During a discussion of potential 2008 presidential candidates on the January 1 broadcast of NBC's Meet the Press, Newsweek managing editor Jon Meacham referred to Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) as “a sane Howard Dean, basically.” Dean ran for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination and currently serves as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

From a discussion that included host Tim Russert, former New York Times columnist William Safire, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Meacham on the January 1 broadcast of NBC News' Meet the Press:

RUSSERT: It is interesting, Americans seem to like governors as presidents. If you look back at -- through our history, the last two Democrats, [Bill] Clinton and [Jimmy] Carter, [George W.] Bush, [Ronald] Reagan. It's quite interesting. Picking up on Bill and Gene's theme, though, Jon and Doris, Russ Feingold is really positioning himself to the left of [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY], opposing the Patriot Act, opposing the war, coming out foursquare on the eavesdropping, really trying to position himself in a way where he can say to a lot of liberal groups, “Hey, I am very authentic and real on the issues that matter to you.”

MEACHAM: Yeah, a sane Howard Dean, basically, I think is where he is. I think that's true.