Russ Feingold

Russ Feingold
University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1975, B.A., Political Science
University of Oxford, B.A. 1977, M.A., 2008, Jurisprudence
Harvard Law School, 1979, J.D.

Russ Feingold is a former United States Senator for the state of Wisconsin.  He was born and raised in Janesville, Wisconsin along with three siblings.  His father was a lawyer and his mother was an abstractor at the title company which Leon Feingold owned.  In his teens, his heroes were John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. whom he heard speak in Chicago in 1966.  In high school, he was on the championship-winning debate team. Although he was not the top student in school, he was still a very good student, whom others have described as being well-organized and disciplined.  After attending Harvard Law School, he returned to Wisconsin where he worked as an attorney in two private law firms in Madison until 1985.  His political career began when he became a Wisconsin state senator in 1982.  He was re-elected twice.  Then in 1992, he was first elected to the U.S. Senate, winning 53 to 47 percent against the incumbent Republican Bob Kasten.  Feingold is probably best known for co-sponsoring the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act also known as the McCain-Feingold Act.  He also stands out as the only Senator to oppose the USA Patriot Act in 2001.  He makes his home in Middleton, Wisconsin.

Carlisle Ford Runge

Ford Runge
University of North Carolina, 1974, B.A., American Studies
University of Oxford, 1977, M.A., Politics and Economics
University of Wisconsin, 1980, M.A., Agricultural Economics
University of Wisconsin, 1981, Ph.D., Agricultural Economics

Ford Runge grew up in Wisconsin with two younger sisters, a stepbrother, and a stepsister. He is currently a Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Applied Economics and Law and Director of the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy at the University of Minnesota. He also regularly contributes public opinion pieces that appear in the Pioneer Press, the Star Tribune, and the Financial Times. He also writes longer pieces. His most recent contribution is an article in Foreign Affairs called “How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor.” It is representative of the work he does, which is designed to get people’s attention.