"Forward"

This is the first of what may be a long string of positive developments in the Feingold for President movement.

I have supported Senator Russ Feingold for President for several months now, and I suspect that simply because you're reading this, so have you. We all know how fantastic he's been in the Senate, we know that he'd be the perfect one for the White House, especially following the current administration.

However, we're decidedly in the minority of the American people. Let's face it, even those who follow politics closely have been asking, "Feingold? What's so great about him?" Outside of Wisconsin, his positions and successes are rarely discussed.

Now, we could stand there at and explain, "Well, you see, he voted against the PATRIOT Act, he actually has a plan for Iraq, he's honest and principled..." and those around us might be interested, for a minute. But by the time they get home, they'll have forgotten much of that, only remembering, "Oh, so and so says he's a cool guy. Don't know if I want him as president, though." Wouldn't it be great if you had something you could give them? Like, a piece of paper that outlines some of his best, most-loved qualities?

Check this out. Ilya at RussForPresident.com and I have gotten together to start a little project, but we need your help to finish it. Based very loosely off of the "Dean Times" newspaper Gov. Dean's campaign circulated in 2004, we'll have "Forward"-- a collection of articles outlining a few of the many reasons why Russ Feingold should run for and be elected president in 2008. But it's only half finished. Right now, we have Dan K's "Forward With Feingold" essay (if you haven't read it, read it now!) and a short piece on Feingold's honesty and integrity.

As Ilya said:

But we need YOUR help. We're looking for articles on the Senator's plan in Iraq, his vote against the Patriot Act or any other topic that interests you. Please submit your original submission either in the comments section here, or e-mail it directly to isheyman[at]gmail.com. Below is a screenshot of where we're at right now. This is your chance to get directly involved with the effort and spread the word about Sen. Feingold. Please e-mail your submissions by Monday October 31st. Who knows, perhaps a really good submission will result in a mystery prize?

Check it out, and see what you want to add. When it's finished, print 'em off from your home computer and hand them out wherever you like-- local political events, Feingold listening sessions, anywhere. This is a great way to spread the word about Feingold, and it will give people something to take home and remind them of what a Feingold candidacy could mean.

[UPDATE]: Also via RussForPresident.com, some promising news:

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in the Badger State believe their junior United States senator should seek the White House, according to a poll by Strategic Vision. 49 per cent of respondents in Wisconsin would like to see Russ Feingold run for president in 2008.

and

Polling Data

Would you like to see senator Russ Feingold run for president in 2008?

Yes	49%
No	33%
Undecided	18%

Source: Strategic Vision
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 800 likely Wisconsin voters, conducted from Oct. 17 to Oct. 19, 2005. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

I'm still here... News and Wellstone

I've been a little busy, and I'd like to apologize for the lack of postings here. And I still don't have much to say today, either, but I have three items to mention.

First, of course, is the excitement in the ongoing CIA Leak Investigation. If you don't already know about it, you need to be reading more news, 'cause this is big. "Fitzmas," they're calling it at Daily Kos and some other places. I'm not going to make any predictions... it seems sometimes like the best way for something not to happen is for me to predict it will happen (ie. a couple dozen elections), but I do think that this week will see a lot of big news. Cross your fingers, and hope for the best. I'd love to see Honest Russ Feingold replace the most corrupt administration in history.

Also, as a preview for the future, Ilya at RussForPresident.com and I have been working on a project that should get going pretty soon. More will come shortly.

Finally, a note not related to Feingold, but still very important.

You see, Senator Feingold wasn't originally the man I wanted to run for president. The 2004 election was supposed to be the one where we took down President Bush, and I had someone else in mind for it in 2001 and 2002, although Feingold has always been a favorite in the Senate. My pick was Paul Wellstone.

I've been satisfied with my Democratic senators, of course. Carl Levin is a great man, and Debbie Stabenow, though just in her first term, seems promising, and will be a great advocate for Michigan's interests and the best interests of the country in what I hope is a long tenure in the Senate. But for some time, I felt like Paul Wellstone was my senator. I didn't always agree with him, but I felt like he represented the best parts of the progressive movement, the best parts of America. If I served in government, I would strive to be like him.

And I was hoping he'd run for the White House, especially after choosing not to in 2000. It would be tough... who would ever elect some bald liberal senator from Minnesota? He would have had everything going against him, from religion to his health. Conventional wisdom was that he could never have won a single primary state. But I think he could have, if we put the energy into it. He could have won the nomination, and then defeated President Bush by doing what he did best-- speaking the truth without hesitation. "The conscience of the Senate."

