Ohio For Russ Feingold In 2008

Announcing RussForPresident 3.0

2006-11-08T14:53:00.000-05:00

There have been a lot of posts in a lot of places mentioning vague developments for the "Draft Russ Feingold" movement in the near future. Well, it's November 8th, we own the Congress, and "Daffy" Donald Rumsfeld is an unpleasant memory. In other words the future here.

Click here to beat the crowd and sign up at RunRussRun.com.

We're very pleased to announce the launch of RunRussRun.com, which replaces RussForPresident.com as the national headquarters of the Draft Feingold for President movement.

Click here to sign up at RunRussRun.com.

The new site was developed by Internet activists from 16 states and 5 national constituency groups. We looked very carefully at what worked and what didn't in our state-level organizations, our former national site, and previous presidential draft movements. Emerging technology helped us solve most of the problems we saw, emphasize what worked best, and open up what we think is a new kind of site for on-line activism.

Click here to sign up at RunRussRun.com.

RunRussRun.com gives members access to a wide array of services including: a customized activism road map, interaction with other members across the country, and direct access to free tools for building local and state-level groups and activities. It also features up-to-the-minute news from the Feingold for President state and community blogs, discussion forums, and an option to pledge donations to a future Feingold presidential campaign.

The effort to convince Senator Feingold to make a presidential run traces back to December, 2004 when the first Russ Feingold for President blog was started by current Washington University law student Daniel Kuehnert. Since then, the effort has grown to include 16 state blogs and numerous nationwide sites, including RussForPresident.com, which was founded in February 2005 by University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point student Matthew Wallock. Steering Committee member, Minnesota resident and political activist Joel Clemmer, says "The movement has grown tremendously and needs a new face for the final push. Our goal over the next few months is to double our membership and bring at least five more states on line."

Take a moment to show your support and sign up at RunRussRun.com.

Russ' GOTV Speech Last Night

2006-10-30T13:01:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to attend this meeting last night. It was meant to be a very Wisconsin-centric Get Out the Vote event, and it was. But I think, even if you have no interest in Wisconsin politics, it's interesting to see how the crowd responds to Russ. There's also a nice general-interest bit in the beginning about 26 years of the extreme right in America.

It's a shame that the video doesn't show the crowd response when Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz suggested that Russ move from his current residence in Middleton to something on Pennsylvania Avenue. It brought the house down.

Lamont vs. Lieberman: The Links

2006-10-28T18:43:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Tim Tageris for pointing out these important resources on the Connecticut Senate Race:

Joe Lieberman - "Seasonal Memory Lapses" by Paul Bass (Hartford Courant)
Joe Lieberman - "Truth About Joe"
Joe Lieberman - "Lieberman Wins Republican Friends, Democratic Enemies... (WaPo)
Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman is a Big Oil Republican" (LamontBlog)
Joe Lieberman - "Kerry Calls Lieberman the New Cheney" (ABC)
Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman Doesn't Care About Handicapped People" (Wonkette)
Joe Lieberman - "Joe Lieberman is Running With a Bad Crowd" (Firedoglake)
Joe Lieberman - "116 Reasons Not to Vote for Joe Lieberman"
Joe Lieberman - "How Joe Lieberman Tried to Kill Rock 'N Roll (Huffington Post)"

Ned Lamont - Official Campaign Website
Ned Lamont - Ned Lamont, the Political Entrepreneur
Ned Lamont - "Democrats Back Lamont; Lieberman Files Independent Run" (F0x)
Ned Lamont - Unofficial Ned Lamont Resource
Ned Lamont - Unofficial Lamont Blog
Ned Lamont - "The Democrats Mean Business" (WSJ)
Ned Lamont - "Ned Lamont vs. Joe Lieberman" (The Nation)
Ned Lamont - "Lieberman Loses Debate With Challenger Ned Lamont"
Ned Lamont - "Lamont: Lieberman Sounded Like Cheney"
Ned Lamont - "Lamont Fires Up Naples" (New Haven Independent)

Feingold PAC Making The Difference in Ohio

2006-10-24T12:11:00.000-05:00

I'm starting to lose track of all the Ohio wins in Progressive Patriots fund contests. Just last week, we were among the winners in the "Pick a Progressive Party" contest. This week, the members of the Progressive Patriots Fund chose Ohio's Jennifer Brunner to recieve backing in her Secretary of State run. Here's the announcement e-mail:

All the votes have been counted, and I'm proud to announce that Jennifer Brunner, from Ohio, is our newest Progressive Patriot. Her campaign for secretary of state has drawn an enormous amount of grassroots support, and I'm pleased to have the chance to make a $5,000 contribution to her campaign.
Jennifer supports defending the most sacred American right - the right to vote – and the voters from Ohio are supporting her. She has worked as a Deputy Director of the Secretary of State's Office and has served as a Franklin County Judge. Now, Jennifer is running for Secretary of State to restore the people's trust in Ohio elections. She will bring her record of impartiality and professionalism to the Secretary of State's office, ensuring elections can be audited and verified, so that voters have confidence that elections are safe, reliable, and trustworthy.

To learn more about Jennifer's campaign, please visit her website at http://www.jenniferbrunner.com/.

I'm also proud to have contributed to four other candidates the Progressive Patriots community felt were deserving of our support: Mark Ritchie, Debra Bowen, Ken Gordon, and Michael Mauro are all terrific candidates, and we've rushed contributions to each of them to help them win in two weeks.

By supporting these candidates, the Progressive Patriots community is helping to ensure fair elections in 2008, 2010 and beyond.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

Oh, Those Wacky Republicans

2006-10-23T18:10:00.000-05:00

Cheers to Chris Bowers for pointing out these timely and important articles on Republicans running for Congress.

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl
--AZ-01: Rick Renzi
--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth
--CA-04: John Doolittle
--CA-11: Richard Pombo
--CA-50: Brian Bilbray
--CO-04: Marylin Musgrave
--CO-05: Doug Lamborn
--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell
--CT-04: Christopher Shays
--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan
--FL-16: Joe Negron
--ID-01: Bill Sali
--IL-06: Peter Roskam
--IL-10: Mark Kirk
--IL-14: Dennis Hastert
--IN-02: Chris Chocola
--IN-08: John Hostettler
--IA-01: Mike Whalen
--KY-03: Anne Northup
--KY-04: Geoff Davis
--MD-Sen: Michael Steele
--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht
--MN-06: Michele Bachmann
--MO-Sen: Jim Talent
--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns
--NV-03: Jon Porter
--NH-02: Charlie Bass
--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson
--NM-01: Heather Wilson
--NY-03: Peter King
--NY-20: John Sweeney
--NY-26: Tom Reynolds
--NY-29: Randy Kuhl
--NC-08: Robin Hayes
--NC-11: Charles Taylor
--OH-01: Steve Chabot
--OH-02: Jean Schmidt
--OH-15: Deborah Pryce
--OH-18: Joy Padgett
--PA-04: Melissa Hart
--PA-07: Curt Weldon
--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick
--PA-10: Don Sherwood
--TN-Sen: Bob Corker
--VA-Sen: George Allen
--VA-10: Frank Wolf
--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
--WA-08: Dave Reichert
--FL-16: Joe Negron
--FL-22: Clay Shaw
--KS-02: Jim Ryun
--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
--TN-Sen: Bob Corker
--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

Ohio Wins "Pick a Progressive Party Contest"

2006-10-17T11:22:00.000-05:00

E-mail from the Progressive Patriots Fund, hot off the presses:

All the votes have been counted, and I'm proud to announce our winning state Democratic Parties. Minnesota, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Virginia received the most votes from the Progressive Patriots community, so I'm proud to contribute $3,000 to each of these states' Democratic Party organizations to help fund their efforts to get out the vote in November.

There are some very exciting races going on in all these states. Each has a crucial Senate race that we need to win if Democrats are going to retake control of the United States Senate – the Progressive Patriots have contributed to Amy Klobuchar, Sherrod Brown, Bill Nelson, Bob Casey, and Jim Webb individually, and it's great to see that you've voted to help their state parties with their voter mobilization efforts in the coming weeks.

In addition, there are 81 House races in these five states, including some great challengers that the Progressive Patriots Community has supported, like Lois Murphy, Patty Wetterling, Joe Sestak, Coleen Rowley, Phyllis Busansky, Tim Walz, Chris Carney and Pat Murphy. We have our best chance in years to retake the House, and your efforts will play a vital part in that by directing our contributions to states where there are seats in play.

Tomorrow, we'll start our next round of "Pick a Progressive Patriot" for candidates for Secretary of State. Make sure you stop by our site tomorrow to cast your vote. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

PPF: Get out the Vote, and Keep it Safe

2006-10-09T11:39:00.000-05:00

Dear Ohio,

We're extremely close to our goal of raising $30,000 before Midnight tonight – we only need to raise another $4,823 to make it. Can you help put us over the line?

Contribute today

Your contribution will go directly to helping us elect progressive Secretaries of State who will protect our votes in important states and help state parties run critical efforts to get out the vote this November. Please make a contribution today so we can hold two more "Pick a Progressive Patriot" events in October. Thank you for your support – with your help, I know we'll make our goal!

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

Poll: What do you like most about Russ Feingold

2006-09-27T12:50:00.000-05:00

Say you're at a party and the topic turns to the 2008 Presidential elections. What are the 5 things you'd tell your friends first about the Senator? What's the first thing you'd say? What news item originally got you interested in the movement to draft him for President? Why did you click to this post?

It's difficult to condense the experience of following the Senator's battles in Washington into "5-Easy-Bullet-Points", but getting an accurate read of the landscape is important as we roll into close to two years of presidential primaries.

Let us know what you think. Take the poll now.

Here are a few of the items to choose from:

Opposed to Iraq War from the beginning
Fighting for Universal Health Care, rated 100% by APHA
Defender of public educaion, rated 91% by NEA
Leader in fight against Bush's Torture Policies
Keep Church and State separate: 0% rating by Christian Coalition
Introduced bill to censure George W. Bush
Fought hard against the Patriot Act
Adamant supporter of Fair-Trade, 25% CATO voting record

It's entirely possible that we missed some fairly obvious and significant items on the poll, which is why starting the discussion is so important. After you take the poll, please feel free to give feedback, either here or at the National site.

Your participation is important in our campaign to urge Senator Feingold to run in 2008, so please take a minute to let us know what you think, and take the poll now.

Ohio's Sherrod Brown wins Progressive Patriot Contest

2006-09-26T11:26:00.000-05:00

As Senate races go, this one is hardly a barn-burner: Sherrod Brown will soundly kick the ass of your average corrupt Republican, Mike DeWine this November. While Brown is comfortably ahead, we learned in 2004 that it's important not to take Ohio for granted. Also, it's nice to see that the lefty blogosphere has recovered from the Hackett/Brown imbroglio to such an extent.

Congratulations to Sherrod Brown and thanks to Russ Feingold for furthering the discussion and getting resources out on the ground. Remember, remember the seventh of November.

Announcing the "50 Blogs for Feingold Patriot Action Team"

2006-09-21T13:25:00.000-05:00

Here's something fun and easy we can do to help the good Senator fight the good fight: vigorously participate in on-line activism as a "Patriot Action Team."

As noted in an earlier post, the Progressive Patriots Fund, Russ Feingold's Leadership PAC, has created a pretty cool community action system. We've set up a community therein, hereby christened the "50 Blogs for Feingold Patriot Action Team." (Yes, yes, I know that's a mouthfull, but the only workable acronym I could come up with was M.O.O.N.B.A.T., which seemed counterproductive.)

So, what, not-to-put-too-fine-a-point-on-it, can we do? Well, you're reading a pro-Feingold blog, so you might be interested in clicking the picture and joining in on the current campaigns. There is a petition for Single-Payer (Universal) Healthcare and a (potentially nasty) letter to Bush on his regieme's illegal wiretapping program. Point, click, type, click and you're good to go.

Also, if you have a blog, we'd be thrilled if you could help us spread the word by putting the button on your pages. For the artists out there, I'd be thrilled to make available alternative logos via our free image repository.

To paraphrase Howard: working together, we can make a lot of noise. To further paraphrase Howard: "Yeehaw!"

The Latest Progressive Patriots Contest

2006-09-20T14:35:00.000-05:00

Senator Feingold has a new "Pick a Progressive Patriot" contest, where voters choose from a field of Senate candidates, and Russ gives some fundraising support to the candidate who wins.

Usually I vote in these things on an ideological basis, i.e. "Which candidate do I like the most?" But this time, control of the Senate balances on such a knife-edge that it makes sense to be a little practical and a little rigorous.

In short, I was looking for the race that was the most money-starved and the most competitive at the same time. Now, let me let the disclaimers fly:

Just about any time you apply math to politics, you have to make assumptions and decide how you want to weigh things. I picked one of an infinite number of models, and make no claim that it's "right."
For poll results, I used Chris Bowers' numbers from the MyDD Senate Forecast 2006 where possible and from Pollster.com otherwise (except Mississippi which is apparently broken on pollster)
For the money results, I used the most recent (June 30, 2006) data available from opensecrets.org.
It's unlikely that I transcribed all these numbers without one or more typographical errors. If you spot one, please leave a comment.

State	Democrat	Poll Dist.	Money Dist.	Score
MO	McCaskill	0.2	2.56	63.89
VA	Webb	1.2	16.50	11.46
TN	Ford	0.4	.67	4.17
MT	Tester	3	4.40	0.49
MS	Fleming	37	172.29	0.13
OH	Brown	4	1.78	0.11
RI	Whitehouse	3.2	.72	0.07
ME	Bright	40	70.15	0.04
CT	Lamont	7.4	2.16	0.04
MD	Cardin	7.2	1.94	0.04
UT	Ashdown	42	53.37	0.03
NV	Carter	12.8	4.48	0.03
WY	Groutage	33	29.12	0.03
PA	Casey	9.8	1.81	0.02
AZ	Pederson	8.8	1.39	0.02
TX	Radnofsky	20	6.58	0.02
MN	Klobuchar	11.6	1.17	0.01

For the nerds: Poll distance is simply a positive number representing the difference of the two candidates polling numbers. Money distance is how many dollars the Republican has for every dollar the democrat has. So, for example, Lott has $172.29 for every $1.00 that Fleming has (DSCC, where are you?!?). The score function is simply the money distance divided by the poll distance squared.

So, enough methodology spam. What's it all mean?

Claire McCaskill is runing neck and neck in Missouri. She's being outspent by $2.56 for every dollar she has. She could certainly use a little nudge from the Progressive Patriots Fund.

Jim Webb is running neck and neck in Virginia, and being outspent by $16.50 for every dollar he has by his opponent, who shall remain ignominous. He, also, could use a little nudge.

Harold Ford, Jr in Tennessee. is outspending his opponent by 23 cents on every dollar, and running within a half a percentage point. This is a historically astonishing result.

There's a lot more to say about this, but I'm going to close for the moment with one final point. The MyDD Senate Forecast has the Republicans maintaining control of the Senate by 51-47-2 (or 51-48-Lieberman, if you prefer). A win in any of the above three races would make it 50-49-Lieberman. If Lamont also wins, it'd be 50-50. Things are close folks, very, very close.

Take Action: No More Illegal Wiretapping!

2006-09-20T08:16:00.000-05:00

The Progressive Patriots Fund, Russ Feingold's Leadership PAC, has created a pretty cool community action system. Just yesterday, we set up a community to act as a conduit for the "50 Blogs for Feingold" project. Let's get active and make our voices heard.

Push Bush on his Illegal Warrantless Wiretapping Program

Customize your own message on this topic and show your support for Russ by sending it through the PPF system.

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Bush,

The court recently declared your domestic warrantless
wiretapping program to be illegal and unconstitutional.

I believe that we can fight terrorism while protecting our
rights and freedoms, and that's why I agree with Senator
Feingold: we need to bring this program back within the law.

You don't run this country, Mr. President. We the people do.
Wehave spoken on this issue and you continue to disregard
our wishes. Thus, you've forced us to teach you a hard
lesson come Election Day. I'll take great joy in delivering
you a Democrat-controlled Congress on Janurary 3.

Maybe you'll start listening then.

Sincerely,
Your Name

Plus, you'll get free stuff! Yes, yes, it's true. You'll get this carefully crafted message back from the White House:

From: comments@whitehouse.gov
Sent : Tuesday, September 19, 2006 9:02 PM
To : haus...@hotmail.com

We've identified this mail as junk. Please tell us if we were right or wrong by clicking Junk or Not Junk

On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your
correspondence. We appreciate hearing your views
and welcome your suggestions. The President is
committed to continuing our economic progress,
defending our freedom, and upholding our Nation's
deepest values.

Due to the large volume of e-mail received, the
White House cannot respond to every message.
Please visit the White House website for the most
up-to-date information on Presidential initiatives,
current events, and topics of interest to you.
In order to better receive comments from the
public, a new system has been implemented. In
the future please send your comments to
comments@whitehouse.gov.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

While reading this moving response, you can almost hear ol' W. telling you that he "'preshiiates" your insights. And this line: "The President is committed to continuing our economic progress, defending our freedom, and upholding our Nation's deepest values" is priceless, isn't it?

So, act now and Push Bush on his Illegal Warrantless Wiretapping Program

Article Review: "Meet the Next President"

2006-09-19T15:02:00.000-05:00

Well, after a long trip halfway around the world at 12 miles per hour, I'm back. I, for one, am curious as to whether a) my fingers still work, and b) I can still speak English. Let's see, shall we?

Bill Sammon of the Washington Examiner wrote an article yesterday on Russ in his "Meet the Next President" series, which is available here. Here are a few of the more zippy bits:

Russ admits to an occasional urge to say "I told you so" on his vote against the Iraq War Resolution, but adds "Yeah, but I was taught it’s impolite to do that.” He continues to say that the electorate "...would strongly prefer a candidate who had the judgment that’s right in the first place."
More on the IRW: "I just had this sick feeling that people were buying into this out of fear, rather than rationality..."
"Feingold says Clinton, the early favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination, is 'absolutely' too timid on the Iraq war issue. "
“He is, I think, the one Democrat who can say he’s 100 percent pure,” says columnist David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register.
Russ is getting a bit more expressive on whether he'll run. To wit: "And I don’t know if I’m going to run, but I guarantee you, I wouldn’t choose not to run because I don’t think I can defeat [Hillary]. If it was one-on-one, given the issues that I’ve taken, I think I’d have a shot. It would be an upset, but I’ve been out there in many, many states and people are looking for an alternative"
A funny bit on his nay vote on the USA-PATRIOT Act: "'When I went down to the well, I didn’t know what they were going to call it,' he says. 'Then I saw that it was being called the USA Patriot Act. So I gulped a bit and realized I was going to be the only one who voted no.'"
On Warrantless Wiretapping: "I believe what the president did here was an impeachable offense."

Well, the fingers work (even the tricky Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V combos!), and I'm pretty sure I've made it through this post without inadvertently lapsing into Swahili or anything. Perhaps by tomorrow I can even generate some (gasp!) original text!

Feingold's Latest "Pick a Progressive Patriot" Contest

2006-06-22T11:05:00.000-05:00

We're about halfway through our fifth Pick a Progressive Patriot contest, and here is a report on the candidates we've helped so far this cycle. Your contributions made this possible, and we need to continue supporting progressive Democratic candidates if we want to take back Congress this November. Can you contribute $100, $50, or even $25 to help us bring back a Democratic majority?

Contribute now

Since we formed the Progressive Patriots Fund, I've made it my goal to help elect more people to Congress who share our values, people who will fight for good government, fiscal responsibility, and social justice. Because of your support, we've contributed to over 47 candidates from 29 states. These include great Congressional candidates like John Courage and Bill Winter and Senate candidates like Bernie Sanders, Jon Tester, and Jim Webb. We've also contributed to incumbent Senators in tough races, like Debbie Stabenow and Robert Menendez. And this month, you'll choose which Governors receive support from the Progressive Patriots Fund. I hope we can support dozens more candidates before November, but we can't make it happen without your contributions. Please consider making a contribution to the Progressive Patriots Fund today.

Contribute now

In addition to financial contributions to candidates, I've also been traveling around the country to help candidates in person. I believe in a 50 state strategy, so I've traveled to Texas for John Courage, Washington for Maria Cantwell, and Pennsylvania for Lois Murphy, as well as 12 other states where Democrats are in key races. This is a year where we can take back Congress if we talk about the things we believe in, and I'm fighting for candidates who will do just that. Please consider contributing online so we can keep fighting for a progressive Congress.

Contribute now

Please make sure you vote in "Pick a Progressive Patriot" if you haven't yet, and ask a friend to vote if you have. We'll be announcing the results Tuesday morning. Thank you for all the support you've given to me and to our candidates. I know that with your hard work and dedication, we'll win in November.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

"Fightin' Russ" Feingold on C-SPAN Tonight

2006-06-04T15:56:00.000-05:00

Cheers to Mark on the Feingold08 Mailing list for pointing this appearance out:

ON ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Feingold & Warner in N.H.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner (D) address the New Hampshire Democratic Party's annual covention. It takes place at St. Anselm's College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. New Hampshire is expected to hold the nation's first presidential primary in 2008.

ON SUN., C-SPAN, 6:30PM ET

If you miss it, you'll be able to catch it streaming at The Road To The White House Site.

Welcome Aboard South Carolina and dKos Straw Poll

2006-05-27T12:43:00.000-05:00

First off, cheers to Jesse Buck for starting the South Carolina for Feingold Blog
last week. Over the next few days, we'll incorporate it into all the appropriate feeds, widgets, and so forth.

Second off, thanks to Patrick at Iowa For Feingold for the heads up on the Daily Kos May/June Straw Poll and Fantasy Straw Poll. If you haven't already, please take a minute to stop by these polls and support Russ.

On a personal note, in nine days I start taking a battery of exams for a U.S. Coast Guard license, and preparation is taking up 12-14 hours a day. After demolishing the exams, and a suitable period of celebratory worship of Bacchus, I'll be back here in full force.

Progressive Patriots Fund: Support Leonard Boswell

2006-05-17T18:03:00.000-05:00

I am writing you today to express my strong support of one of our greatest Democrats in the House of Representatives, Congressman Leonard Boswell.

Recently, I spent time in Iowa with the congressman. Over the course of the weekend, I learned how special a man Leonard Boswell is. He's a decorated veteran, an intelligence expert, a farmer, a family man and a strong Democratic leader.

I also learned about how hard Republicans in Washington, D.C., are trying to discredit his good name. Leonard remains the only Democrat from Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives. And as you can imagine, Karl Rove and his Republican attack machine are committed to ending Leonard's career this November. The National Republicans have targeted Leonard as their #1 priority this year. They will be coming at him with everything they have.

We must stand up now and do all we can to help Leonard today!

Already, several national Republicans have campaigned against Leonard. Recently the Republicans boasted of having raised $744,000 to fund their vicious attacks on Leonard!

Please take a moment today and send a contribution of $75, $50, $25 or whatever you can afford to our campaign to stand up for good Democrats!

Very soon we can expect to see a smear attack on our very distinguished, very courageous friend. They will misrepresent his record, attempt to tarnish his career, and throw as many far-fetched accusations at him as possible. We cannot let them get away with it!

The stakes are far too high for us to sit back and let them roll back the achievements we have fought so long and hard for. Working to make the highest quality education and health care available and affordable to all, standing up for a woman's right to choose, and fighting for the highest clean water and air standards possible. All of these are at risk if we let them have their way. We need Leonard in Congress to continue to stand up for the things we believe in!

Your support today will show that we are willing to stand up to Republican attacks. Leonard has spent his entire life serving his community, state, and our nation. It is time for us to stand with him today and do everything we can to keep him fighting for us, for our children and for our country.

Thank you very much, please do all you can.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

P.S. – We have seen the distortions the National Republicans are capable of spinning. Please don’t let them get by without a fight! Show the Republicans you will stand up against their attacks. Send your contribution in today!

Announcing Feingold08 Extension for the FireFox Browser

2006-05-05T06:25:00.000-05:00

This extension to the FireFox browser contains links to approximately 70 web resources of interest to supporters of Russ Feingold for President. These resources include "the National "Russ Cafe" discussion board, the chat room at russforpresident.com, prepackaged searches through many of the leading search engines, all the blogs in the "50 Blogs for Feingold" program, as well as Feingold's official Senate, Senate Campaign, and PAC.

This extension only works with the Mozilla FireFox browser. That is to say that it won't work with Microsoft Internet Explorer or any other Netscape browser. You can get the FireFox browser for free by clicking here.

The extension is available for download at addons.mozilla.org

This is one of several projects in development at RussForge. RussForge is an independent group of techies who support Russ Feingold for President. RussForge is not affiliated with any candidate or committee.

Russ Gear: Check Out the Progressive Patriots Store

2006-04-28T03:47:00.000-05:00

Latest e-mail from Russ Feingold's Progressive Patriots Fund:

I'm excited to announce today the opening of our Progressive Patriots Store. Many of you have emailed me over the past months, asking where you can purchase T-Shirts and other items to support the Progressive Patriots Fund community. Today, we're releasing our brand-new "Don't Spy on Me" gear, featuring our modern reinterpretation of the colonial flag "Don't Tread on Me." We're starting out with T-Shirts and mouse pads, but we're looking for you to recommend other items for us to create in the future.

Visit the Progressive Patriots Store

In addition to our "Don't Spy" line, we've also created a "Restore our Rights" coffee mug. When filled with a hot liquid, the mug reveals the amendments threatened by the President and his illegal domestic spying program.

