Feingold Top Choice of Wisconsin Democrats

Former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold was the top choice of Wisconsin Democrats in both the 2012 U.S. Senate contest and possible gubernatorial race in a straw poll conducted at yesterday’s state convention in Milwaukee.

Feingold, who is still contemplating his political future after his stunning rebuke by Wisconsin voters in 2010, received 254 votes out of 573 votes cast in the governor’s race at the two-day convention that drew some 2,500 party activists from across the state. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who lost to Republican Scott Walker in last November’s gubernatorial race, came in a distant second with 99 votes.

Walker’s term isn’t up until 2014, but Wisconsin Democrats are trying to organize a recall in 2012.

Feingold, 58, was also the leading choice for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Herb Kohl. Feingold received 271 votes to U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s 187.

Baldwin, an openly gay congresswoman who was first elected to Congress in 1998, said that she’ll make a decision about the U.S. Senate race sometime this summer.

Feingold, long regarded as one of the Senate’s most progressive members, hasn’t indicated when he might make a decision about his future political plans. Shortly after losing his Senate seat last fall, some progressive Democrats had hoped that he might challenge President Obama in the 2012 primaries.