Why did Russ Feingold lose?

[Eric J in MN]

Russ Feingold (D-WI) is one of my favorite Senators in history.

Ron Johnson (R-WI) isn't.

How did Ron Johnson win? Did Russ Feingold campaign badly?

[Farmgirl1961]

1. what were the projections going into election day and what about exit polls?

[dflprincess]

21. Projections had Feingold up

538 had him way up.

Not sure what the exit polls said.

[Bob41213]

22. He was up before, but it got close right at the election

Think he was up double digits at one point, probably 6ish a couple weeks before, and then the last one before the election probably showed him up 1. Just my recollection though.

Seemed to be a classic story of the election night.

[Tiggeroshii]

2. It would be neat if the presidential recount included that seat too.

You know, to see if he actually lost.

[asuhornets]

15. Stop blaming it on African American who only make up 12% of the population..nt

[CentralMass]

35. Well, I don't think that the low turn helped. Below is an interesting NY Times article

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/us/many-in-milwaukee-neighborhood-didnt-vote-and-dont-regret-it.html

[okieinpain]

56. wow, really sad people are that ignorant. n/t.

[uponit7771]

66. "the first general election under new state laws that required voters to produce an approved ID"

Bullshit ass'd article that focused on few anecdotes and not effects of voter suppression like most of the punk ass'd articles on the subject has done

19% decline in turnout had more to do with what vs voter suppression?

Fuck these sKeered "journalist"

[CentralMass]

67. Trump only won the state by 27,000 votes. This is not BS

The votes of theses disinterested voter were necessary and at some level the voters across demographics in Wisconsin seems to share a level of hopelessness and a feeling that they are being ignored by the Democratic party. They do not feel that any of the improvements that the economy may have seen has benefitted them.

[Mike Nelson]

4. I agree...

...Russ Feingold is way better. Unfortunately, Trump drove up the bigotry vote.

[JI7]

7. johnson did better than trump

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. And feingold worse than Hillary

[JI7]

27. yes, when we look at these FACTS

we see they aren't actually voting on trade.

[emulatorloo]

31. Plus 1

[TheLibIn615]

5. He needed support from the DNC and didn't get it

Daily Kos had a brief piece on it -- http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/11/12/1597667/--Russ-Feingold-sent-a-flare-up-and-said-I-need-help-but-it-went-largely-ignored-DNC-fumble|

I hope I am not lambasted for saying this, because I am firmly in the "little sympathy for the white working class" camp. But Feingold was the canary in this election. Had he been heeded, we may have been able to avoid this ridiculousness.

I lived in Madison during that interminable campaign season. I worked for Wisconsin Extension, for whom I conducted public health outreach in very rural parts of the state.

The Driftless Region, the Blue Collar pockets, and agricultural central and northern Wisconsin are strikingly different from reservation-heavy counties, Madison, and Milwaukee, which were all reliably blue as per usual.

Feingold asked the DNC for help to reach out to these areas, and he went ignored. He and Hillary went down with the same ship. Her campaign felt that Wisconsin was safe, and instead of shoring it (along with Michigan and Pennsylvania) up, she was flirting with the idea of going into Georgia and Texas.

Feingold's anxiety should have been an indication to Hillary's campaign that she needed to go there, but she didn't. Not even once.

Perhaps it is interesting to note that Bernie Sanders supported Feingold, but Feingold endorsed Hillary before the primaries had concluded.

If we are able to survive these next four years, then I am strongly hoping Feingold runs for president. I'm serious.

[elleng]

26. Same as Michigan, it seems;

asked DNC and HRC for attention, and were ignored. You've just confirmed what I'd read. This party MUST learn to do the right thing.

[KittyWampus]

63. It is confirming what I have read, as well. We can bang our heads together.

I read my Senator, Chuck Schumer, still has 14 million left over.

Oh, and now he's the leadership.

[elleng]

64. Oh, RIGHT!

At least MY Senator (Cardin) is NOT among 'leadership.' My new Junior senator, VanHollen, may become leadership some day. Have to try to discourage him from being bought. HOPE it's possible.

[andym]

6. A strong negative campaign by Johnson through the mass media

really drove Johnson's campaign. Johnson sat on his money until the last month of so and then let Russ have it as a member of the "do-nothing establishment." Money in politics really works.

Strickland in Ohio, was finished off earlier in his campaign a similar fashion.

