former vice president joe biden is the front-runner but can the admitted gaffe machine keep that front-runner status with some of his rivals surging? let s discuss now with former democratic senator from wisconsin, russ feingold. senator, i m so happy to have you on. thank you so much. it s a pleasure to be on. thanks for asking me. the 2020 democratic field is a battleground right now. how do you see the state of play now? it s strange. i watched those debates last week, and i had a good feeling afterward. you know, i felt like there were 20 people who in very different ways, in very different backgrounds and experiences were putting an excellent face on the democratic party. mm-hmm. people who are serious about trying to solve problems, people who are basically civil to each other, who have an attention span unlike the president of the united states, and i think the overall picture was, these people are ready to, you know, sort of make sure our country runs right. so i came
states and makes some unusual states competitive. we see this week on the trail. most of the republican candidates are talking about the affordable care act, not about donald trump. they re trying to find a way to survive. if trump loses their state by 6 to 10 points they still have a shot. they re hoping trump closes strong even if they re distanced from him because they want to make sure it s not some kind of wave. they re outperforming trump almost by and large which is the opposite of mitt romney who outperformed all candidates except for north carolina. there s fascinating races here. you look ats wisconsin. ron johnson has been behind for so long. senator feingold. places like waukesha county. great races up there. the incumbent governor really strong with secretary clinton. you see ayotte she s been not perfect in navigating trump but
here. you look ats wisconsin. ron johnson has been behind for so long. senator feingold. places like waukesha county. great races up there. the incouple bent governor really strong with secretary clinton. you see ayotte she s been not perfect in navigating trump but she still sees this as someone more toward the center. president obama s resounding i told you so to republicans. how he foresaw the implosion of the right and even warned it was coming. thing 1, thing 2 after this break. when a momenturns romanticwhy pause take a pill?
this question. people should be asking senator fine gold if he shorts hillary clinton. listen, i m not defending donald trump s despicable words. they are indefensible. i don t know how senator feingold can support hillary clinton s actions. how does this play out? how do you walk this tight rope? is that an effective message? i think for a lot of folks at this point there is no tight rope to walk. you are either in or out. if you re a candidate like ron johnson in a tough re-elect effort you have to make that hard decision. part of that calculation is just how much of the trump base is there in your particular state or district that s going to have an impact. you ve got to go beyond that. the party right now is struggling with internal corrosion. it has to come to grips with that. donald trump has pointed us more
killer amendment to limit nuclear production. but politico says she actually voted against that. unfortunately politico is wrong. they never contacted me. there was an amendment offered by senator feingold. hillary clinton was one of 25 senators to vote in favor of it. was there more than one amendment? there were three amendments but even more importantly, the central player in the indian story, which is a trustee of the clinton foundation who was pushing aggressively to get this deal done said point-blank in an interview in 2010 that in 2006 hillary clinton did not support the legislation that the indian government wants. that comes can later. then there s the uranium deal big donations. 500,000 speech for bill clinton. but as you know this has come up hillary clinton s state department one of nine agencies needed to approve anything involving that russian-controlled company, and not even evidence that she was directly involved in decisions. so i think like a lot of things yo