Allow your academic focus to slacken as I pass on to you the tale of my quest to find Sen. Russ Feingold. Contrary to your initial reactions, I did not spend my spring break looking for Feingold in his offices in Washington, D.C., Milwaukee or Madison. My search for the junior senator from Wisconsin led me to the whimsical place where seekers of souls converge--the Denver airport.
My journey began with an announcement from Sen. Feingold's campaign manager George Aldrich, stating he had registered the domain name for the website www.russfeingold08.com. This came two months after his \driving trip"" to Alabama. Even though Alabama has nice golf courses and the Gulf of Mexico, a Wisconsin senator has no earthly business in the land of Forrest Gump. His hat may not be in the ring, but he's already got an arm and a leg on the other side of the ropes.
The main problem Feingold must overcome is that of name recognition. Unless you live in Wisconsin or are a political junkie, you have probably never heard of Russ Feingold.
This brings me to the airport. My aim was not to find the actual Russ Feingold-rather, I was out to discover if and how his person exists in the collective mind of America, and I couldn't think of a better place to do this than an airport.
Press pass in hand, I hastily devised my strategy. I decided to interview people from three different flights; Delta flights to Manchester, N. H., and Des Moines, Iowa, and a US Airways flight to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. I penciled in Iowa and New Hampshire for their status as the king and queen of the primary season, and Ft. Lauderdale as a poor man's litmus test of Feingold's name recognition in a southern swing state.
The Manchester crowd was first. I tried to pick off the solitary travelers who were dutifully tuned to CNN's airport channel. I introduce myself, and asked, ""Have you guys ever heard of Russ Feingold?"" I wanted to leave it vague at first, so I could better gauge the response. When they said ""no"" I gradually filled in gaps, ""He's a Wisconsin senator, a Democrat... a campaign finance reform guy.""
However, I soon ran into a snag. I realized that as soon as I said I am a student journalist, my respondents hesitated. I should have known-the word ""student,"" when used as a qualifier, is never good. Just think, what is the first thing on your mind when you are on the highway and a car marked ""student driver"" fills your review mirror? I could tell they were concerned that in my flurry to change their spoken words into printed ones, I would leak some of my ink on them, perhaps even to make them stink.
Of the 25 or so residents of New Hampshire I queried, only six knew of the senator. Of the six, five knew of him by way of the McCain-Feingold act, and not much else. The other one was really excited when I asked her, and told me about his lone voice of dissent to the USA Patriot Act.
More men actually placed Feingold in the starting backcourt of the Badgers than in the Capitol. One guy, in all truthfulness, responded immediately with ""Oh, yeah he's great."" I was excited, and he continued, ""Seen every game, he can really shoot the 'trey,' but he should attack the basket more."" Russ Feingold was being confused with Clayton Hanson, Alando Tucker or Sharif Chambliss. I didn't have the heart to tell him that Russ Feingold is a 51-year-old man who happens to be a U.S. senator.
This disquieting trend continued, with March Madness trumping political knowledge. After I asked a group of elderly women bound for the Sunshine State, my quest seemed all for naught. After I had very lucidly and slowly repeated my question, they continued to answer with, ""But, this flight is going to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, not Ft. Lauderdale, Wisconsin."" My frustrations were compounded when, by my own incompetence, I missed the Iowa folks.
As I let out a maddening sigh, and right before I resigned my hopes of a Badger in the White House to the garbage, it dawned on me to talk to my Milwaukee-bound compatriots. I didn't have high expectations, but alas-what would an Easter be without miracles? I was astonished when a whopping 16 of 16 people nailed Russ on the first try. Furthermore, 14 of them continued to tell me what they thought of him based upon his record in office. Not all of them liked him, but most did.
This is when I had my made-for-TV epiphany: Russ Feingold isn't going to magically be known to America. If Russ is to carry the day, we have to do it for him. It's up to us to spread the good news of our native son. Only through our efforts will Russ Feingold become a household name. Or a least until he develops a solid jump shot.
