Senator Russ Feingold, member of the United States Senate for the 103rd, 104th, 105th, 106th, 107th, 108th, 109th, 110th, and 111th United States Congresses, would prefer voters not refer to him as “Senator” for fear that his association with the Senate and Washington, DC could give the impression he’s too much of a DC insider and derail his plans to return… to Washington, DC.
The Washington Free Beacon and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on the video clip, which depicted Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairwoman Martha Laning instructing a group of individuals to call Senator Feingold “Russ.”
“Never call him ‘Senator Feingold.’ We are to call him ‘Russ,’” she said. “They want us to say ‘Russ’ because the last campaign — it was all about ’16 years, 16 years, 16 years, he’s there too long.’ And so they want to say, ‘He’s just one of us.’ We want to go back to Russ being Russ.”
It’s a minor point, but Feingold served three full terms in the Senate, meaning he was in D.C. for 18 years, not 16.
Laning continued, “Second one is we never want to say ‘go back’ to the Senate. We just want to say ‘electing’ him to the Senate. They want to totally get away from all that.”
And according to the Journal Sentinel, Senator Feingold’s campaign isn’t happy about the leaked video:
An insider close to Feingold made it clear that the ex-senator’s team is none too pleased with the video or Laning, who was elected to the top Dem post in June.
“This is no time for on-the-job training,” said the source, who asked not to be named because he’s not authorized to speak for the campaign. “I’m pretty certain they don’t want Martha Laning to use the words ‘Russ Feingold’ ever again.”
Perhaps the Senator should submit a formal resolution to the Wisconsin Democrats to cease and desist this behavior, unbecoming of a United States Senate campaign?