
America's best senator happens to live not in my neighborhood, but about one neighborhood over, maybe a mile or so away. 'Jesus, Jess' you say. 'We had no idea you were a swell, living the high life in an exurban mansion accessible only through a large, protective, moat-like, gated barrier.'
Friends! I am not such a person, because the senator is not Trent Lott or John D. Rockefeller. The senator is Russ Feingold, and he really is a smack-dab-in-the-middle of middle America guy. My neighborhood is made up of older ranch style houses with unfinished basements and one car garages. (The Senator has a 2 car garage).
It is possible to run into Senator Feingold all over town. About a year ago, I saw him swimming laps in the lap pool at our health club. "Health Club!" you snort, "sounds prestigious!" "Not at all," I answer. "Just like the Y, and locally owned!"
I told my daughter that the next president of the United States was in the pool. Sadly, only a short time after we saw him he made the announcement that he would not be running for president. Still, whenever we walk past the lap pool my daughter asks "is that the president's swimming pool?"