Russ Likes Iowa Best

Russ Feingold is going back to Iowa -- AGAIN. The guy can't get enough of the place.

He was just there on July 15 & 16; but Feingold is fitting in yet another Iowa getaway before the summer ends.

Craig Gilbert writes:

Russ Feingold will make his third trip to Iowa this year, with events Aug. 30 and 31, including a speech on the 31st at Iowa State University in Ames. With the first presidential caucus, Iowa has attracted a non-stop parade of visits this summer by politicians in both parties eyeing a 2008 White House bid.

Feingold also plans to travel to Los Angeles Thursday and Friday for private meetings and a fundraiser for his political committee, the Progressive Patriots Fund, an aide said.

Russ is going Hollywood, too!

He must really be getting serious now. Courting the glitterati in Hollywood is a sign that he's taking his presidential aspirations up a notch. I wonder if he has plans to "listen" to Sharon Stone while he's in LA.

Using a marital analogy, Wisconsinites are being neglected. The state is being dumped by Feingold, and he's trading it in for a trophy wife. Wisconsin just doesn't seem to excite Russ the way it once did.

Let's look at Feingold's Listening Sessions map.



The far southwestern counties are conspicuously unscheduled. Feingold still hasn't done any "listening" in Crawford, Vernon, and LaCrosse counties. Constituents there haven't had their chance to voice their concerns to Feingold.

Just by looking at the map, one could conclude that Feingold has left those counties open on his schedule because he intends to get those sessions out of the way when he heads to Iowa again and again and again... .

That's a logical conclusion, given how his Grant County session led into a two day whirlwind tour of Iowa.

Yes, I definitely think that Feingold might want to get sessions in those counties under his belt when he's making a swing to Iowa.

But so far, there are no plans for a listening session in Crawford County, or Vernon and LaCrosse.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if Feingold scheduled one of his "up to an hour" listening sessions in one of those counties to coincide with his upcoming Iowa trip, it would be rather short notice.

My guess is that Feingold's August Iowa tour will be followed by a September visit. He could check another western Wisconsin county off his listening session list then.

The fact that listening sessions haven't been scheduled in those counties could indicate that more Iowa visits in the near future are dancing in Feingold's head.

If Feingold is already spending this much time in Iowa, what will he do when the 2008 campaign really gets moving?

He'll probably have to cut his Wisconsin listening sessions down. Perhaps he'll listen for "up to thirty minutes" at each one.

Feingold's presidential campaign website, also known as the Progressive Patriots Fund, offers this description of his July romp in Iowa.

Senator Feingold spent the weekend of July 15th and 16th traveling through the eastern part of Iowa where he held a listening session, held several meetings with local activists and was the special guest at a fundraising event for the Iowa House Democratic Caucus.

On Saturday, after hosting his 972nd Wisconsin listening session in Platteville,Wisconsin, Russ made the 20 minute drive across the Mississippi River to Dubuque, Iowa where he hosted a meeting with local activists. Over lunch at Mario’s Restaurant, Senator Feingold heard from a number of activists who voiced their concern with the direction the country is heading, but expressed excitement at democrat’s prospects in this fall’s elections. Russ talked about the high hopes for Democrats taking control of Congress this year, and the importance of races like Dubuque’s First congressional district, where Bruce Braley is fighting to win in the most competitive district in the nation.

Following lunch, Russ made his way to the Dubuque County Democratic Party Headquarters where he hosted a listening session – his sixth outside of Wisconsin. Over 50 people attended the hour-long session. Russ heard from many Iowans who talked about the crisis in the health care industry, the important of campaign finance reform, and the need for Democrats to stand up to the administration on the war in Iraq.

...That evening, Russ attended a fundraiser for the Iowa House Democratic Caucus at the home of the House Democratic Leader, Pat Murphy. ...There are some exciting candidates running all over the Iowa and Russ was thrilled to support Pat and the Iowa State House Democrats.

...On Sunday, Russ was up early and on the road to Maquoketa, where he hosted a breakfast with local democratic activists and elected officials. In Maquoketa Russ heard about the concern about sky rocketing gas prices and the problems that the No Child Left Behind act has had on local schools.

After breakfast, Russ traveled to Clinton, Iowa for a second activist meeting. Topics raised at the meeting included the need for Democrats to talk more about the budget deficits Republicans have created to the overriding concern about redeploying our troops from Iraq.

Following the Clinton meeting, it was off to Davenport for the final activist meeting of the day.

...This trip to Iowa was fantastic, and Russ was thrilled to meet so many enthusiastic and committed democrats. Thanks to everyone who made it out to the different events.

Russ doesn't talk that way about Wisconsin.

When was he last "thrilled" by Wisconsinites?

Russ isn't hesitating to make it very clear that he has a favorite state, and it's not Wisconsin.