Monday July 10, 2006 · early morning
Feingold's Name Recognition On The Rise

This is from WEAU in Wisconsin:

Pollsters say Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold is gaining name recognition outside Wisconsin, which could be an encouraging sign if he decides to run for president in 2008.

A recent poll of Democratic voters in the state of Washington asked respondents who their presidential choice would be. Feingold came in fourth behind Hillary Clinton, Al Gore and John Edwards.

Still, there are questions of whether Feingold is a good choice for the party. A recent poll of Democratic insiders put Feingold eleventh on a list of possible party nominees. [My italics]

A good choice for the party? Any poll of “Democratic insiders” needs to be reversed to determine who is actually good for the party. As is, it’s only an indication of who is good for them.

Still, this is good news. It’s always been my belief that the more people learn about Russ Feingold the more they like him. That’s a rare quality in a politician.

Feingold’s Name is Recognizable Outside of WI [WEAU]

Sunday June 25, 2006 · mid-afternoon
Feingold On 'Meet The Press' This Morning

Senator Feingold was on Meet The Press this morning making sense, as usual, regarding the Bush administration’s incompetence in fighting the war on theocratic fascism.

Feinogld’s partial response to the question of whether a Democratic nominee for President, who voted for the war in Iraq, will have to say, “My vote in favor of the war was a mistake.”:

“People are looking for candidate, whether it’s a Democratic or Republican, who they perceive as being honest and straight-forward.”

I agree. And Senator Feingold would definitely score the number one spot based on that criteria. Actually, he would score the number one spot based on all criteria…but of course I’m biased.

Here’s the video:

Thursday June 22, 2006 · early evening
Feingold Interview in GQ

There is an amusing interview with Senator Feingold in the online July issue of GQ. Not sure if it’s in the print version, but here’s a funny bit of the interview:

What are your dealings with W. like?

You know, I haven’t had a lot of face-to-face contact with him over the years. But he’s been very pleasant. What struck me recently was, I had, you know, just proposed censuring him. But McCain and I had also just gone to Iraq. And Bush wanted to have all the various people who had just been to Iraq come up to the Roosevelt Room in the White House and brief him. So we walk in, and I shake his hand, and he gives me not just the regular shake but the whole deal. [demonstrates a double-fisted handshake] And he said, “How ya doin’, pal?” You know.

The Real Maverick [GQ]

June 22, 2006 · mid-afternoon
June Strategic Vision Poll

Strategic Vision’s June New Jersey poll has Senator Feingold still at 8%, the same as last month. John Edwards is the big mover this month, going up 3% from last month. Al Gore is up 1% this month, but not as big an increase as the previous month. Gore’s bump can most likely be attributed to the hype around An Inconvenient Truth, and the rumors that he is in fact contemplating another run for President. The big mover down is Senator Clinton. She has gone from 40% to 33% since November 2005. More evidence that the long held idea that Clinton is somehow the inevitable Democratic nominee is false.

At this point it’s still all name recognition. The top 5 candidates have all been or ran for President and/or Vice President previously, or, in the case of Senator Clinton, was married to a President. Feingold is still the only name that continues to do well without much national recognition, showing that it’s all substance with a Feingold candidacy.

June 21, 2006 [link]:

Wednesday June 14, 2006 · lunch time
Feingold at Take Back America Conference

Senator Feingold spoke this morning at the Campaign for America’s Future Take Back America Conference.

Video of Feingold’s Take Back America Speech: