Feingold Unleashed

Senator Russ Feingold announced on Sunday that he would not seek the Democratic Party's nomination for President in 2008. I've always been a big fan of Russ Feingold, and that's why I was thrilled to hear he wasn't going to run. Let me explain.

Throughout his political career, Russ Feingold has been a true maverick (not a calculated "maverick" like John McCain). As Glenn Greenwald writes:

Russ Feingold has spent his entire idiosyncratic political career espousing views because he believes them, even when those views are so plainly contrary to his political interests. He infuriated his entire party by being the only Democratic Senator to vote against dismissal of the Clinton impeachment charges prior to the Senate trial. He pursued campaign finance reform hated by incumbents in both parties.

Indeed, even before the McCain-Feingold campaign finance rules became the law of the land, Feingold insisted on holding himself to a higher standard. This passage from an article in Madison Magazine perfectly captures Feingold's most admirable quality:

But contrary to what most people think, Russ Feingold's boldest act was none of these things. No, his real maverick moment came in 1998, in his first U.S. Senate re-election campaign. The poll numbers were not good. It was neck and neck, and Republican opponent Mark Neumann, a conservative congressman from Feingold's own hometown of Janesville, was gaining.

While Neumann had launched TV ads in early summer, Feingold couldn't afford to begin his spots until August, because he'd committed himself to spending only one dollar for every person in Wisconsin and not accepting a dime of soft money. He imposed on himself all the restrictions proposed in his not-yet-passed McCain-Feingold bill. Neumann, however, was sucking at the soft money teat, which gave him an early edge. Even when Neumann caught up in the polls, Feingold wouldn't budge. Moreover, he told lobbying groups on the left not to run ads for him.

Eventually, one poll showed Neumann ahead, which UW--Madison political science professor Ken Mayer recalls. "At that point," says Mayer, "we saw a real chance that Russ could lose, and tried to convince him to allow the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee to run ads for him. He said no, and that was it. He said he had staked out a position on principle -- no soft money -- and if he lost the seat, he lost the seat. People often ask why political leaders are never willing to take positions that might cost them their jobs. And here it was."

"How many of us are willing to do that?" asks then-campaign manager Wittenwyler. "In our daily lives, how many of us are willing to jeopardize our jobs for something we believe in?"

Long story short, Feingold has never been the politically calculating type. And that's why it's been so frustrating over the past year to see his every move depicted in the media as some sort of political stunt designed to win over Democratic primary voters. As Glenn chronicled in an excellent post on Sunday, the consensus reaction of Beltway journalists and pundits to Feingold's call earlier this year for censure of President Bush was to dismiss it as a cynical act of political grandstanding. No one stopped to consider the merits or wisdom of Feingold's proposal or to consider that Feingold might be acting out of conscience and not political opportunism.

But now that Feingold has officially removed himself from the '08 presidential field, this cynical storyline can finally be put to rest.

And it couldn't come at a better time. When the Democrats take over control of the Senate, Feingold is going to play a crucial role--both in an investigatory and legislative capacity--with respect to a number of key issues, most notably the issue of the President's illegal warrantless surveillance activity. And, at least with respect to that issue, there is no one in the Senate whose judgment I trust more than Feingold's.

When Feingold presses these issues--which he is sure to do--the press will no longer be able to dismiss him as some sort of cynical opportunist. His genuine and deeply-held beliefs will not be reflexively treated as political pandering. That's important. Feingold is now in a position to do a lot of good, and perhaps more importantly, to be perceived as genuinely trying to do good.

Feingold certainly could have brought something valuable to the table if he had chosen to run for president. I don't think he would have won the nomination, but he could have made things interesting. On balance, though, I think he made the right decision. I think his status as a presidential candidate would have impaired his ability to carry out investigations and influence legislation in the Senate. And that would have been a shame.

As it stands, though, Feingold is now a man unleashed. I predict we'll see a true maverick in action over the next two years, and it could get really interesting.