Visit the Progressive Patriots Store

All our merchandise is union-made in United States, of course. I hope you'll visit the Progressive Patriots Store today; the contributions you make by purchasing Progressive Patriots Gear helps us to continue to spread our progressive message to all fifty states.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

Feingold Debuts "W" Video in Texas

2006-04-20T05:55:00.000-05:00

From The Progressive Patriots Fund

Senator Russ Feingold debuted an innovative ad from the Progressive Patriots Fund last evening in Texas called “W.” This video takes a unique yet serious look at the President’s illegal domestic spying program and Feingold’s resolution to censure the President for these illegal actions. To watch the Progressive Patriots ad, please click here: www.progressivepatriotsfund.com/W.

Announcing Interactive "50 Blogs For Feingold" Map

2006-04-10T18:34:00.000-05:00

The latest widget from RussForge is an interactive map that can help users find their state blogs and e-mail lists. If the state blog doesn't exist yet, it gives some pointers on how to start one up. It's a combination of the current State Blogs Widget and the Google Maps API.

Everyone is welcome to use this widget, and the source code will be available in the public CVS repository, as soon as SourceForge catches up. One easy way to incorporate this widget into your site is to copy this HTML into your site:

Which links a small icon to the interactive map. Update: I removed the JavaScript fanciness on the window opening due to problems with pop-up blockers.

Questions, comments, feature requests, and bug reports are welcomed.

Send $17.76 To Feingold's Progressive Patriot's Fund

2006-04-02T20:13:00.000-05:00

Via Iowa For Feingold via Democratic Underground:

Some people on Democratic Underground decided to show their thanks to Russ by donating $17.76 to his PAC, the Progressive Patriots Fund.

Feingold is standing up to Bush's pre-1776 mentality and fighting for the rule of law. Please show your thanks with a donation or maybe send him a spine card from.

I think this is a great idea and thought I would pass it on.

Russ is standing up for US!

Announcing RussForge

2006-03-29T21:08:00.000-05:00

What is RussForge?

Put simply, it's a place to build and make available resources promoting a presidential run by Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.

A strength of this site is the ability to share works-in-progress, and work collaboratively with other members of a like-minded community. Have an idea? Make it a reality here, and make it available to all Feingold supporters.

The initial goals of the project are as follows:

Make resources (programs, images, scripts, templates, animations, knowledge-bases, etc.) freely available to support the "50 Blogs For Feingold" project.
Make the same resources available to all Web users who support Feingold.
Pursue the cross-use of these resources beyond the web: presentations, fliers, advertisments, signage, etc.
Engage the creativity and energy of the Feingold movement to push the use of the Internet as a tool for political action.

Some Current Projects

The above image represents some of the resources available here at Week #3, including:

The Image Repository
The Russ '08 Powerpoint Presentation
The 50 Blogs Project Blog-Plugin
The Feingold '08 Menu-Plugin
Blog Templates
Feingold '08 News/Blog Post Aggregator
Feingold '08 E-mail List Aggregator

Have an idea? Join up. Here's how.

How does it work?

RussForge uses the SourceForge model for collaboration and publishing. SourceForge is a site with more than a million registered users and hundreds of thousands of projects. RussForge may be the first SourceForge project working to support a a political candidate.

The SourceForge model is based on a piece of software called CVS (Concurrent Versioning System) that allows many users to have a copy of the same materials on their own hard disk. By use of a "CVS Client" software, you can:

check out a copy of the "repository"
add files to the repository
make changes to files in the repository
check your changes into the repository so others can share them

We've written a getting started guide that walks you through the process of working with the repository, available in the "Getting Started" tab.

SourceForge also provides a wide variety of tracking and project management tools. You can explore some of these tools in the "Project Tools" menu.

Welcome Aboard Pennsylvania!

2006-03-27T06:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday evenenting, the 50 Blogs Strategy got another bump as PAJewel brought the 15th state blog, "Pennsylvania For Russ Feingold in 2008" online.

For wonks who think in terms of Electoral College votes, that brings the grand total for the project to 283. Not a bad start, but we're still shooting for all 50 states by November.

PAJewel took advantage of the blogger templates at RussForge and was up and running in well under 10 minutes. (Notice a dip in post frequency here? I've been banging out the new RussForge site lately.)

State bloggers: let's get crackin' on updating our templates and remember Sunday Night Meetings at 9PM EST at russforpresident.com.

MoveOn.org: Write Letter Supporting Feingold's Censure Resolution

2006-03-23T17:07:00.000-05:00

Today's E-Mail from MoveOn:

Dear MoveOn member,

Senator Feingold's resolution to censure President Bush for breaking the law is resonating with Americans across the country. With more than 400,000 of us signed onto the petition urging them to support his resolution, Congress is faced with apowerful call for accountability.

In response, the Republican National Committee is already on the attack, running ads accusing Senator Feingold of being "more interested in censuring the President than protecting our freedom."¹ They can't defend President Bush's lawbreaking, so they're trying to intimidate dissent by changing the subject.

We need to demonsrate that we're behind Senator Feingold so the media knows how many of us support holding the president accountable for breaking the law. Can you take a moment to write a letter to the editor of your local paper? Our tool makes it easy, all you have to do is click below:

http://political.moveon.org/lte/lte_t.html?zip=43604&e_campaign_id=51

This is a critical week because the media and politicians are still forming their opinions on the censure resolution. The opinion pages are the most popular pages in the newspaper, and if thousands of us write, we can help shape popular opinion and make sure the Republican attacks don't stick.

As Senator Feingold said yesterday, "The President has broken the law, and the censure resolution I introduced is intended to hold him accountable. Nobody says that we shouldn't be monitoring suspected terrorists. Of course we should, and we can under current law." ² This isn't about whether we track terrorists, it's about whether the Republican controlled Congress thinks the president is above the law.

Here are some points to help you with your letter.

This isn't about terrorism, it's about accountability. The president already had the authority to wiretap suspected al Qaeda terrorists and get a warrant days later. But he went around the court set up to prevent abuses and protect innocent Americans—a court that approves virtually all of the wiretapping requests it receives. When the president breaks the law, he must be held accountable.
Censure is a reasonable first step to holding the president accountable. Even Republicans have acknowledged that the president broke the law³ and now they're discussing plans to retroactively make his program legal.⁴
This isn't about partisan politics, it's about the rule of law. If Congress doesn't support censuring the president, they're saying it's OK for the president—any president—to break the law.
All of Congress should be standing with Senator Feingold to protect the rule of law. Senator Feingold is standing up to the Bush administration's attack on our Constitution, and he shouldn't be fighting alone.

This is a crucial moment for Congress. They must hold the president accountable and preserve their role as a check on the power of the presidency—America is watching to make sure they do.

Republicans know the president broke the law, and they know just how serious this issue is. That's why they're desperately trying to change the subject to terrorism when this is really about whether they're serious about accountability. They're in dangerous waters. Now is the time to turn up the heat. Can you take a few minutes to write one today?

http://political.moveon.org/lte/lte_t.html?zip=43604&e_campaign_id=51

Thanks for all you do,
–Eli, Nita, Tom, Adam and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team

Thursday, March 23rd, 2006

1. "RNC Releases New Radio Ad Entitled 'Censure'," Republican National Committee, March 21, 2006 http://www.rnc.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=6188

2. "GOP to air ad criticizing Feingold for censure proposal," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 20, 2006 http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=409558

3. "FACT: Members of Both Parties Believe Bush Broke the Law," Thinkprogress, January 23, 2006 http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/23/both-parties/

4. "GOP senators propose NSA spying bill," CNN, March 8, 2006 http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=409558

A Look At The DailyKos Straw Polls

2006-03-22T16:55:00.000-05:00

Kos posted this article showing the results of the last seven Straw Polls.

I was trying to visualize the results, then gave up, and used a spreadsheet. It's available at RussForge for your viewing pleasure.

There's not enough information available to say how many Clark supporters have switched to supporting Feingold since August of last year. However, a guess of 20% of respondents switching from Clark to Feingold is probably in the ballpark.

There are two pronounced bounces for Feingold. It looks like a lot of "No Freakin' Clue" folks switched to Russ between July and September. Feingold's comments against CAFTA come to mind in that time frame. Any other opinions?

The second big bounce came from November-Janurary (USA-PATRIOT Act?) and Janurary to March (warrantless wiretapping of US Citizens?).

I think one takeaway is that there's a lot of lingering affection for Clark in the Feingold camp. Just my opinion - I think that's our ticket for '08.

Rumor: Russ to be on Daily Show Wednesday

2006-03-22T00:17:00.000-05:00

Well, it's not exactly a rumor. I was dead asleep until about the last minute of the show. But, right before the "Moment of Zen," I was standing up in front of the television, partially awake, and pretty sure that Jon announced that Russ would be the guest on the Wednesday March 22 show.