And then, three years ago today, I heard the news. My father and I were chatting about something, and then, as we were starting to talk about politics, he said, "Oh, did you hear about Wellstone?" "No," I replied. "CNN is saying he might have died in a plane crash." As soon as I got home, the television went on, and I sat there, staring at it. I didn't know what to think.

I first got interested in politics by chance. I would flip through the channels and, with only basic cable to keep me entertained, sometimes I would put C-SPAN 2 on as background noise. But it ceased to be background noise when I heard Senator Wellstone start speaking. This was a man who I could trust. This was someone who was fighting for me in Washington.

And Wellstone is why I'm here, trying to get Russ Feingold elected. While Wellstone will always come first in my heart, Feingold was always his partner in progressivism. Forward with Feingold is the direction for us to go.

Jerry at New Jersey for Feingold posted about a new biography of Wellstone, which I'm hoping to buy sometime in the near future. And danielua on DKos has a fantastic diary, which is what reminded me about the significance of the day.

You can always count on Michigan, Russ

Or, at least I hope so. For sure, he's got support from Michigan's Sen. Carl Levin on Iraq.

More on this later.

Early October Update

So, a few items of note for you all.

First, RussForPresident.com has an October Update entry up, which pretty well covers the pro-Feingold movement as a whole. Also, right now on the site's front page is a post linking to a piece on RAW STORY that is absolutely worth reading.

A few quick excerpts:

WASHINGTON -- Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) says Senate Democrats will soon introduce more elements of their party’s plan to resolve foreign policy with regard to Iraq. “You’ll see more evidence of that coming out of the Democratic caucus this week,” he told RAW STORY.

and

“The idea that you stay in a situation that isn’t going the right way just for the sake of saying that you’re staying the course is a potentially disastrous approach,” the senator said. “The idea that things would be much worse if we let Iraqis take over I think is questionable. A lot of the recruiting is based on the idea that it is a permanent American occupation.”

and

Asked about speculation that he was positioning himself to be the Democrats’ anti-war presidential candidate in 2008, he said, “I would never make policy positions relating something to Iraq based on a political goal. I’m taking a position I’m taking on Iraq based on the work I’ve been doing.”

Good stuff, no?

Also, the monthly MyDD Presidential Straw Poll is up, along with the corresponding instant runoff ballot. I urge everyone to vote. As of right now, the totals are:

Evan Bayh	3 votes - 1 %
Joe Biden	2 votes - 0 %
Wesley Clark	84 votes - 31 %
Hillary Clinton	22 votes - 8 %
John Edwards	37 votes - 13 %
Russ Feingold	61 votes - 22 %
Bill Richardson	12 votes - 4 %
Mark Warner	28 votes - 10 %
Unsure	20 votes - 7 %

for the one on the MyDD page and

Wesley Clark

125

(31.8%)

Russ Feingold

86

(21.9%)

John Edwards

67

(17.0%)

Mark Warner

36

(9.2%)

Hillary Clinton

27

(6.9%)

Unsure

23

(5.9%)

Bill Richardson

17

(4.3%)

Evan Bayh

7

(1.8%)

Joe Biden

5

(1.3%)

for Round 1 and

Wesley Clark

210

(55.4%)

Russ Feingold

169

(44.6%)

None of these 14

for Round 8 of the IRV poll. Let's see if we can bump up some of those numbers and help Senator Feingold win one of these.

... And I had something else I wanted to mention, too, but I can't seem to think of it right now. Hopefully I can remember it sometime tonight or tomorrow and post an update. Dang. Thought I was too young to be losing my memory.

Anyway, go and vote now, thinking Forward With Feingold all the way.

Feingold in New Hampshire

I'm sorry for not posting lately... I've been busy. As part of that, I was out of town Friday/Saturday.

So I'm in my hotel room Friday night, and I sort of fall onto the bed and grab turn the television on. Flipping through the channels, I pass all of the basic cable things you expect to see in a Friday night, and nothing much is appealing to me. I'm starting to lose hope, when who do I see looking back at me? Why, none other than Senator Russ Feingold on C-SPAN.

I had totally forgotten that he would be in New Hampshire, but it all came back to me when I was lucky enough to catch the last five minutes or so of his event on C-SPAN.

I can't seem to find any video of it on their website (if you have any luck, please let me know in the comments), but there are a couple good summaries of it that I've found. Check out Tennesseans for Feingold, first, and a diary on MyDD. And then the Progressive Patriots Fund.

That's all for now.