I've long maintained that Governors beat Senators in Presidential contests not just because Senators often have complicated records to explain, but because legislators and executives speak differently. Legislators have to be able to talk in specifics to justify their jobs -- what legislation they would propose or support, why, etc. -- whereas executive candidates can speak in more general terms and allow their responses to the legislature to fill in the gaps. This is why John Kerry lost, I think -- he allowed Karl Rove to bait him into acting like a Senator instead of a President on the campaign trail.
The exception to this rule is Russ Feingold. I've had this inkling for a while -- it's why he has my tentative support for the 2008 nomination -- and it was solidified during his debate last year with Tim Michels. Feingold is not just more rhetorically skilled than Michels, as evidenced by his ninja-like takedown of Michels for having not actually read the PATRIOT Act, he spoke in more general terms, in more colloquial terms and in more congenial terms. Throughout the debate, as he sat at across the table from the poor newbie he was annihilating, Feingold had a broad, earnest smile on his face. It's part of the real, personal charm that's helped keep him popular far away from his home base on the west side of Madison. Feingold knows how Senators lose elections, even Senatorial ones sometimes, and he knows how to go the other way.
I wasn't sure that actually meant anything until now, though. It turns out that, since entering the Senate in 1993, Feingold has never opposed a Supreme Court nominee:
I was annoyed by Feingold's votes to confirm John Roberts, but in light of this information and his committee vote against Sam Alito, I'm starting to see a picture of a man who values the power of the executive in a way most of his colleagues -- including John "Tap My Phone, Tap My Computer, Tap My Ass, Just Don't Let The Terrorists Get Me!" Cornyn -- don't. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. Feingold is a career legislator, but he's made his way without using legislators' tactics -- his first Senate campaign featuring a list of non-legislative promises written on his garage door and an ad in which he received an endorsement from Elvis.
The last legislator to run for President with that kind of style was John Kennedy. He was also the last President to enter office from a legislative job. National security issues will make federal experience extremely salient in 2008, and Feingold's characteristics may be just right to turn his candidacy into the perfect storm.
Now if we can just get these moronic Democratic primary voters to see that.
Posted by Aaron S. Veenstra ::: 2006:01:25:14:46
It may be that Senator Feingold, especially in thinking of his annual county 'listening sessions', will be able to clear the usual hurdle of being a senator in a presidential race because he still has a keen ear for what the people are actually saying. Too many senators always come off as condescending toward the voters. Governors, because they are dealing with local politics and problem solving in the short and long term, don't have the luxury of simply avoiding the people who elected them. Senators, needing the voters only sporadically, don't remember how to work 'retail' politics. Kerry had that problem in spades, as do other presidential hopefuls this time around.
I hope that the early primaries reward Sen. Feingold for his ability to connect with them, as well as treating the issues with the deft combination of depth of understanding and the ability to make those thoughts clear to the people of this nation.
It would be a nice change of pace.
I really fear that Feingold could get steamrolled by an "electability" freight train, much like Howard Dean did, only this time there'll probably be the added distaste of a whisper campaign about the problem with having a Jewish nominee. There's obviously lots of time left between now and then, but it'll be interesting to see where Kerry and Gephardt's 2004 strategists wind up in 2008.