On Monday, John Ashcroft began his first full week as the nation's chief law-enforcement officer.
Settling into his chair in the AG's office, his presence in the building brings an end to an eight-year
long period where the department was run out of the White House by presidential intimates rather
than by the person whom the Senate had confirmed for the job.

Getting Ashcroft through is a big win for the new president, who faced down powerful opposition to get his man in place.

Likewise, it is seen as a big win for Ted Kennedy and the plethora of liberal activist groups who had
much influence but little to say for the eight years that Bill and Hillary Clinton were White House-keeping.

The Massachusetts Democrat, roused like a sleeping Chinese giant, demonstrated he could still marshal
powerful support for the left-wing agenda. He showed again that it is he, along with several key Senate allies,
rather than Tom Daschle and the so-called centrists, who really run the Democrat side of the Senate.

If there is one big loser, and there is one, it is Wisconsin's Russ Feingold. By voting for Ashcroft in committee,
he allowed the nomination to be reported to the Senate floor with an, on balance, positive recommendation.

He also was one of eight Democrats to vote to confirm Ashcroft. His vote in this instance was not
as critical but was necessary to preserve the appearance of logical consistency.

For his trouble, and he will get trouble, we can presume he got a commitment from Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott on the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance-reform bill.

If this is correct, Feingold traded his vote on John Ashcroft, which his constituency and issue groups care
about a lot, for some promise on campaign-finance reform, which no one cares about at all.

People may say they care. Polls may show people care. But no one votes based on candidate's position
on campaign-finance reform — certainly no one in the issues community that makes up the Ashcroft
opposition and the Feingold supporters.

In fact, at the end of the day there are significant parts of the anti-Ashcroft coalition who may be just
as intent on stopping (in secret) campaign-finance reform as the National Right to Life Committee,
the National Rifle Association, and Kentucky Republican senator Mitch McConnell are.

But the groups in the anti-Ashcroft coalition will remember the vote on confirmation of the new attorney general.
They will remember and they will exercise political power to make sure that people and politicians know that
they remember. And this time there are no nice, high-minded editorials from the New York Times and the
Washington Post upon which Russ Feingold can fall back.