I've googled, searched TV-Guide, gone to The Daily Show site and not been able to confirm it. If anyone else saw it, sees a reference to it, or catches a rerun of tonight's show and can confirm it, please leave a comment.

If this was just a figment of my imagination, then I probably need a blogosphere vacation.

Update: It's confirmed. I caught it on the rerun.

Freep These Polls

2006-03-21T01:26:00.000-05:00

MyDD and DailyKos started their ~~Feburary~~ March straw polls last night. At time of writing, Feingold is flattening all comers at DailyKos. With over 12,000 votes cast, Feingold leads at 48% with Clark in a distant second at 15%. Warner's at 11% and Edwards at 7%. It's a nice feeling to have your guy in first and like two of the next three. Cast your vote here.

MyDD's voting probably won't go into high gear until sunrise on the east coast, but at time of writing, 126 ballots have been cast with Feingold carrying 50%, Warner 18%, Clark 12%, and Edwards 10%. You can vote here. The MyDD polls have weird spurts, this should be fun to watch.

Both of these monthly straw polls have made it into print in the past. For example, this article at The New Republic.

Take a look down the right column for a few other polls that are voteworthy.

Feingold's "Pick a Progressive Patriot" Competition Begins Today

2006-03-20T15:14:00.000-05:00

Dear oh4russ,

I'm proud to announce that today is the beginning of our second "Pick a Progressive Patriot" event. From the hundreds of candidates you've suggested, I've chosen several great Congressional challengers. Now it's up to you to decide who we should support. Please vote for your favorite candidate, and whoever gets the most votes will receive a $5,000 contribution from the Progressive Patriots Fund.

Vote Now!

It wasn't easy choosing just these candidates. You nominated some outstanding people from all fifty states. But these candidates are all running in tough races against incumbent Republicans who have been voting against the best interests of our country for years. As we've seen in recent months, without Democratic control of Congress, we will have a hard time holding this President accountable for his actions, so I need you to help me identify the best candidates to support in our effort to take back the House.

Vote Now!

If you're not familiar with the candidates in our "Pick a Progressive Patriot" event, you can learn a little more about them by visiting our website. They're all fantastic candidates who I'd be proud to support. With the crucial end-of-quarter deadline approaching, please help me choose who to support next.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

50 Blogs for Feingold Widget Available

2006-03-19T21:11:00.000-05:00

Based on this thread started by gdennis at the Russ Cafe, I wrote the widget pictured to the right. The purpose is threefold:

Get out the word on the state blogs,
Get out the word on the mailing lists, and
Facilitate identifying and starting new state blogs

The widget is easy to install, simply put the following code on your page:


<script type="text/javascript" src="http://feingold08.sourceforge.net/apps/50blogs-form.js"></script>

Then somewhere after that, put in the following lines:


<script>
var selectBox = document.forms["50blogs"].elements["state"];//state;
selectBox.selectedIndex=0;
go();
</script>

You can change the state you want displayed first by changing the selectedIndex. Also, you have full control over how the widget looks by use of CSS. An example is posted at RussForge.

366,146 Sign Feingold Censure Petition

2006-03-16T15:17:00.000-05:00

At time of writing, MoveOn.org is reporting that 366,146 people have signed their petition in support of Russ Feingold's Censure Resolution. This represents, on average, 14,645 e-mails to every Senator. Not a bad start. Not a bad start at all. To add your name to the growing ranks, click here.

If you haven't signed Feingold's own Petition at the Progressive Patriots Fund, please take a moment to do so here.

Ivan E. posted this to the Feingold08 E-mail List:

Please Visit: www.vote.com/vote/60382445/index.phtml to vote in a poll regarding the censure of President George W. Bush. I voted YES.

I'm not familiar with the site, but I popped over and cast my vote anyway. This is the only poll that I've seen us behind on, and our side is down something like 90-10 with about 6,400 votes cast.

Chris Bowers at MyDD.com is keeping an eye on various polls, including the ARG Poll, which shows 46% of Americans supporting censure. This includes 70% of all Democrats, 42% of all Independents, and 29% of all Republicans. Here are the introductory and follow-up articles.

Join The Feingold Revolution

2006-03-14T21:21:00.000-05:00

The Feingold 50 Blogs Strategy

A grassroots revolution is taking place, and you're invited to take part.

The conventional wisdom is that it's too early to be working towards the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary. We should focus solely on the 2006 elections, and take the presidential race as it comes.

There is, unquestionably, some wisdom in this approach. But hasn't history taught us some harsh lessons about waiting to long to take action?

Unless progressive activists take strong, early action, Hillary Clinton will be our next presidential nominee. She's got the money. She's got the name recognition. She's got a fair amount of affection from the Democratic rank and file.

Hillary in the White House isn't the worst thing that could happen, but it's certainly not the best.

So, what can we do to stop this?

We can organize. We can set goals. We can meet them. We can help him start his campaign in November from a stronger position. Stronger name recognition. Stronger understanding of his positions. Stronger knowlege of his history of service to this country. And as the campaign ramps up, he'll already have the advantage of connections in the fifty states. Volunteers who have the advantage of knowing their peers across the country. Volunteers who are already battle-tested and ready to do what it takes to put him in the White House.

We already have blogs in 14 states -- we're almost a third of a way there. We need a blog in each state. We also need more contributors pumping their ideas and articles into the blogs. Change history: join the revolution today.

Here are some ways to start:

Join the Feingold08 Mailing List.
Get active at the Russ Cafe.
Stop in at the Progressive Patriots Fund, Russ's Leadership PAC.
Start a state blog. If you want, you can use the templates here.
Contribute content and/or code at RussForge. Learn how here.

Technorati Tags: Russ Feingold, Politics, Current Affairs, Random,News and Politics, 2008, Democratic Primary.

This post is released under the Creative Commons Attribution License. You may modify or use it in any way, as long as it is properly attributed to oh4russ.blogspot.com.

MoveOn Mobilizes To Support Feingold's Censure Resolution

2006-03-14T16:10:00.000-05:00

MoveOn is mobilizing to stand behind Russ on the censure of the Resident. They're aiming for 250,000 signatures. Off the top of my head, it seems like they got a million signatures against Alito. I'd hope we could at least match that. In any case, let's all do what we can to circulate this message:

Dear MoveOn member,

Yesterday, Senator Russ Feingold introduced a resolution to censure President Bush for breaking the law by illegally wiretapping American citizens.

Censuring a sitting president is serious business. But when the president misleads the public and Congress while willfully and repeatedly breaking the law, there must be consequences—that's how the law works for everybody else.

While most politicians sat back and weighed the political pros and cons of holding the president accountable, Senator Feingold stuck his neck out and did it. Now it's up to us to show broad public support. Can you sign our petition asking Congress to join the call for censure?

http://political.moveon.org/censure

Right now it's unclear how many of Senator Feingold's colleagues will stand with him in this important fight. If we can reach 250,000 signatures, we'll deliver your comments to your senators this week to demonstrate widespread public support censuring the president for breaking the law. We'll also send a copy of the complete petition to Senator Feingold to show our support for his courage.

President Bush already had the authority to wiretap suspected terrorists—he could even wiretap first and get warrants 3 days later. But he chose to get no warrants at all, clearly violating the law set up to protect innocent Americans and then he misled the Congress and the public about his program.1

Censuring the president means Congress officially acknowledges that the president broke the law and condemns him for doing it. Given the scale of the president's problem, it's a very reasonable first step to holding him accountable. This is a key moment for Congress to show that they're serious about checks and balances.

Our country was founded on the idea that everyone—even the president— has to follow the law. Supporting censure is the best opportunity we've got to keep that ideal alive. Can you sign our petition today?

http://political.moveon.org/censure

Thanks for all you do,

–Eli, Nita, Tom, Adam, Joan and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Tuesday, March 14th, 2006

Update 15 Feb 15:00: "Since yesterday afternoon, when we launched the petition, over 200,000 of us signed up to support Senator Feingold's call to censure President Bush for his illegal wiretapping. Thousands more are signing by the minute..."

74% Support Censure at MSNBC Poll

2006-03-13T20:32:00.000-05:00

With 26,526 votes cast, 74% of respondants to MSNBC's non-scientific poll see Feingold's proposal resolution as "A way to hold him accountable" rather than "Political Grandstanding."

These results are suspiciously close to Resident Bush's current approval ratings.

Technorati Tags: Russ Feingold, Politics, Current Affairs, Random,News and Politics, Bush, Censure.

Co-Sponsor Feingold's Resolution to Censure the President

2006-03-13T11:27:00.000-05:00

Dear oh4russ,

This week, I will introduce a resolution in the Senate to censure the President. The reasons for censure are clear: the President authorized a program that illegally wiretaps American citizens, on American soil, without a court order; he also actively mislead the public and Congress on the existence and legality of the program.

