Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold will get one final face-to-face shot at GOP challenger Ron Johnson Friday.
Feingold has consistently trailed in the polls and needs a strong showing at the third debate with Johnson. The senator’s camp said he would use the public platform to make the case that he is better qualified to help revive the struggling economy.
“We are going to talk about our plans for jobs and the economy, and the fact that Ron Johnson doesn’t have one,” John Kraus, Feingold’s senior adviser, said in an e-mail.
Having a debate on the economy works well for Johnson, the Republican’s campaign responded. The challenger has charged Feingold with having supported President Obama’s agenda that has slowed growth.
“I think we can expect that Senator Feingold will attempt to distract from his own record of being the reliable vote for the Democrats job-killing agenda,” Johnson spokesperson Sara Sendek said in an e-mail. “Senator Feingold attempts to portray himself as a maverick and an independent, but that mask came off when he was the 60th vote for the failed stimulus and health care takeover.”
Feingold has sought to escape the anti-incumbent wave that has swept Johnson into the lead in all recent polls by casting himself as a “maverick” and focusing on responsible budget balancing in Washington. He rolled out his own job creation plan based on cutting business taxes to spur job growth – and, according to campaign documents, will not increase the federal deficit.
Johnson cites his history as a manufacturer as experience enough to help fix the nation’s economic problems and accused Feingold of not following through on economic promises.
“I would expect another focus [of the debate] to be the out of control spending and rising debt,” Sendek, Johnson’s spokesperson, said. “Senator Feingold first went to Washington with the promise to reduce the debt, which has now skyrocketed to nearly $14 trillion. Senator Feingold has voted to increase the debt several times and has broken his promises to Wisconsin voters. His out of control spending has left our economy worse off and done nothing to create jobs.”