I'm proud to have helped re-elect Russ in 1998, when I worked for the Wisconsin Dems. And I've got to say that was the most incredible election I've ever seen. Every talking head in the country thought Russ was sacrificing himself on the altar of campaign finance reform that year, as he pledged to run his campaign in accordance with his campaign finance reform legislation (then stronger than what was finally passed), and his opponent clearly had no such qualms (despite a public pledge to do so as well). In the end, it was one of the closest races in the country - but Russ pulled out a win by running one of the most incredible GOTV operations anyone in the state had ever seen. The result? They RAN OUT OF BALLOTS in Democratic stronghold Dane County and had to go print more in the middle of the day (Tammy Balwin's inspiring Congressional race also played a big role there, and the combination of the effects of the two campaigns blew everybody's minds) and in Milwaukee there were long lines to vote (20 minutes plus) consistantly throughout the day. I've never seen anybody, before or since, who was so inspirational to the rank-and-file Democratic base, especially in an off year. And his results in his 04 re-elect, garnering about 150,000 more votes than Kerry in this important swing state, just show that he's still got the goods and could only have gotten even better since. On the LGBT side, he was one of the only Senators to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 - back when that stance was even more wildly unpopular than it is today. I'm happy to count myself as a supporter of Russ's should he decide to run in 2008. And to those who have concerns about the viability of a single Jewish progressive as a national candidate, I ask this: would you expect a single Jewish progressive to have gotten 55% of the vote in a middle-of-the-road Midwestern swing state when John "I-Run-To-The-Middle" Kerry could only get to barely over 50%? There's something special here - 'nuff said.