represent all of america. at one point kerry and edwards together were beating bush/cheney by a large amount. this shows the patriot act is not an issue for many, and in fact many people support it.

[WI_DEM]

10. I don't see that at all here

Moderate, main stream democrats are his strongest supporters--it is the left in a state where Nader got nearly 100,000 votes (and came within 5000 votes of going to Bush) where there is distrust of Kerry. I sence that to be the case nationally as well.

[JI7]

13. if they don't trust kerry then kerry can't trust them

to vote for him considering he has a great record on many liberal issues. since he did beat bush/cheney with edwards as vp in polls he can trust moderates who like edwards much more to vote for him.

[WI_DEM]

17. there are many fine choices to be on the ticket

but I prefer not to limit it to Edwards or Clark. I think Feingold is a fine candidate and helps Kerry where he needs it. If this were not the case we wouldn't have so many people getting up in arms over the significance of Nader. Dean would also have been someone who would have helped Kerry on the left and with Naderites but since he comes from Vermont which will vote Democratic anyway--Feingold would be a better fit due to his midwestern/Wisconsin roots.

[JI7]

21. Edwards or someone like Edwards

because it is proven it can help. we can make guesses about nader supporters and others, but there is no gaurantee that a certain segment of them will support kerry since they claim to care about liberal issues yet don't see the risk in bush getting into office and disregard kerry's own record which is good on things like environment and civil rights. they will still be able to say "but he voted for iwr, patriot act etc". and feingold voted for ashcroft and opposes gun control although i still support him for senator. but it shows kerry would be best with edwards or edwards type person.

[genius]

14. Feingold's history isn't that good. His claim to fame is USA-PATRIOT

McCain-Feingold is a disaster for Democrats. I was surprised to find out that he votes with the Republicans on environmental issues.

[JI7]

16. he voted for Ashcroft also, and opposes gun control

[WI_DEM]

18. Too bad it has to come to this

attacking Feingold's record. His is a strongly progressive and Democratic record.

[Mattforclark]

20. Feingold is a DINO!

Yeah, that's it. erm.

[JI7]

22. John Kerry has a strongly progressive and democratic record

but he voted for nafta which many liberals disagree with just as feingold voted for ashcroft which many liberals disagree with. nobody is perfect. kerry voted against ashcroft, feingold voted for. kerry for gun control, feingold against. nobody is perfect, but i don't expect perfection and understand many people vote with different views which is why i support john kerry for president and feingold for senator.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

19. I HATE McCain-Feingold. It has ruined our party!!!

[Hippo_Tron]

27. Then why do the democrats support it?

I realize that we take more in soft money contributions but if it were really that bad, why would the dems dig their own grave?

[jenk]

33. re:

"I HATE McCain-Feingold. It has ruined our party!!!"

I concur

[PROGRESSIVE1]

34. Thank You for your support!

[WI_DEM]

23. I just checked out the Sierra Club website

and to say that Feingold "votes with the Republicans on envirnonmental issues" is baseless.

[genius]

24. Really. Well look at his environmenal voting record. It's terrible.

Starting with his support for Yucca Mountain, which will comtaminate 28 states and make California's drinking water undrinkable. This was the area where Edwards only had a 67% rating but Edwards's rating is high compared to Feingold's.

[WI_DEM]

25. well he has a very strong environmental record

and the support of every environmental group in Wisconsin and if you check out the Sierra Club and other environmental groups you will see that your statement that "he votes with Republicans" is inaccurate.

By the way here is the congressional vote on Yucca Mountain and Feingold voted pro-environment:
http://whistler.sierraclub.org/votewatch/voteDetail.do?vn=S20020167

along with Sen. Kerry and Sen. Kennedy--but not Sen. Edwards.

[wuushew]

35. Where do you propose putting all that nuclear waste?

Something like 60% of all the land in Nevada is owned by the federal government. Much of the intermountain west is only habitable/farmable thanks to the energy provided by cheap fossil fuels. Western states also take lion shares of federal aid.

Western states have no right to bitch about what is a federal problem. Should all states run their own waste disposal programs?

The Canadians are building a deep repository under the geologically inert Canadian Shield.


How many more years can spent fuel pile up on site? If a suitable replacement is ever found there is no reason to assume waste cannot be removed from the wholely unsuitable Yucca site.

[Hippo_Tron]

26. Campaign Finance Reform is also heavily supported by dems...

Although we benefit more from soft money contributions than the Repubs, we don't have a problem with fair finance laws. Newt Gingrich was the one who prevented it from passing for so long, not Clinton and the democrats.

[dolstein]

28. What, George McGovern isn't available?

Sure, what better way to rebut Republican charges that Kerry is too liberal than by picking one of the only Democrats in the Senate who's more liberal than Kerry is.

<<Kerry's biggest problem going into the general election is with left leaning Independents and democrats who may flirt with voting for Ralph Nader or the candidate of the Green Party.>>

You really need to stop drinking that Green-colored Kool-aid. The only reason people around here can get away with thinking that Kerry's biggest program is holding onto left-leaning Independents and Nader supporters is because Kerry is holding his own among moderate Dems and independents. But picking a left-winger like Feingold likely cost Kerry far more votes in the middle than he could hope to gain on the left.

[WI_DEM]

29. sorry I disagree

and apparently most people here fear Nader as well or we wouldn't be hearing about him constantly being a potential reason why Kerry might not win. Feingold is liberal but is respected by the right and has credentials as a budget hawk as well in the Proxmire tradition. His alliance with Sen. McCain on Campaign Finance Reform also would be a net plus with Independents of all stripes.

I seriously doubt Feingold would cause Kerry to lose the support he has among moderate Dems and Independents.

[ulysses]

30. more's the pity, given his service record.

:)

[WI_DEM]

31. True

Ace bomber pilot during WW 2--fills that need to have a veteran on the ticket that so many feel is so critical in this election.

[jenk]

32. isn't he the one who initiated the finance reform that's choking us?

[mot78]

36. McCain-Feingold isn't a bad thing!

It's only the short-term ineptness of the DNC fundraising machine that's costing us. McCain-Feingold has forced us to build up more donors, which in time will make us competitive with the GOP on the cash front. The problem with McCain-Feingold, in my opinion, is that is raised individual spending caps to $2000 from $1000.

And I like Feingold actually. If we don't win this election (God forbid!) then I hope he runs in '08, or '12 if we do win.