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Bush Steps Up Transition, To Name Some Cabinet Members Today
AUSTIN (AFP) - President-elect George W. Bush, working on an accelerated transition to the White House, indicated Friday that his first cabinet appointments will be announced as early as today.
"I would ask that folks wait till tomorrow when I name the person," Bush said Friday in response to questions whether he planned to appoint retired general Colin Powell as secretary of state.
"I look forward to making the announcement tomorrow. I hope you'll come," said Bush after meeting with Democratic Senator John Breaux of Louisiana in Austin.
The meeting with Breaux - who has also been mentioned as a possible member of a bipartisan cabinet - was another symbolic effort to heal the country's political rift after a bruising 36-day feud over the Florida vote count.
Breaux's appeal lies largely in his membership in a coalition of moderate lawmakers that he helped create, and which could play a key role in the Senate, which the election has left split 50-50.
But he may choose not to work for Bush because doing so would hand a slim majority to the Republicans in the Senate, as the Louisiana governor empowered to name his replacement belongs to the president-elect's party.
That would all but certainly not end Bush's quest to buttress the narrow margin of victory by which he became the 43rd U.S. president by reaching across party lines to staff his administration.
The Republican Texas governor meanwhile offered more conciliatory comments about his opponent in the November 7th election, Vice President Al Gore, who formally conceded Wednesday.
"I felt Vice President Gore was most gracious in his comments," Bush said. "I thought he gave a really good speech. And, of course, that - he set the tone for what I thought was an important night for America."
Bush said he was eager to begin the work of his new administration in Washington.
"The great responsibilities of the job are very evident," he said. "I can't tell you how excited I am about getting to Washington; about how enthused I am about the opportunities, not only to work with members of the Senate and House, but to work with other world leaders to make the world more peaceful. And I am so grateful and humbled by the opportunity."
Meanwhile, the Bush transition team announced it had received more than 25,000 resumes from those wishing to serve in the new Republican administration.
The Bush team will have to fill more than 6,500 positions being vacated by appointees of the Clinton administration.
More than 1,000 among those will require Senate confirmation.
The president-elect was to host a Christmas party in Austin late Friday, before heading Saturday to his ranch, and then travel to Washington Sunday, the aide said.
The president-elect was to meet with President Bill Clinton and Gore next week to discuss the handover of power after the most protracted and divisive election in modern U.S. history.
Bush will also meet in Washington with congressional leaders, both Republicans and Democrats, on Monday.
Bush faces a divided Congress, with the new Senate evenly split and Republicans holding only a slender majority in the House of Representatives, giving him a choice between pursuing a bipartisan agenda or legislative gridlock.
"Bipartisanship isn't an option any more. It is a requirement," said Senator Tom Daschle, the Democratic minority leader from South Dakota. "We must govern from the middle or we will not be able to govern at all."
Commentators said the close election victory is a mixed blessing for Bush.
"His margin of victory hasn't burdened him with high expectations in the eyes of his critics," The Chicago Tribune said.
"If Bush leads a citizens' march to the center, he may be able to marginalize the congressional loudmouths of the far right and left."
Congratulations for Bush poured in from leaders around the world who noted the challenges that await the new Republican administration in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
Two leading U.S. dailies Friday apparently coincided in suggesting a list of priority issues Bush should tackle during the transition toward the White House.
The Washington Post focused on the international agenda, recommending that Bush address Iraq's challenge to U.N. control of their oil exports; the Middle East crisis where both sides "look to the new president for a way out of their latest conflict;" the impasse in Latin America over hemispheric free trade; Eastern Europe's hopes of a new NATO expansion, and Osama bin Laden's possible link to the USS Cole bombing.
The New York Times, instead, recommended a laundry list of domestic issues that could test Bush's bipartisan willingness to bridge ideological gaps: education, health, campaign finance and taxes.
Bush was to be formally elected Monday by the 538-member Electoral College, where he holds 271 votes, one more than the 270 needed to win the presidency.
Gore won the overall popular vote by more than 300,000 ballots but lost Florida, and its 25 crucial electoral votes, by 537 votes, leaving him with 267 votes in the Electoral College.
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