Bernin’ Down The House: Feingold To Skip Wisconsin Debate, Watch From Home

The prospect of chiming in on the Democratic presidential primary.

To complement his continued silence on the messy race between a socialist and a candidate whose actions are under FBI investigation, the Associated Press reports that Senator Russ Feingold will skip tonight’s debate in Milwaukee and instead watch from home:

Russ Feingold is skipping the Democratic presidential debate in his home state of Wisconsin.

Feingold will not be attending Thursday’s debate in Milwaukee between Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Instead, Feingold’s spokesman Michael Tyler tells The Associated Press the Democratic Senate candidate will watch the debate at home in Middleton with his wife.

Despite his absence from tonight’s debate, Senator Feingold recently offered a tacit endorsement of socialist Bernie Sanders – one of his slush fund PAC’s "champions."

After returning home from Stanford, Roll Call reports that Senator Feingold utilized his recent Wisconsin homecoming to praise Sanders "profusely":

At a January forum hosted by Marquette University Law School, Feingold — who has not endorsed for president — praised Sanders profusely.

“He’s an honorable person,” Feingold said. “He’s a committed progressive. I agree with him on many issues.

“In fact, Bernie and I were holding out for an even stronger bill on the Affordable Care Act. We wanted a single-payer,” he added, before catching himself. “We wanted an option, an option to opt in, a public option.”

Though Feingold’s truancy will fuel the criticism of his decision to remain on the sidelines in the primary, there is a silver lining: watching the debate from home means he’ll able to avoid another "shouting match" with Hillary Clinton.

FLASHBACK:

Sens. Russ Feingold and Hillary Clinton got into in a heated argument over the impact of Feingold’s campaign finance reform legislation on Senate Democrats, Feingold said…"’You’re not living in the real world,"’ Clinton screamed at him, according to Feingold. — Associated Press, 7/19/2002