Feingold Counts on Being Underestimated
By Tricia Miller, CQ-Roll Call
MILWAUKEE — On the morning of the Green Bay Packers’ first home game, when other politicians — including Republican Senate candidate Ron Johnson — headed north to politick and tailgate with the cheeseheads, Sen. Russ Feingold was nowhere near Lambeau Field.
Instead, the three-term Wisconsin Democrat waited under gray skies in a south side Milwaukee neighborhood on Sunday for the annual Mexican Independence Day parade. His 30 or so volunteers and staffers wore navy blue T-shirts that said “Standing Up for Wisconsin” on the front and had a spine on the back. No one seemed to think it was strange to see the short Jewish man in a sport coat and khakis walking among the cheering Latino crowds that lined the sidewalks.
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“Soy Russ Feingold !” he called out, waving. “Mucho gusto!”
First elected to the Senate in 1992, Feingold has yet to have an easy re-election, a trend he attributes to his independence in Washington, D.C. Once viewed as potential presidential timber, this year Feingold is one of Republicans’ top targets, and there is evidence to suggest he’s in real trouble. A Public Policy Polling survey of likely voters taken Sept. 18-19 and released on Tuesday showed Johnson ahead of Feingold, 52 percent to 41 percent.
But
Feingold seems unfazed. He said polling taken for his campaign around the Sept. 14 primary showed him ahead. Still, Johnson is partly self-funding his campaign and won’t lack for resources in the home stretch. As of Aug. 25, Feingold had raised $13.7 million and Johnson had raised $6.2 million this cycle, including $4.4 million in loans from himself.
In the six weeks from now to Election Day, Feingold said, he plans to emphasize his role as an independent, bipartisan and accessible representative for the Badger State. Every year since he was first elected, he has held a listening session in all 72 of Wisconsin’s counties, and he likes to tell stories about the legislative solutions to problems constituents brought to him at these sessions. He said he plans to highlight his work for more veterans centers in Wisconsin, for broader jobs tax cuts and for cutting spending, as evidenced in his Control Spending Now Act.more...
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000003736629&topic=Feature
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