Congress can no longer stand by and allow such disregard of the Constitution, the rule of law, and two branches of government to continue. Censure is an appropriate first step in demanding accountability from a President who disregards the rights and freedoms on which our country was founded.

Sign the Resolution

Every American wants to fight terrorism and fight those who wish to do our country harm. We all stand together in that fight. Every American wants the government to be able to wiretap terrorists, and we can under current law! However, this President, or any President for that matter, cannot decide which laws they will obey or cherry-pick which articles of the Constitution they will uphold - and this President continues to do just that. He must be held accountable.

Sign the Resolution

I will continue to push my colleagues to stand up to a President who plays fast and loose with the facts, our freedoms, and our nation's trust. Please sign my resolution to help send the message that we can't afford to let the President be cavalier with our rights.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

Site News and State Blogger Templates Available

2006-03-12T19:42:00.000-05:00

I've gotta devote another post to the non-political.

First topic: Site News.

I replaced the blogger comment system with HaloScan. There's good news and bad news. First off, we now have trackbacks. That means that if you want to write an article related to an post here, you can get it to show up in the "trackbacks" section of the post here. It's like leaving a comment, but cooler.

The bad news is that all the nice comments that folks have left here are gone. It's a shame, but it's better to do it now than in November.

Second topic: YourState for Feingold Templates.

In an effort to make it easier to start a new state blog, I uploaded two templates to RussForge. They look pretty much like this blog, without a couple of the doohickies under "Obligatory Blog Stuff." They're not going to win any beauty contests, but on the other hand they could save some typing.

Both templates are available here: http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/feingold08/russforge/blog/.

Feel free to use, change, or ignore them as you see fit. If anyone else feels like contributing their templates, please see the RussForge thread for information on how to get started.

ThinkProgress Has Feingold's "Censure Bush" Video

2006-03-12T14:12:00.000-05:00

As everybody probably already knows, Russ called for censuring Resident Bush this morning on ABC’s "This Week With George Stephanopolous." Instead of writing the 5,432nd blog article about this, I'm going to suggest popping over to ThinkProgress and taking a look.

New Tools For Keeping Track of the Feingold State Blogs

2006-03-12T13:15:00.000-05:00

Having difficulty keeping up with the news from all the state blogs? We have some new solutions.

First off, there's the new Feingold State Sites feed. It combines posts from all the state blogs, sorts them by date, and can be plugged into the feed reader of your choice.

For example, here are three quick ways to take advantage of the feed right away:

If you're looking for a more powerful tool, you can get a desktop RSS reader. A good free one is RSSOwl and a good not-so-free one is FeedDemon. Tools like these can import a bunch of feeds at once in a OPML file. I wrote Feingold.opml and popped it up RussForge for anyone who wants to use it.

(If RussForge looks interesting to you, check out this thread to learn more about it.)

Technorati Tags: Russ Feingold, Politics, Current Affairs, Random,News and Politics, RSS, OPML.

Some Feedback from The Russ For President Petition

2006-03-09T06:21:00.000-05:00

Schwompa's Russ For President Petition hasn't gotten the play that it should. I think the main reason is that a lot of Russ supporters don't know it exists. In the final analysis, Russ won't make his decision to run based on it. But on the other hand, there's no reason not to have 50,000 signatures on it.

One thing that I like about it is some of the comments that signers leave. Here are a few choice ones:

"Senator Proxmire would be proud" -- Doreen K.
"I am proud to place my name on any document that supports a Feingold presidency." -- Chris R.
"Thank you for standing up for me." -- Patty N.
"I have watched you with interest in the past 6 months and must say I hope you seriously consider running for office. I have been reading as much as I can about possible candidates and am highly impressed with your record." -- Carolyn M.
"Hillary Clinton's a nice person and all, but she can't even begin to fix the mess we're finding ourselves in. We need principled leadership, we need it desperately, and when I say "we" I don't just mean Democrats or progressives, I mean America." -- Jillian S.A.
"Senator Feingold, you are the most poignant, fearless voice of reason in the Senate. I implore you, take the White House and return this country to it's former glory." -- Jeffrey B.
"diebold permitting......" -- Robert S.
"Your actions are the epitome of Smart Democracy" -- Nick P.
"...It is this kind of integrity that is in short supply in this once great country. And it is this kind of integrity that is required in order to restore this country to what is it once was. I only wish that we could clone this man in duplicates and fill every seat in the White House with his clone" -- Heather I.
"We need you to fend off Hillary." -- Anne T.
"Russ is the most reliable and steadfast progressive leader we have. We need him. America needs him!" -- Adam E.
"I have been researching 2008 Dem choices for awhile. Russ is the first electable person I've found who is anti-NAFTA, pro-universal health care, and anti-Iraq war. Please run Russ!!!!!" -- Earl B.
"I've lived in Wisconsin my entire life and there is no one more qualified to run for the 2008 presidential election than Russ Feingold" -- Tarah M.
"Mazel Tov!" -- Khain E.
"please, you were the only one capable of reading" -- Don S.
"People are starving for real leadership" -- Robert E.
"He's my Senator, but I'm willing to let ya'll barrow him for 8 years." -- Adam M.

So, if you haven't signed it yet, please consider taking a minute to do so. Consider sharing the URL in e-mails or on discussion sites.

Feingold, Gonzales, and Kris: The Wiretapping Saga

2006-03-07T15:08:00.000-05:00

Russ is working the illegal wiretapping issue hard, and deserves some recognition for it. It's a little tricky, but we can break it down into easy-to-digest pieces.

Let's start with the testimony of then-Associate Attorney General David Kris before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 10, 2002:

"Thus, both before and after the Patriot Act, FISA can be used only against foreign powers and their agents, and only where there is at least a significant foreign intelligence purpose for the surveillance. Let me repeat for emphasis: We cannot monitor anyone today whom we could not have monitored at this time last year."

This, we've learned, was false testimony. Bush admitted that he'd authorized domestic wiretaps without FISA warrants. Gonzales has testified to the fact that it was false testimony.

So, why not bring Kris up on charges of perjury? Well, the apparent answer was that he didn't know he was giving false testimony. This point seems capitulated, at least for the sake of argument.

But it brings up another point.

Did senior officials at the Department of Justice know that Kris's testimony was wrong, and did these persons allow him to mislead the Senate Judiciary Committee on the issue?

Russ put that question to Alberto Gonzales yesterday in a letter. Here's an excerpt:

It was therefore incumbent upon senior officials who reviewed the testimony to make sure that the Committee was not misled.

It is unacceptable, under the circumstances, for you to decline to answer my specific question simply because it is normally against DOJ policy to disclose who approved testimony by Administration officials. The Judiciary Committee is entitled to know what senior officials allowed misleading testimony to be presented at the hearing on September 10, 2002.

At least three Senators, Feingold, Leahy, and Specter aren't satisfied with Gonzales's testimony, and there is talk of recalling him for clarification in the near future.

Leahy says that Gonzales needs to "clear up the confusion he created first by ducking our questions, and later by further clouding the issues with a 'clarifying' letter that substantially revised his unsworn testimony." I agree.

Technorati Tags: Russ Feingold,Wiretapping, Politics, Current Affairs, Random,News and Politics, 2008, FISA.

Chat With Russ Friday Morning

2006-03-06T12:26:00.000-05:00

Want to thank Russ for his work on the USA-PATRIOT Act? Free trade? Wiretapping? ANWR? Alito? Want to wish him a happy birthday? Want to nudge him to run for president, or to visit Ohio? Here's your chance.

The Progressive Patriots Fund is sponsoring an online text chat with Senator Russ Feingold on Friday, March 10 at 10:30AM Eastern Time. Sign up early at The Progressive Patriots Fund.

Technorati Tags: Russ Feingold,Chat, Politics, Current Affairs, Random,News and Politics, 2008.

Russ's Wit and Wisdom at Wikiquote

2006-03-01T18:57:00.000-05:00

Russ Feingold's WikiQuote page is growing rapidly. In the last month, it's grown from seven quotes to the current version with thirty-four quotes in thirteen sections.

There are a number of reasons this is important. First is that it's a huge market, and it's a huge market that doesn't necessarily read kos/mydd/du every day. There are over 1,011,202 registered users. It's the 6,152nd most viewed site on the Web, and its sister project WikiPedia is the 22nd most viewed site on the Web.

Second is the fact that a lot of NetRoots types refer to the WikiProject. For example, here's 40,500 references to WikiPedia at dailykos.

