Russ Feingold is one of the greatest Senators in the United States Senate. Various independent analysts have named Feingold one of the most independent members of the U.S. Senate for his courage to stand with his party when they are right and stand up to them when they are wrong. Unfortunately, Feingold is in a tough race for re-election this year and it is not because he has misrepresented Wisconsin. Feingold may get swept out of office in an anti-incumbent, anti-Democratic wave that could be imminent this Tuesday. Everyone has been working round the clock to try and avoid any possibility of a Republican takeover of the U.S. Congress but it may not be enough to keep Feingold in the U.S. Senate.
Either way, Feingold has run a fantastic and extremely effective campaign. I attribute his low polling to the anti-incumbency mood in the country. Just looking back at Feingold's career, one may realize why he has won the John F. Kennedy profile in courage award and why he is ranked sixth in bipartisan voting in the U.S. Senate. We must do everything in our power to make sure Feingold continues to represent Wisconsin in the Senate and not let someone who claims Social Security is a giant ponzi scheme to take the helm in the 112th Congress.
A look at his career:
He has worked with others across the aisle to delver the most sweeping campaign finance reform in U.S. history, worked for fair trade policies, health care reform, conservation and environmental protection, a multilateral foreign policy, Social Security, civil liberties, and the elimination of capital punishment and wasteful spending.
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 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.
Feingold was the only senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act when first voted on in 2001.At the time, Feingold stated that provisions in the act infringed upon citizens' civil liberties.[24]
When the bill was up for renewal in late December 2005, Feingold led a bipartisan coalition of senators that included Lisa Murkowski, Ken Salazar, Larry Craig, Dick Durbin, and John Sununu to remove some of the act's more controversial provisions. He led a successful filibuster against renewal of the act. This ultimately led to a compromise on some of its provisions. This compromise bill passed the Senate on March 2, 2006, by a vote of 89-10. Feingold was among the ten senators who voted nay, stating that the bill still lacked necessary protections for some civil liberties.
Feingold was one of 28 US senators to vote against H.J. Resolution 114, which authorized President George W. Bush to use force against Iraq in 2002.[29]
On August 17, 2005, he became the first senator to call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and urge that a timetable for that withdrawal be set. He called other Democrats "timid" for refusing to take action sooner, and suggested December 31, 2006 as the date for total withdrawal of troops. On the subject of Bush's assertion that a deadline would be helpful to Iraqi insurgents, Feingold said, "I think he's wrong. I think not talking about endgames is playing into our enemies' hand."
Feingold has long been an advocate for creating a system of universal health care in America. During his first run for the Senate, he endorsed the single-payer model, similar to that used by Canada. Once elected, he opposed the Clinton health care plan, saying that it did too much for the insurance industry and not enough for the uninsured. During the Bush administration, he has opposed the enactment of Medicare Part D and authored a bill to require the Senate leadership to submit health care reform bills.
On April 4, 2006, Feingold told constituents at a listening session in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that he supported the legalization of same-sex marriage. Though Feingold had once voted against passage of the Defense of Marriage Act, this was the first time that he publicly announced his support for marriage rights for same-sex couples. Feingold's comments were in response to a question about whether he supported a ballot initiative that Wisconsinites voted on in November 2006 that incorporated a ban on same-sex marriage and all civil unions (same-sex or not) into the state constitution.He joined then-Republican Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Democrats Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Mark Dayton of Minnesota as one of only five senators to publicly announce their support for same-sex marriage.
Feingold has also run a great campaign, here are some of the ads he has launched this cycle in order to save his senate seat. These ads show he really is one of us, a simple guy just looking to make a difference in DC by being a steady independent voice.
And a clip from a recent debate between the candidates:
Feingold, clearly the winner.
The polls are showing us down but this is one we have to win. Russ deserves another term and it all will come down to the GOTV efforts. The GOP has already put this one in their column and added it to their count towards their magic number on election night, we need to stand up for Russ and take this one back.
Another $5 will go to Russ's GOTV efforts to mobilize, recruit and enlist a few more voters towards the final push on November 2nd. Ron Johnson, a millionaire has already placed millions into his GOTV efforts which the GOP is already touting as a winning strategy.
Stand up. Another $5 to Russ is what he needs to pull off a much needed win on Nov. 2nd. Thanks for your help.