Senator Feingold Announces Specific Date for Troop Withdrawal from Iraq

Programming Note: Tomorrow morning, Sunday, NBC's Meet the Press will have an exclusive interivew with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), who will discuss his decision to be the first U.S. Senator to offer a specific date -- December 31, 2006 -- as the target for the complete withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

Feingold, always a visionary and often a lone visionary in Senate matters, was the sole US Senator to vote against the USA Patriot Act in 2001...this despite intense pressure to make the vote unanimous. At the time, many thought it spelled the end of his political career. He's now heralded by millions for his tough conscience-call vote.

Senator Feingold spoke at the 1996 and 2000 Democratic conventions, but was not asked to speak at the 2004 convention. When interviewed by reporter Amy Goodman on the convention floor in July 2004, "I think the platform should say that the war was a mistake....So I am a proud Democrat. I'm for Kerry and Edwards, but I know the war in Iraq was a serious mistake."

At her Huffington Post blog, pundit Arianna Huffington poses the question she would ask Senator Feingold during tomorrow's interview: “Sen. Feingold, you’ve said that you decided to propose the Dec. 2006 deadline after holding 15 town hall meetings this month and being met with a wave of public disenchantment with the war in Iraq... yet many of your fellow Democrats -- including a number who might, like yourself, be considering a run for the White House in 2008 -- continue to side with the president’s contention that setting a deadline would make it easier for the insurgents to wait us out. Are these other Democrats out of touch with the concerns of the American people? Have they been spending too much time inside the Beltway -- or on Martha’s Vineyard?”

Be sure to read my profile of Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Democrat with the Courage of His Convictions.

And don't miss NBC's Meet the Press interview tomorrow with the inspiring three-term senator from Wisconsin, Russ Feingold.