Editing the page is easy, it doesn't even require an account (which is kind of the point). Depending on your inclinations, you can either go straight to the page and poke around or check out the help section first.

In the Wiki markup-language, a completed entry would look something like this:

* "Congress has lost its way if we don't hold this President accountable for his actions." -- ( On the President’s Warrantless Wiretapping Program. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20060212/cm_thenation/1559359 The Nation, 12 Feb 2006])

So, if you need a quote, check it out. If you run across a particularly pithy pronouncement from the progressive patriot, please purvey it to the project, pronto!

Technorati Tags: Russ Feingold,WikiPedia, WikiQuote, Politics, Current Affairs, Random,News and Politics,Weblog.

Ohio for Feingold Mailing List

2006-02-28T22:52:00.000-05:00

Like Russ for President? Live in Ohio? If so, then the OhioForFeingold mailing list is available to you. Here's the skinny:

Welcome to the ohioforfeingold group at Yahoo! Groups, a
free, easy-to-use email group service. Please
take a moment to review this message.

To learn more about the ohioforfeingold group, please visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ohioforfeingold

To start sending messages to members of this group, simply
send email to ohioforfeingold@yahoogroups.com

If you do not wish to belong to ohioforfeingold, you may
unsubscribe by sending an email to
ohioforfeingold-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

To see and modify all of your groups, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups

Results from the USA-PATRIOT Act Cloture Vote

2006-02-28T22:07:00.000-05:00

The Senate voted 69-30 yesterday to close debate on the amendments to the USA-PATRIOT Act, despite a number of statements on the floor that these amendments are not sufficient to guarantee the civil liberties of Americans.

As usual, Russ Feingold was leading the charge, and was mentioned several times during the debate.

A number of other Democrats are apparently laboring under the misconception that America is not watching them. That donors to and activists for the Democratic party aren't watching them. They are wrong. Dead wrong.

Here are the so-called Democrats that caved.

Biden (D-DE)
Clinton (D-NY)
Carper (D-DE)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Schumer (D-NY)

We should remind these folks of a little procedure that's been in place in the Senate for over two hundred years called a fillibuster. If they truly wanted to serve their country, and were physically unable to vote 'nay,' they could have had the decency to sit at home and not give the Repblicans the 60 votes they needed. Especially the first two, who for some reason have presidential ambitions.

Hillary, are you listening? Joe, how about you?

But, I digress.

Here's all Russ was asking for:

On Section 215: "the government should be required to convince a judge that the records they are seeking have some connection to a suspected terrorist or spy."
On Section 215 and National Security Letters: "The recipient of a Section 215 order is entitled to meaningful judicial review of the (permanent, secret) gag order."
On National Security Letters: "[T]he NSL provision should sunset in no more than four years so that Congress will have an opportunity to review the use of this power."
On "Sneak and Peek" searched: "The draft conference report requires the government to notify the target of a 'sneak and peek' search no earlier than 30 days after the search, rather than within seven days, as the Senate bill provides and as pre-Patriot Act judicial decisions required."

His assessment of all the Senate's hemming and hawing on the issue? Here's part of it:

Again, those quotes are from a letter that we sent late last year. Now, you might ask, in this newly announced deal on the Patriot Act, have any of these five problems been solved?

The answer is 'No.' Not a single one. Only one of these issues has been even partially addressed by this deal, but it has not been fixed.

Keep fighting Russ, we're rooting for you. And see if you can knock some sense into Hillary and Biden.

Feingold's Lobbying and Ethics Reform Act of 2005

2006-02-28T15:06:00.000-05:00

Senator Feingold's "Lobbying and Ethics Reform Act of 2005" will not solve all the problems of government corruption, but it is a step in the right direction, and is worthy of being made law. He introduced the legislation on July 14, 2005 and it was sent to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, where no action has been taken on it.
The bill, incredibly, has no cosponsors. It amends the McCain-Feingold "Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995" to require:

every member of the executive and legislative branch must identify all lobbying contacts made
decreases the "revolving door" syndrome by extending from one to two years the ban on senior government employees acting as lobbyists
"requires public disclosure by Members of Congress of employment negotiations"
establishes fines and penalties for wrongfully influencing "on a partisan basis, an entity's employment decisions or practices."
"Amends the Code of Official Conduct in the House to prohibit favoritism."
"Eliminates floor privileges and other perks for" lobbyists who formerly served in Congress."
"Prohibits Members of Congress from accepting gifts from lobbyists."
"Requires Members of Congress to provide increased disclosure of his or her official travel."

You can urge your Senators to support this important bill by ~~clicking here~~ calling (202) 224-3121 or by e-mail.

(previously posted at Headstrong America.)

Feingold and the Last ACLU Scorecard

2006-02-28T06:43:00.000-05:00

The ACLU Scorecard for the 108th Congress is up and has some interesting points.

Among all Senators, Russ Feingold (89%) is in a three-way tie for second behind John Kerry (100%). This number is a little misleading though, due to the fact that Kerry only voted on one of the nine issues the ACLU used for the scorecard, while Feingold voted on all nine.

The one vote where Feingold didn't support the ACLU's position was the so-calledBan on Raves. No Senator voted against this bill, and it passed 98-0. Here's the ACLU's precis of the issue:

On April 10, 2003, the Senate passed S. 151 by a vote of 98-0. This legislation included provisions that would unfairly target property owners who host social gatherings such as raves by making them legally responsible for the acts of their patrons. The ACLU opposed this legislation because it contains provisions that threaten free speech and inhibited federal judges' sentencing discretion.

On the other hand, Feingold did support the ACLU position for the other 8 votes, including issues ranging from a woman's right to choose, the redefinition of marriage, travel, government surveilance, media ownership, Guantanamo detainees, and secrecy in the intelligence budget.

Hillary Clinton supported 7 of these positions, Biden 6, Lieberman 5, Bayh 5, and McCain 2.

This is just another of a long list of examples of Russ Feingold fighting for our rights, better and harder than any other '08 hopeful. President Feingold is the cure to 8 years of Resident Bush.

Russ Still Fighting the Good Fight on the USA-PATRIOT ACT

2006-02-27T12:39:00.000-05:00

Today at 3PM EST, the Senate resumes consideration of S. 2271 the USA-PATRIOT Act Amendments bill. Last Thursday, the Senate voted 96-3-1 that the Amendments as proposed were "good enough." Russ took the whole Senate to task, saying:

Back in December, 46 Senators voted against cloture on the conference report. I think it's clear by now that the deal makes only minor changes to that conference report. The Senator from Pennsylvania, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and primary proponent of the conference report in this body, was quoted yesterday as saying that the changes that the White House agreed to were ``cosmetic.'' And then he said, according to the AP, ``But sometimes cosmetics will make a beauty out of a beast and provide enough cover for senators to change their vote...''

It's hard for me to understand how Senators who blocked the conference report in December can now say that it's such a great deal. It's not a great deal--the conference report is just as flawed as it was 2 months ago. No amount of cosmetics is going to make this beast look any prettier.

Robert Byrd, Jim Jeffords, and Russ Feingold were the only Senators to vote against moving ahead with this deeply flawed legislation.

Hillary Clinton thought these cosmetic changes were good enough. John Kerry thought they were good enough. Harry Reid thought they were good enough. Evan Bayh thought they were good enough. Do we want any of these sellouts as our next President?

Not me. Russ Feingold in 2008.

Feingold vs. Gore: Big Differences

2006-02-27T03:20:00.000-05:00

This is the third post in a series of ideological comparisons (using analysis from http://www.ontheissues.org) between Russ Feingold and other 2008 Democratic hopefuls. Today, we'll look at differences between Feingold and Al Gore.

Al Gore has said time and again that he has no intention of running in 2008. Nonetheless, there is a significant movement amongst the NetRoots to urge him to run. I applaud the determination and passion of this movement. I also enthusiastically concur that he was elected President in 2000 by both the Electoral College and the popular vote, but that this victory was stolen by a conservative, activist Supreme Court. I've signed all the petitions and sent all the e-mails.

But, there is a but. And that is this: I have some serious ideological differences with President Gore. Based on those differences, he is not my pick for 2008. These differences hinge on three things: free trade, separation of Church and State, and his approach to law enforcement.

Russ Feingold is not, by any means, the only 2008 hopeful that shares my views on these topics. Wes Clark is dead on as well. Even the much maligned DLC sweethearts like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry toe the party line on these important issues.

	Feingold	Gore
Overall Rating	Populist-Leaning Liberal	Moderate Populist
Permit Prayer in Public Schools	Strongly Opposes	Favors
Death Penalty	Strongly Opposes	Favors
Mandatory Three Strikes Laws	Strongly Opposes	Strongly Favors
Support and Expand Free Trade	Strongly Opposes	Favors
Link Human Rights to Trade With China	Strongly Favors	Strongly Opposes
Allow Churches to Provide Welfare Services	No Opinion	Strongly Favors

I want to restate that these ideogy models are obviously simple pictures of a complex reality, but I've found them quite telling and a good starting point for deeper debate.

