UPDATE: Much more here:
"I began with the feeling I didn't really want to do this but was open to the possibility that getting around the country would make me want to do it. That never happened," he said.(Pansies! Are we still talking like that? I thought, post-Macaca, no politician would ever use a slur word again.)
"People have always portrayed me as ambitious. I'm not ashamed of that.
"But I have never had a craving to be president of the United States. I used to say it when I was 5 or 7 years old. But I haven't really been saying it as an adult," said Feingold, who said he didn't rule out running in the future.
Feingold's thinking about the race crystallized in the last few weeks, he said. The Democratic takeover of Congress on Tuesday was a final factor because it added to the appeal of focusing entirely on his position in the Senate, he said....
"This may sound immodest, but I thought, 'I can do this. I can be the candidate, that rational, effective, presentable candidate for Democrats that would not be threatening, yet very progressive,' " Feingold said.
Feingold said he was not concerned about the personal scrutiny that comes with a presidential candidacy.
"I've been through three U.S. Senate campaigns. The people I've run against have not been pansies," said Feingold, referring to the aggressiveness of his opponents. "I feel like my life is an open book."
Anyway, I still want to hear the real story. Something to do with his position within the Senate?
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He probably realized there was no way he'd win the nomination, let alone the election.
I'm surprised by people who go through the trouble and expense of running a presidential campaign when they certainly know they're not going to win but have some agenda they want publicized.
In political terms, we are coming to the middle point of the "Money primary". Warner dropped out too because his fundraising cannot match Sen. Clinton's with her husbands rolodex. The money primary continues until the last fiscal quarter before New Hampshire and Iowa.
Not much in that NY Times story.
More in today's Journal Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=529983
A better year for him to consider a run for president would be 2016 when his next term as senator will be ending, his personal life will be more settled, and we will all have a better historical perspective on authorizing the use of military force in Iraq. It might also give him the time needed to help lead his party back from the ledge of suicide by leftism.
Now that the democrats set the agenda in Congress, he's at the top of his senatorial game. Perhaps he is, at heart, a legislator, not an executive.
He just might be too sane to want the job.
Either that, or Hillary got to him. ;-)
Pansy: "someone very pathetic and wimpy, generally used as an insult against both sexes."
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.
Decades ago when I clerked for a District Judge we had a trial to the court of two defendants who had run a banking scam.
My judge in his remarks said that "As far as he was concerned, they were just a pair of Ponzis whom time had caught up with". Stretch, the court reporter, had never heard of Ponzi, and recorded it as "pair of pansies".
On appeal the argument was all over whether the judge had been prejudiced. We did not learn about that until the appeal had been heard.
I learned all about the minutiae of civil procedure, mistakes in the record, and trial/appellate jurisdiction.
Then there was the misunderstanding about "Zulu time" by the 4th Circuit in an admiralty case....
Hey! Wait a minute! Whats wrong with a pansy? Pansies are wonderful flowers and they last through the winter.
Truth be told, I am quite surprised that Russ Feingold said what he did. It doesn't really bother me, but it definitely raised an eyebrow (or two).
Maybe Feingold is hoping we'll have forgotten about his involvement in the campaign finance reform mess.
Cedarford: One fun trick I like using when debating the ownership and/or proper usage of "nigger" with folks: If only blacks are allowed to say it, then are my bi-racial nephews and nieces allowed to say it on even numbered days but not on odd numbered days?
This usually washes away the sandy foundation of the ownership argument.
I highly recommend Randall Kennedy's Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word for those interested in the history of the word and its usage.
The Dread Pirate No-Beard
Ann: In terms of committee assignments, seniority, etc. Feingold's position in the Senate would not be affected in the least by a run for President. Now that the Democrats are in the majority, he will undoubtedly be enjoying his position more, and that is as good a reason as any to abandon a hopeless campaign.
I meant to add that I'm sure Senator Clinton and some others preferred he did run. He would siphon off most of the radical base and they could ignore it.
One divorce is fine. Two is too many for a presidential candidate.
Cheddar: Maybe Feingold is afraid of being outed ;)
The story, I think, is that he knew that he couldn't win. When the Dems won on Tuesday, staying in the Senate became more enticing...or maybe, that gave Feingold the excuse he needed to bow to the inevitable regarding his presidential prospects.
His announcement of his non-candidacy is about as shocking as the one made by Mississippi Republican governor Haley Barbour a few weeks ago.
I guess now Democrats and Republicans will have to be contented to get involved in the campaigns, respectively, of Tom Vilsack and Duncan Hunter, I guess.
Mark
I guess the English language got the better of me in my previous comment, I guess.
Mark
Mark Daniels:
Decisions. Decisions: Tom Vilsack or Duncan Hunter. Be still my heart.
slac: FWIW As I recall, a recent poll showed that only 5% of Americans would vote for an aetheist. (It may have been discussed here at Althouse.) Huge majorities (above 70% IIRC) would vote for a Jewish or black candidate. Hispanics and Asians did not fare nearly as well. Neither did Mormons, which is Romney's problem.
Y'all think that of all those FBI files that were held in the Clinton White House were only on Republicans? Not likely.
Why won't he run? Three possible reasons:
1. He is running - he'll "be persuaded", say, next year, by some notable has-been. Al Gore. By pretending not to want the presidency, he makes himself automatically more attractive.
2. He's reached some political arrangement with Clinton.
3. He's actually smart, and realizes running for President is just a legal form of torture. In which case, he has earned some respect from me. (See point #1).
I realize that very mention of Hillary Clinton makes many people (on the right and the left) foam at the mouth, but there is one thing Clinton definitely wants (should she in fact run for President) and that is someone runnng to the left of her in the primaries. Otherwise she is stuck pandering to that significant chunk of the primary electorate in order to obtain the nomination only to lose a general election as a result.
Why would Senator Clinton want Feingold out of the picture when he could run a credible losing campaign that frees her to continue tacking towards the center?
I actually buy the "position in the Senate" argument. He thought Dems would be in the minority during his run. And, he's on great committees. Now that the Dems run things, he would be an idiot to leave the Senate for a speculative bid for the Presidency.
I also think the Hillary argument has some teeth to it. His sources of funding were always sketchy. If not a formal deal, she may have simply locked up fundraisers he hoped to get.
Al Gore may have asked him not to run. Al Gore may be running.
The Obama phenomenon may have an effect. Obama is rather lefty and would crush Feingold.
I don't really buy the "Run the Senate" line of thinking, especially given that control over the Senate (and the House) will probably be dictated by the 2008 President's coat tails.
I have to wonder whether Feingold is trying to position himself as "above the fray" for the Presidential nod in order to set himself up for a VP nomination.
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