Russ Feingold, Pants on Fire - PolitiFact Wisconsin

"I've been outspent by my opponents every time I've run for U.S. Senate."

--RUSS FEINGOLD, on Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 in a TV interview and multiple other sources

WHAT?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is highlighting the fact that Russ Feingold is lying?

Is hell beginning to freeze over?

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Russ Feingold has spent 18 years in the U.S. Senate, 28 years in elective office. The Democrat has never lost an election. Yet, in his bid for a fourth Senate term, against first-time candidate Republican Ron Johnson, Feingold is positioning himself as the underdog.

To be sure, the latest Federal Election Commission reports -- for spending from Jan. 1 through Aug. 25 -- show Johnson outspent Feingold $4.55 million to $4.28 million. Feingold says Johnson, a multi-millionaire Oshkosh businessman, may wind up running the most expensive campaign in state history.

We won’t be able to tally that up until after the election.

But what about this claim by Feingold: "I've been outspent by my opponents every time I've run for U.S. Senate."

Feingold has made the statement, or a variation of it, many times: In TV interviews on the night of the Sept. 14 primary, in a magazine interview, in an e-mail solicitation to supporters, in a blog post on his campaign website and on "The Ed Show" on MSNBC.

So, is it true?

The claim seems pretty straightforward, one candidate versus another candidate in each of Feingold’s three previous Senate campaigns. Indeed, when we asked the campaign to support Feingold’s statement, senior adviser John Kraus pointed to spending by Feingold and his various opponents -- not spending by outside groups, which would complicate matters.

But here is the twist: Kraus said Feingold compares his campaign spending to the spending by all of the candidates in an election -- the Republican he faced head-to-head in each November contest, as well as major party candidates eliminated in the primary.

Call it me-against-them math.

For instance, in Feingold’s last election, he outspent GOP nominee Tim Michels by nearly $3.7 million in the two-year period before the general election, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

But Feingold tosses in what was spent by unsuccessful GOP primary candidates Russ Darrow and Robert Welch. By that measure, all of the GOP candidates spent $11.6 million -- more than the $9.24 million spent by Feingold alone.

It’s a convenient argument, especially when you are using the "outspent every time" line in fund-raising appeals.

But it also confounds logic.

...Using Feingold’s me-vs-them math, everyone could say they were outspent. So is it possible that everyone spent the least and no one spent the most?

Of course not.

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Come on, Russ. Clean up your act. Stop misleading the people of Wisconsin. It's sleazy.