Two interesting tidbits from John Nichols of The Nation during our joint interview this morning. First, he predicted that the toughest questioning of Attorney General nominee Eric Holder in the Senate would come from Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold. Apparently there’s some history there:

In a 2001 hearing held by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), a liberal committee member, said that “legitimate questions have been raised about the pardon of Marc Rich . . . suspicions about this pardon arise from the fact that Marc Rich’s ex-wife was a large donor to the Democratic Party.”
Feingold’s Wisconsin counterpart, Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl, who also sits on the Judiciary Committee, was quoted in the New York Times in 2001 saying, “There probably isn’t one person across the country today who is familiar with this case who doesn’t think that it’s a question of power, connection, money.”

That said, in a recent interview, Feingold didn’t sound so skeptical: “Everything I’ve seen so far and with my contacts with him in the past, which have not been extensive, has been positive. He’s a very good public servant. He’s done distinguished work in the Justice Department already. Easily was confirmed the previous time, by I think a 100 to nothing vote. . . . I always am very cautious because you never know what’s going to come out, but my sense is this is a very solid choice, and one of the least controversial choices he could have made.”

I hope Nichols is wrong that Feingold will be tougher than any Republican, but I hope he’s right that at least one Democrat will want to make Holder squirm. Even so, he doesn’t see Feingold voting against Holder’s confirmation.

Second, Nichols said Saxby Chambliss’s wide margin of victory in the Georgia Senate runoff ought to be “deeply unsettling” to Democrats, as there were some signs of Democratic strength in quite a few parts of Georgia that evaporated when voters turned out for the runoff. “There are some signs that the Democratic party’s voters are too wedded to Obama, instead of being wedded to ideas and principles. And Obama’s going to have to go out and define those ideas and principles.”