One need only look at this page to see that I'm not a disintrested observer on this question. However, the only bias I can imagine that I put into this table is the choice of issues to show. If you feel the comparison isn't fair, I encourage reasonable responses.

The sources for this table are http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Russell_Feingold.htm and http://www.ontheissues.org/Al_Gore.htm.

Feingold vs. Bayh: Big Differences

2006-02-27T03:19:00.000-05:00

Since yesterday's post comparing Russ Feingold to Mark Warner was so well received, I'm going to run with the idea and do comparisons featuring Russ versus various contenders from the far right wing of the party.

Today, we'll look at Evan Bayh. I want to restate that these ideogy models are obviously a simple pictures of a complex reality, but I found them quite telling and a good starting point for deeper debate.

Here are the differences that I found most interesting:

	Feingold	Bayh
Overall Rating	Populist-Leaning Liberal	Moderate Liberal Populist
Abortion is a Woman's Right	Strongly Favors	No Opinion
Privatize Social Security	Strongly Opposes	No Opinion
Death Penalty	Strongly Opposes	Strongly Favors
Mandatory Three Strikes Laws	Strongly Opposes	No Opinion
Support and Expand Free Trade	Strongly Opposes	Strongly Favors
Link Human Rights to Trade With China	Strongly Favors	Strongly Opposes
Allow Churches to Provide Welfare Services	No Opinion	Favors

One need only look at this page to see that I'm not a disintrested observer on this question. However, the only bias I can imagine that I put into this table is the choice of issues to show. If you feel the comparison isn't fair, I encourage reasonable responses.

The sources for this table are http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Russell_Feingold.htm and http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Evan_Bayh.htm.

Added 3:20 PM: Bayh got a 56% rating from ACLU in the 108th Congress. Feingold scored 89%. The ACLU Scorecard is here.

Feingold and Warner: Big Differences

2006-02-27T03:18:00.000-05:00

Out of curiosity, I went to ontheissues.org and compared Russ Feingold's ideology to Mark Warner's. These ideogy models are obviously a simple pictures of a complex reality, but I found them quite telling and a good starting point for deeper debate.

Here are the differences that I found most interesting:

	Feingold	Warner
Overall Rating	Populist-Leaning Liberal	Moderate Populist Conservative
Death Penalty	Strongly Opposes	Favors
Mandatory Three Strikes Laws	Strongly Opposes	Strongly Favors
Absolute Right to Gun Ownership	Strongly Opposes	Strongly Favors
Decrease Overall Taxation of the Wealthy	Strongly Opposes	Strongly Favors
Support and Expand Free Trade	Strongly Opposes	Strongly Favors
Seek UN Approval for Military Action	Favors	Opposes
Drug Use is Immoral: Enforce Laws Against It	Strongly Opposes	Strongly Favors
Allow Churches to Provide Welfare Services	No Opinion	Favors

Sign Feingold's Petition on Bush's Illegal Wiretapping

2006-02-27T03:17:00.001-05:00

Dear Headstrong America,

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding hearings on President Bush's domestic spying program - a government program that illegally wiretaps the phones and emails of American citizens without a warrant. Please sign my petition today to help me hold President Bush accountable for this outrageous power grab.

Click here to sign my petition.

When Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his nomination hearing last year, I asked him directly about the legality of just such a program. Gonzales dismissed my question as a "hypothetical situation." We now know that not only was such a program already in existence, but as a key advisor to the President, Gonzales had full knowledge of the domestic spying program.

Today, while I'm holding Gonzales accountable for his misleading answers last year, I need you to help me hold President Bush accountable for his actions in authorizing this illegal spying program. A week ago, in his State of the Union address, President Bush made no apologies for this illegal program. We need to show him that the American people will not stand by as he authorizes the government to invade the privacy of law-abiding Americans by bypassing the laws of this country.

Click here to sign my petition to hold President Bush accountable for his actions. Our goal is to collect petitions from ten thousand Americans, letting the President know that they are outraged at his actions and his lack of candor. We can vigorously fight terror without sacrificing our rights and freedoms.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

Join the POL Wiretapping Discussion

Feingold Kicks Ass in Online Polls

2006-02-27T03:17:00.000-05:00

The MyDD Feburary Straw Poll is well underway, with around 2,600 ballots cast. The current final four are:

Russ Feingold	1,005	(40.2%)
Wesley Clark	805	(32.2%)
Mark Warner	412	(16.5%)
John Edwards	278	(11.1%)

In the final round, with votes redistributed, the current results are:

Russ Feingold	1,325	(54.4%)
Wesley Clark 1,109 (45.6%)

You can cast your ballot here and read Chris's analysis here.

I found this bit particularly interesting:

Since November, as of this writing, there have been 9,994 votes in MyDD straw polls. In all four polls, Clark and Feingold have been the two candidates in the final round. Feingold has received 4,914 votes, or 49.2%, and Clark has received 4,471 votes, or 44.7%.

MyDD flipped from Clark/Feingold to Feingold/Clark in December. The Daily Kos Straw Poll did the same flip in Janurary when Clark dropped 4K votes and Feingold picked up 11K.

Check out the 2008 Candidates Discussion at progressivesonline.

Graph Rates 2008 Hopefuls on the Issues

2006-02-27T03:15:00.000-05:00

Using data from ontheissues.org, Headstrong America has created a nifty graph rating 2008 presidential hopefuls on their adherence to liberal, progressive values.

The candidates are rated on 20 social and economic issues against ontheissues.org's responses for the "ideal liberal." Russ Feingold and Ralph Nader came closest to the ideal responses.

Tightly clustered towards the liberal end of the spectrum are John Kerry, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, and Wes Clark. Another cluster in the center of the spectrum contains Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, Evan Bayh, Mark Warner, and Bill Richardson.

Republicans John McCain and George W. Bush are clustered in the conservative edge of the spectrum as a reference.

The spreadsheet used to generate the graph is available at Headstrong America. The issues on which the candidates were ranked are as follows:

Economic Issues	Social Issues
Require companies to hire more women & minorities	Abortion Is A Woman's Right
More Federal Funding For Health Coverage	Sexual Orientation Protected By Civil Rights Law
Privatize Social Security	Permit prayer in public schools
Reduce use of coal, oil, and nuclear energy	Parents choose schools via vouchers
Decrease overall taxation of the wealthy	Mandatory "Three Strikes" Sentencing Laws
Immigration Helps Our Economy – Encourage It	Absolute right to Gun Ownership
Support and Expand Free Trade	Link Human Rights To Trade With China
More Spending on Armed Forces	Drug Use Is Immoral: Enforce Laws Against It
Reduce spending on missile defense (Star Wars)	Death Penalty
	Allow Churches To Provide Welfare Services
	Seek UN Approval for Military Action

ontheissues.org has a series of ideological matching quizzes which are a hoot to take. See, for example The Political Celebrity Matcher.

Sen. Feingold Asks For Your Input

2006-02-27T03:02:00.000-05:00

Fast emerging as a real, dynamic leader in the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party, Senator Russ Feingold asks for your opinions on The USA-PATRIOT Act, the Supreme Court Nomination, and issues from Energy to Foreign Policy at his Official Web Page.

Having stood up for our real American Values with respect to the Gulf War, the USA-PATRIOT Act, government ethics, the "Anti-Torture" Amendment, and the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, I feel strongly that this is a leader who listens to "We The People."

By so ably fulfilling his responsibility to listen, to represent us on Capitol Hill, he reminds us of our responsibility as citizens to talk. I encourage every visitor to this page to show Sen. Feingold that we appreciate his receptiveness and open a dialogue with him on the issues that matter to you.

Headstrong-America has collected a list of On-Line Action Campaigns related to Sen. Feingold, including a petition to encourage him to run for President at HAPAD.

Here are some of the comments on the petition:

"This is Chris Bowers of MyDD. The day after the midterms are over, I'm ready to work for Senator Feingold in 2008."

"An honourable man and senator, I salute you."

"I would miss you as my senator, but you could do great things for our country!!"

"We need a strong leader that is not in the pockets of special interests. Russ Feingold could help bring back the respect and decency that America used to be known for."

If you know of other On-Line Action Campaigns related to Sen. Feingold, please take a moment to submit them to the directory. (I will approve the links without reciprocal links back to the directory.)

10 minutes later: another way I know Sen. Feingold's got his thumb on the pulse of the American People is all the hits I keep getting from senate.gov. :)