The power of going negative with $$ behind you.

[JI7]

8. because wisconsin isn't that Liberal. just look at walker

[BlueStater]

10. Wisconsin is turning into a huge disappointment, just like my state of Florida.

28 years of voting for the Democratic ticket in presidential elections and you break the pattern for a fucking sexual predator with no political experience? Seriously?

[milestogo]

11. Wisconsin is 50:50

Feingold was elected to the Senate 3 times. Tammy Baldwin, a liberal, is a Senator now.

Wisconsin has gone to the Democrats for every single election since 1984. Wisconsin went for Obama in 2008 and 2012. That is the main reason I think something fishy happened this election.

[FBaggins]

24. It really isn't

Baldwin is the sole remaining holdout (unless we stretch it to include the SOS) and is likely to be on the endangered list for 2018. Walker (three times) isn't the only counter-example apart from Feingold's loss. They have overwhelming majorities in both sides of the state legislature, five of eight US House members, and control of the state supreme court. Now we can of course add Trump.

50-50 would be a significant improvement.

[mythology]

47. Much of that is due to gerrymandering

Wisconsin just had the post-2010 census districts struck down for being too gerrymandered in favor of Republicans.

[Ken Burch]

39. We'd have lost the seat running an Evan Bayh type, too-

as what happened to the ACTUAL Evan Bayh proves.

[JI7]

40. they voted for someone even more conservative

which just proves what i said.

it's mainly white voters though who are angry at any inroads made by minorities.

[Ken Burch]

42. Why is it so important to reduce the whole thing to race?

Look, I agree(we all do here)that racism is a huge issue in this country.

But saying it's race and nothing else means we can never win again.

Why insist on an analysis that makes any future progressive victories impossible?

Or(worse yet) ends up arguing that people of color should align with corporate power?

[JI7]

43. not just race, religion and lgbt and women's rights also

[Ken Burch]

44. Why is it so important to deny that economic issues played a major role?

We would have been just as committed to all the causes listed there(there was no difference between either major primary candidate on any of that) if we had specifically also said "No TPP" and agreed to get our troops the hell out of the Muslim world.

[JI7]

45. because it didn't

[exboyfil]

51. Guns as well?

[dsc]

48. Unlike Feingold he actually outperformed Hilllary

by a not insubstantial margin. Yes, he still did lose but Feingold done just a little bit better than Hillary, instead of worse, he would have won.

[Ken Burch]

53. Agreed, but nominating a centrist wouldn't have given us that result.

The guy Walker beat twice for the governorship was the most innocuous bland centrist we could have found.

[a kennedy]

52. Exactly......parts of Wisconsin are liberal....Madison, and parts of Milwaukee......

most all other areas are pretty red. and a few of the advertisements were terribly untrue about the veterans that I think really hit home to a lot of people. I'm still just sick over this election. So glad I live in MN, two Dem Senators and a Dem Gov. 21 days and counting since I watched my last political, news show. Not watching another show that will the name tRump will be said. Done.....will read DU and try to survive the next four years of hell.

[treestar]

60. true but then it once was

because they elected Feingold before.

[milestogo]

9. The Kochs poured 7 million dollars into campaign ads for Johnson in the last 3 wks

before the election. Feingold asked the DNC for $ help, and they largely ignored him. If Hillary had come to Wisconsin and campaigned with him, it sure would have helped.

He was up 1% according to a poll 1 week before the election. He lost by 3%. But if there was cheating it surely hurt him as well as Clinton.

Johnson is a tea-party obstructionist moron. Republicans love him.

[Wellstone ruled]

28. And another 3.5 million from

a group of Hedgies and Bankers in the last 10 days.

[suffragette]

65. Citizens United impact in action. Crushing the unions there likely played a strong role as

well.

Not just union support, but tearing apart that specific community of people who communicated with each other about their choices.

It's very much a divide and conquer strategy.

[Justice]

13. How about Russ Feingold for DNC Chair?

[LeftInTX]

17. Sounds good to me

[FBaggins]

25. A great idea

Count me in.

[Fast Walker 52]

49. I like it-- if he's interested

[moonscape]

61. Love that idea! n/t

[brooklynite]

14. 1. working class Democrats shifted to Trump. 2. They voted straight ticket.

I have it on good authority that Paul Ryan's pollster thought Feingold would win as late as 6 PM on election Day.

