It looks like the country will have to wait a little longer for the first Cheesehead President.
This weekend, Russ Feingold, Wisconsin's maverick Democratic senator, formally dismissed the chatter that he will throw his hat into the 2008 presidential campaign.
While popular here in the Badger state, Feingold would have been a long shot to get the Democratic nomination. He lacks the name recognitions and minority status of two of his likely opponents, namely U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill.
Feingold's personal history, which includes two divorces, also would have been a liability in a society that puts a premium on family values.
His struggle for the nomination also would cost millions of dollars, that would in the end go to waste. This would likely nauseate Feingold, a fiscal conservative, who is one of the poorest members of the Senate.
Unfortunately, the rest of the country will never learn what Wisconsinites already know—Russ Feingold rocks!
