As the Republican wave spreads across the country, it's time to say goodbye to one of the big-name progressive champions of the past 18 years: Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), champion of campaign finance reform and longtime opponent of the Patriot Act, has gone down in defeat against Republican businessman Ron Johnson. It marks the first time since 1986 that Republicans have won a Senate race here.
With 30% of precincts reporting, Johnson leads by 57%-42%, and has been projected as the winner by NBC News and Fox News.
Feingold won his first term with 53% of the vote in 1992, defeating incumbent two-term Republican Sen. Bob Kasten. He had started out in that race as a seemingly third-place underdog in the Democratic primary, but then won the primary with only 70% after after the two other candidates attacked He was then re-elected narrowly with 51% in 1998 against GOP Rep. Mark Neumann, then expanded that margin to 55% in 2004 against businessman Tim Michels. But the bad economy and the Republican tide this year were clearly too much to overcome.
So how did Johnson win? The biggest thing he did was campaign on not being a creature of Washington, a fresh face appealing to an atmosphere of anti-incumbency. As he explained in this ad, he's not a lawyer:
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