State Journal Endorsement Of Feingold Points To Upset Win

I know all about the declining influence of newspapers, and I know Russ Feingold lives in a Madison suburb, but that conservative businessman Ron Johnson couldn't grab the Wisconsin State Journal endorsement that should have come gift-wrapped tells me that GOP ticket-spliiters are going to out Feingold over the top tomorrow.

I wouldn't have said that two or three weeks ago, but I sense that Johnson's strategy of withholding specifics - - even from newspaper editorial writers - - has cost him more than endorsements at papers like the Green Bay Press-Gazette and hios home town daily, the Oshkosh Northwestern.

It's solidified an impression - - a fair one and self-induced - - that he is too uninformed and devious to be a US Senator.

Feingold, by contrast, has been available in public forums for years and years, and is unafraid to defend his positions - - including controversial stands on The Patriot Act, the wars and the health care bill.

People this year are saying they want independent politicians. And they are realizing that's exactly what they have in Feingold.