Watching the 2004 campaign shape up couldn't have been easy for Sen. Russ Feingold

Washington Monthly, April, 2004

Watching the 2004 campaign shape up couldn't have been easy for Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis). Thanks the campaign finance legislation that bears the senator's name--along with that of Republican Sen. John McCain (Az.)--Feingold's party has scrambled desperately to raise money for the fall elections, while President Bush has broken fundraising records without a sweat--a disparity, we're told, that has caused a few spats between Feingold and his colleagues during Democratic caucus meetings.

But when Kerry visited Capitol Hill in March for a unity meeting with Senate Democrats, Feingold didn't say a word as Kerry explained how left-leaning 527s--which many reformers, including Feingold, believe unlawfully circumvent 2002's reform law--would help keep pressure on Bush from now through the Democratic convention.