Wisc. Dems want Feingold to run for Kohl’s seat

Politico is reporting that former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who lost his bid for a fourth term in last year’s election, may be the top choice of Wisconsin Democrats to run for the seat being vacated by Sen. Herb Kohl next year.

But the progressive pol is also party activists’ top choice to run against the state’s embattled Republican governor, Scott Walker, according to a second straw poll.

Two years ago, the Cheesehead State, with a Jewish population somewhere around a half of one percent, had two Jewish senators. Last year Feingold was whipped by Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican political newcomer. And now Kohl, who’s been in the Senate since 1989, is calling it quits, opening the door for a quick return to Washington for Feingold.

But the former lawmaker hasn’t announced his intentions. And the Wisconsin political environment remain explosive, to say the least, with Gov. Walker’s popularity still falling after only five months in office and numerous GOP state lawmakers facing recall campaigns, all the result of the state’s bloody budget showdown and Walker’s efforts to pare back collective bargaining rights for state workers.