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"Well, I'm guessing you probably want someone a little less socially conservative in Wisconson.

That said, I don't really give a crap. It's nice to dream, but this seat isn't in play realistically."

Outside Madison, Wisconsin is a fairly socially conservative state, and 6 of its 8 Representatives (including 2 of its 4 Democrats) are pro-life. I recall Darrow not being very straightforward on the issue of gay marriage, and I think that it would be a mistake for the Republican nominee not to take Feingold head-on on his social liberalism. I think the way to go in Wisconsin is a strong social conservative who is not 100% conservative on economic issues (Northern and Western Wisconsin are fairly liberal on economic issues, and will not want aid to farmers to be cut).

BTW, Feingold was reelected in 1998 with only 50.6% against conservative Republican Mark Neumann's 48.4%. Since then, the War on Terror has made Feingold's liberalism more dangerous than before. I think we have a good chance of pulling off the upset if we select a solid, well financed candidate. My impression was that Michels would be better than Darrow, but neither one could be counted out in a race against Feingold.

You make some really good points and while we all agree that times have changed since 1998 the voters here in WI still see Feingold as this Ind.-Mod. nice guy. And it does not help when the head of the Libertarian party in the state endorses RF.

That being said WI is interesting in that you have some large pockets of liberalism (Madison, Milwaukee), some large pockets of conservatism (Waukesha, Washington, Ozaukee, and the Valley) and you have the rest that is very moderate--especially the central part of the state--a lot of Mod. Dems.

It is an interesting state--but one thing that is true is that if the voters do not know who you are they are not going to vote for you and that is Michels problem--I have seen him and he seems nice enough but like you said I think there is a chance that Feingold could be replaced and I do not want to miss it with an unknown candidate when we have a true WI success story with great name ID and $$$ in Darrow.

Just my two cents and I am proud to do whatever I can to help Darrow defeat Feingold!