Feingold Article

While Clinton struggles with questions about her authenticity, Feingold will likely be forced to answer questions about his sense of "principle." Throughout his Senate career, Feingold has taken stances that leave fellow Democrats befuddled and angry. Often that's thanks to his fixation on the integrity of the political process--which he sometimes values above his partisan and even ideological imperatives. Unlike Democrats eager to torment Bush at every possible turn, for instance, Feingold believes the Senate should defer to a president's choice of nominees. Thus, he infuriated liberals in 2001 by voting for the confirmation of John Ashcroft as attorney general. And, at a time when other potential 2008 contenders--even moderates like Indiana's Bayh--said they couldn't bring themselves to vote for Roberts, Feingold did, saying Roberts was well-credentialed and the best Democrats could expect from Bush. Feingold's emphasis on process flows from the Wisconsin Progressive tradition--exemplified by the state's political icon, "Fighting" Bob La Folette--which battled to reform the political system. He was raised in a middle-class Wisconsin town, tutored in politics by a lawyer father who ran unsuccessfully for local offices as a Progressive and who taught him, as Feingold once told a local paper, "that honest and decent politics is an honorable profession." Feingold idolized John F. Kennedy as a boy and spoke openly about his own political aspirations. After college at the University of Wisconsin, followed by a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford and Harvard Law School, he became a white-collar lawyer until he ran for the Wisconsin state legislature and won. When he first ran for U.S. Senate in 1992, his focus was tellingly process-oriented: Feingold posted a list of campaign pledges on his garage door, which included pledges to attend every vote, maintain his Wisconsin residence, and refuse pay raises and most out-of-state campaign donations.