6/6/11 – Wisconsin’s Democratic insiders overwhelmingly prefer Russ Feingold to either return to the U-S Senate next year, or become the governor the next time that seat comes up. That’s according to a straw poll at the State Democratic Convention in Milwaukee over the weekend. Almost 575 of the 22-hundred delegates responded to the poll from Wis-Politics-Dot-Com. In the governor’s race, Feingold got 254 votes. And Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was a distant second with 99. Barrett lost the governor’s race to Scott Walker last fall. The seat would be up again next year if there are enough petitions to seek a planned recall of Walker. Otherwise, the job is up again in 2014. In the U-S Senate poll, Feingold was preferred by 271 Democratic delegates in the Wis-Politics poll, to 187 for House Democrat Tammy Baldwin of Madison. Feingold lost his former Senate seat to Republican Ron Johnson last November. But he could return in a year-and-a-half if he wins the state’s other Senate seat to be given up Democrat Herb Kohl. Feingold says he’ll announce by Labor Day if he’ll make a Senate run.