[LenaBaby61]

16. 1. working class Democrats shifted to Trump. 2. They voted straight ticket.

IF, and I say IF what you say is true about Dems in WI. (I believe this election was stolen from Hillary Clinton), good luck finding a good job in their right-to-work state. SAD that WI is soon-to-be a right-to-work state if it's not that already

[brooklynite]

19. Nobody in Dem leadership believes election results were "hacked" or "rigged".

[LenaBaby61]

23. Nobody in Dem leadership believes election results were "hacked" or "rigged".

Honestly, I could care less what they think. This election was not on the up and up, and nobody could tell me otherwise. Plus, most Dems are weak and go along with pretty much what the Rethugs TELL them to go along with.

[brooklynite]

32. ...and you have evidence, or is your belief more authoritative?

[LenaBaby61]

38. Well ....

I don't have any evidence personally about who murdered Pres. Kennedy in front of the world and in plain sight. However the last time I checked, MOST people don't think that one person in a book depository with a hideously old rifle who wasn't a marksman took out Pres. Kennedy with a magic bullet. The Warren Commission? .... Plus for my taste, there were too many "odd/crazy" coincidences that happened in this GE for my taste.

[brooklynite]

46. "MOST people don't think..."

A rigorous standard indeed.

[LeftInTX]

18. I believe Walker got rid of straight ticket

[brooklynite]

20. But you can still vote for all Party candidates...which is what happened.

[hrmjustin]

29. I think the moral here and from OH is don't run candidates who have lost in your state

before.

[JI7]

33. if they don't want Feingold they aren't looking for a progressive

[hrmjustin]

34. Honestly I am not sure a more moderate candidate would have done any better.

[JI7]

37. i agree, i think trump's bigotry appealed to people

and that's waht they voted for but it's hard for people to face that.

[riversedge]

30. Lots of dark money flowed into WI last few weeks. Wall to wall nasty lying ads about

Russ hour after hour. One very important reason.

[Still In Wisconsin]

36. Senator Dumbass, as we call him, received a huge late infusion of Koch cash... that and the fact

that a lot of Wisconsin "Democrats" can't be bothered to FUCKING VOTE. Repubs here always vote. Always. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is comically inept, too. Seriously, comically inept. Turnout was way down, and it was not all voter ID. Some but not all.

[lovemydog]

41. Because more people voted for his opponent than voted for him.

Not trying to sound too rude, Eric J. I just feel there are many factors at play in every election. Anyone who tries to say it's because of one single thing or another single thing isn't paying attention to all the other things. Maybe the majority of people who vote really want 'trickle down' tax policy even though it clearly makes the rich richer and everyone else poorer. I just don't know.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

50. I dunno - Russ seemed kinda invisible - at least round these parts - no

ads, no appearances that I knew about - meanwhile, tons of RJ ads day and night even on progressive radio and internet and as incument he was in the newspaper more as well. Supposedly Russ had all this money, lots more than RJ - so what did he spend it on???

Ive heard that of all the $$$$ that was raised by Dems for the recall a while back - a lot of it was diverted elsewhere and not spent in WI. I really do wonder if the same ting happened here, they just assumed name recognition alone would be enough to overcome the inundation of smears and propaganda.

[lumberjack_jeff]

54. Progressives, rural and otherwise, stayed home.

I guess the DNC needed us after all.

[boston bean]

57. You just didn't vote? wow, you must have really not like Hillary at ALL!

[BobbyDrake]

58. So they screwed over their local politicians to "stick it" to HRC?

That's a special brand of stupid right there then. It also means they deserve the government they get, because they chose not to participate in it, and that they, and those who think (if that's even the correct term there) like them, are the absolute last people anyone should take political advice from, ever. One who cuts off their nose to spite their face just ends up looking like an ugly idiot.

[GoCubsGo]

55. I'm going to guess that voter suppression played a significant role in it.

From what I understand, a lot of minorities and college students who "stayed home" were actually turned away, because they couldn't jump through all of the "proper ID" and other hoops that were placed in front of them.

[DemonGoddess]

59. Face it

1. dark money
2. bigotry
3. sexism (which affected down ballot too)
4. SPITE

[grillo7]

62. He Rode Trump's Coattails

In most presidential elections the candidate who wins brings along the down-ballot candidates with them.

In addition, Feingold was weakened by the massive influx of Republican spending vs. few national resources to support him or Clinton in WI.