Senator Feingold yesterday dismissed suggestions that his effort to censure President Bush for authorizing warrantless wiretaps in America could backfire by unifying the Republican Party, which has splintered recently over a variety of issues.

“I think the press decided immediately that this was a bad thing for Democrats and a good thing for conservatives,” Mr. Feingold, a Democrat of Wisconsin, said at a press conference in the Capitol. “The facts don’t bear it out. You don’t have the polls to prove it.”

Mr. Feingold’s motion to censure Mr. Bush drew immediate opposition from a wide array of Republican lawmakers and met with little public support from Senate Democrats. Some conservative commentators said the specter of investigations and perhaps even an impeachment of Mr. Bush would be enough to scare voters out of supporting Democratic candidates in November.

Mr. Feingold said yesterday that he was convinced that his critics had misjudged the issue.

“If the right wing really believes in this country – Rush Limbaugh and others – that they can somehow turn the president’s reputation around by saying, ‘You’re darn right he violated the law, and it’s a good thing,’ I think they’re – I think they’re just as confused as they are about their Iraq politics,” the senator said. “People aren’t buying it anymore.”

Mr. Limbaugh has called the Wisconsin senator’s proposal “a gift” to conservatives, but the talk show host said he has never said the wiretapping was illegal. “I never said it and he knows it,” Mr. Limbaugh said. He cited legal scholars who have said Mr. Bush’s actions were justified by his inherent authority under the Constitution and by the use-of-force resolution Congress passed after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

So far, the censure motion has been publicly endorsed only by Senators Harkin of Iowa and Boxer of California, both Democrats. Mr. Feingold acknowledged that his effort has gotten a chilly response from many of his colleagues.

“Many in my caucus don’t want to talk about this,” he said. “A couple have said, ‘Bad idea.’ A couple have said, ‘Excellent.'”

The motion Mr. Feingold introduced on Monday condemns Mr. Bush for approving the wiretapping program, which administration officials have said targets communications between Americans and people affiliated with Al Qaeda. The resolution also faults Mr. Bush for misleading the public about the scope of the wiretapping and the legal justifications for it.

The only previous censure of a president by the Senate was issued against President Jackson in 1834. Mr. Feingold said yesterday that some Democrats have signaled that they favor a milder resolution than the one he put forward.

“A lot of Democrats are coming to me and saying, ‘What if we did a different kind of resolution that talked about the illegality and expressed it in a different way?'” he said, noting that some censure resolutions have led ultimately to milder statements of rebuke. “This is what I want. I want people to be talking about ways to bring accountability, whether censure succeeds or not,” the senator said.

Some senators who have been reticent or equivocal about the censure resolution drew fire yesterday from challengers in their home states.

A Republican seeking Senator Clinton’s seat, John Spencer, issued a statement accusing the senator of “hypocrisy” for criticizing the National Security Agency program but not endorsing Mr. Feingold’s censure plan. “Senator Clinton just lacks the honesty to call for censure. While I strongly disagree with him, at least Senator Feingold has moral conviction,” Mr. Spencer said.

Mr. Feingold said yesterday he was heartened by supportive comments from Senator Chafee, a Republican of Rhode Island, who is also up for re-election this fall. In interviews this week, Mr. Chafee has said the censure proposal could lead to a “positive” discussion and he has declined to rule out the possibility he might support it.

“Clearly, Senator Chafee is at war with himself and with his political handlers on what exactly his position should be,” a Republican challenging Mr. Chafee in the primary, Stephen Laffey, said. He also proposed with Mr. Chafee to a debate on the issue.

Mr. Feingold said he had received “a massive response on the Internet” to his censure proposal. Some members of Congress and many liberal activists are pushing for impeachment of Mr. Bush. Mr. Feingold yesterday repeated his view that Mr. Bush’s actions were “in the area of an impeachable offense.”

However, the senator said he does not view impeachment as a prudent course. “The Constitution does not require us to go down that road. I hope that in a sense I’m a voice of moderation on this point,” he said. “It may not be good for the country in a time of war to try to remove the president from office even though he’s surely done something wrong, but what we can’t do is just ignore the wrongful conduct.”

Mr. Feingold rejected the notion that his call to censure Mr. Bush would somehow boost support for him. “Have you seen any surge in the president’s numbers since I made this announcement? I believe no such thing is happening,” the senator said.

In response to a question about his press strategy, Mr. Feingold took a playful shot at Senator Schumer, who runs the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee and has refused to comment on the censure proposal.

“Well, I’m struck by the fact that, when Senator Schumer has an issue, he holds a press conference every 10 minutes,” Mr. Feingold said, quickly adding, “And I love him.”

Mr. Feingold, who is exploring a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, is scheduled to visit Brooklyn tomorrow. He is to receive an award from a synagogue in Park Slope, Kolot Chayeinu, and deliver a speech there about his Jewish roots.