The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has definitely had far-reaching political consequences — and by far-reaching, we mean it’s become an issue at the other end of the country, all the way up north in Wisconsin, where Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold is running for a fourth term, and where Dems are hammering Republican businessman Ron Johnson over his ties to BP.
The TPM Poll Average for the race shows Feingold with only a narrow lead of 42.0%-40.4%, setting up a close race in a state that usually leans Democratic but where the races can also be hard-fought to the very end.
Indeed, Feingold has taken the unusual step for a progressive Democrat of touting the support he has received from conservative groups, due to his opposition to pork-barrel spending. And Feingold has also seized on the oil spill as a major issue against Johnson.
A month ago, Democrats slammed Johnson for saying that it was “very troubling” that BP was made to pay $20 billion into an escrow account to be used to pay damage claims resulting from the oil spill. Johnson then defended himself, as The Hill reported:
Johnson said he isn’t opposed to BP paying compensation.
“The only thing I found troubling is the fact that we weren’t using the rule of law to impose penalties on BP and do it that way as opposed to kind of strong-arming them into this,” he said. “I do appreciate the rule of law.
“I make no apologies for BP,” he added. “It’s been proven how they were totally negligent in this thing. By trying to save themselves $10 million, it’s going to cost them billions, but it’s going to cost the folks down in the Gulf hundreds of millions if not billions themselves in terms of damage.”
Feingold then came out with an ad two weeks ago, attacking Johnson for wanting to open up the Great Lakes to oil drilling. The ad showed a dramatic graphic of the oil spill along the Gulf Coast, with the blotted area being moved up north and superimposed over Lake Michigan, spreading all the way across Wisconsin:
Democrats then found a new tack for hitting Johnson, related to his stock in BP valued at between $116,003 and $315,000. Johnson may have just given the Dems some ammo on Monday, when he said he would “eventually” sell the stock — when market conditions made it better for him, and that he would use the money to finance his campaign. “I think that’ll eventually happen, but I’m going to do it based on market conditions,” Johnson said. At some point in time to get my message out, that’ll probably happen.”
So let’s see how this race works out in the fall. Can Feingold beat the bad economic environment — thanks in part to events way down south?
