Former Sen. Russ Feingold came to Marquette to be interviewed by Mike Gousha for “On the Issues” on Thursday. The Law School uploaded a video of the event.
Topics ranged from the Democrats’ odds in the 2012 races, to campaign finance and President Obama’s performance at the first debate.
Feingold is one of the Obama campaign’s 35 co-chairs. As Talking Points Memo noted back in February, Feingold may be a part of Obama’s campaign, but the two don’t always agree. Feingold has been deeply critical of the mass influx of money brought on after Citizens United.
I’ve gotten the impression that Feingold is done with public office. He certainly could run again for the Senate, but with his new group, Progressives United, he’s moving away from being a politician and more toward trying to advance progressive causes, primarily his favorite, campaign finance reform.
Regardless of your views, I think you can credit Feingold for avoiding some of the common talking points and being willing to work across the aisle. Also, he wasn’t afraid of criticizing his own party. After saying that he believes the influence of people sinking money into politics has exploded, he said, “Both sides become swallowed by this kind of corruption.”
For more, read the story in The Marquette Tribune or at the blogs of my colleagues Melanie Lawder, Brynne Ramella, Alex Rydin and Joe Kvartunas.
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