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Feingold Seeks Unusual Return to Senate

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Smart Politics finds that Russ Feingold’s (D) official entrance into the 2016 U.S. Senate race puts him on an unusual pathway back to the nation’s upper legislative chamber.

“Over the last half-century only two U.S. Senators have returned to the chamber after losing their seat at the ballot box – Ohio Democrat Howard Metzenbaum in 1976 and Washington Republican Slade Gorton in 1988. No other Senator accomplished this feat since 1956.”

However, from “the beginning of direct elections in 1913 until the mid-1950s, such political comebacks were much more common with 14 defeated ex-U.S. Senators winning back a seat in the chamber including one who accomplished the feat twice: Kentucky Republican John Cooper in 1952 and 1956 (after losses in 1948 and 1954 respectively).”

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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