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Feingold's Road Show Makes Many Stops

Posted on: Sunday, 24 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

Washington Russ Feingold, who made political trips on recent weekends to Tennessee and Pennsylvania, may resume out-of-state travel this fall and visit New Hampshire and Ohio.

The Senate Democrat is a possible 2008 presidential candidate, though he says he hasn't decided whether to run. This year he launched a political Web site, raised money through a new political action committee and began hitting the road.

New Hampshire, of course, home to the earliest presidential primary, is a mecca for White House wannabes. Asked if it would be wrong to interpret a Feingold trip there as a signal he will run in '08, his campaign aide George Aldrich said, "I do think it would be wrong. Right now our travel is predicated on the invitations we're receiving."

Aldrich said the mayor of Manchester, N.H., had invited Feingold to do an event for the mayor's re-election bid.

In the winter and spring, Feingold visited Florida and Alabama. He stopped off in Nashville July 8-9, addressing liberal activists and meeting with a music industry group that supports Democrats.

The next weekend saw him in eastern Pennsylvania, where he did events with a Democrat running for the U.S. House and another, Bob Casey, running for U.S. Senate against GOP incumbent Rick Santorum.

Feingold has characterized the trips as party-building efforts, saying he wants to help the Democrats take back Congress and become more competitive nationally.

Pitchman: Bob Dole hawked Viagra after leaving public life, but Tommy G. Thompson is promoting a new, little-known product: the VeriChip.

The implantable microchip has a 16-digit identification code to give health care providers access to a database with a person's medical information, says John O. Procter, a VeriChip spokesman.

Thompson hasn't had the $200 device the size of a grain of rice "chipped" into his arm yet, but it sounds like there's no rush. Only two hospitals in the U.S. are set up for the radio-frequency identification technology, Procter says.

But if the ex-Wisconsin-governor and federal HHS boss finds himself in Barcelona, the chip could come in handy. Procter says a nightclub owner there invited VIP patrons to have the implant to bypass lines and run tabs without the hassle of those cumbersome pesos and credit cards.

Thompson joined the board of directors of VeriChip, a subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla., on July 8.

War chests: Here's the cash that Wisconsin's federal lawmakers had on hand through June 30, according to Federal Election Commission reports:

House Democrats: Tammy Baldwin of Madison, $272,613; Ron Kind of La Crosse: $369,501; Gwen Moore of Milwaukee, $144,419; Dave Obey of Wausau, $783,961.

House Republicans: Tom Petri of Fond du Lac, $934,705; Paul Ryan of Janesville, $1,353,249; and Jim Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls, $651,555.

Republican Mark Green of Green Bay, who is running to oppose incumbent Democrat Jim Doyle in the 2006 Wisconsin gubernatorial race, reported $1.7 million in his state campaign treasury as of July 1. That includes $1.3 million transferred from his federal account, which now has $1,350.

Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl, who owns the Milwaukee Bucks and largely funds his own campaigns, reported $1,896,447 on hand and a $2 million loan. Feingold had $576,536 in his Senate account and $100,773 in his PAC, the Progressive Patriots Fund.

Kids Rule: Ryan continued to beat the drum for personal accounts within Social Security in remarks here Thursday to conservative college students.

Ryan, elected to Congress when he was 28, told the students, many of them interns, that young people can make a difference. "The country is run by 28 year-olds, basically," he observed, in a reference to young Washington staffers.

He lamented, however, the growing partisan bitterness that stifles progress, Social Security reform included. "Every election, each side thinks they could win or lose the majority," he said. "So you have this constant friction that's occurring and this escalation of political activity that is really destructive. It's very difficult when you have people who put party first, ahead of just getting things done."

He addressed a conference of the non-profit group Accuracy in Academia, which promotes conservative ideas in higher education.

Comings and goings: Milwaukee's Peter Isely and others from Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests met Thursday with Santorum. The Pennsylvania senator in 2002 blamed the Roman Catholic priest abuse scandal in part on Boston's liberalism.

Santorum, a Catholic, stood by his remarks but promised to look into why the Justice Department hasn't responded to the network's lengthy request in 2003 for a probe into abuse by Catholic clergy, according to Isely.

Isely is hoping next to meet with both Santorum and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Tanya Atkinson, public affairs field manager for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, took part in a rally Wednesday at the Supreme Court after the week's biggest capital news, the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court. The group is "absolutely" concerned that the appointment of Roberts would mean the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, Atkinson said.

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Jonathan O'Connell of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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