Feingold Disses Edwards, Still Considering Obama and Clinton

Two people emailed me the story about what Russ Feingold said about John Edwards and the presidential race.

I did notice that as the primaries heated up, all of a sudden, all the presidential candidates — none of whom voted with me on the time frame to withdraw from Iraq — all voted with me when we did the Patriot Act stuff.

The one that is the most problematic is (John) Edwards, who voted for the Patriot Act, campaigns against it. Voted for No Child Left Behind, campaigns against it. Voted for the China trade deal, campaigns against it. Voted for the Iraq war … He uses my voting record exactly as his platform, even though he had the opposite voting record.

I am a huge fan of Sen. Feingold, having started a blog supporting him to run for President. It isn't a surprise , though, what he said about John Edwards. Feingold probably wished he had more support on these issues back when it was unpopular in the Senate to do so.

Feingold was asked about who he would endorse...

I'm having a hard time deciding between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, as are many people. Those are the two I take the most seriously.

I go back and forth, to be honest with you. I'm torn on this whole issue of who's more likely to be progressive and really seek change vs. who's ready to do the job today. It really is a true dilemma in my mind.

I don't see anyway he could endorse Clinton. At the beginning of the book Feingold: A New Democratic Party, it discusses Feingold and Hillary Clinton clashing over campaign finance reform with Clinton saying that cutting off soft money would kill the Democratic Party. If Russ endorses Clinton, I'd be very disappointed.

The only reason that I could see for Feingold to support Clinton would be to maintain and enhance his influence as a Senator if she were elected President. Feingold didn't run for President because he wanted to work on important issues in the Senate. With past disputes with the Clinton's (both Bill and Hillary), Russ might be thinking that if he supports Obama and Hillary wins, then he will left out on major issues.

Feingold has more in common with Obama on the issues. They both were against the Iraq War from the start and they introduced lobbying reform together.

The Wisconsin Primary is on February 9th and could be a big contests if Obama and Clinton split states on February 5th.