Aides expect Ashcroft to leave Cabinet soon

By Knight Ridder Newspapers and The Washington Post

AP U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is said to have been worn out by his job, but energized by President Bush's win.

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Ashcroft could depart before President Bush is inaugurated Jan. 20 for a second term, making him among the first Cabinet officials to depart.

Ashcroft's aides, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, cautioned that the attorney general hasn't submitted his formal resignation and said he might remain for a while if Bush asked him to do so.

His former deputy, Larry Thompson, has been considered a leading contender to replace Ashcroft if he steps down, but Thompson, who would become the nation's first African-American attorney general, told the Los Angeles Times yesterday that he is not interested in the position.

Other names in the mix are former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, the chairman of Bush's re-election campaign, and White House counsel Alberto Gonzalez, although he's mentioned more often to fill a possible vacancy at the Supreme Court.

A tantalizing choice might be former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a former prosecutor rumored to be harboring presidential ambitions for 2008. But Giuliani is viewed as a maverick who rarely sticks to a script and whose persona might overshadow Bush.

A spokeswoman for Giuliani dismissed the speculation yesterday but stopped short of ruling it out.

"The job has not been offered," Sunny Mindel said. "He's not asking for anything, and he's very happy in the private sector."

Bush said yesterday he will spend the weekend considering Cabinet changes for his second term, feeding speculation inside and outside the White House over shake-ups in key agencies.

Another source of intense speculation is Secretary of State Colin Powell, whose rumored retirement would reconfigure the war team and perhaps lead to a broader reshuffling of Bush's national-security team. Powell, however, has told friends he might stay well into next year.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has told friends he is likely to depart early next year, acquaintances said. The domestic agencies might see more major changes, administration officials said. While a few Cabinet heads, including Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, are rethinking retirement plans following the GOP's triumph in Tuesday's election, several departures are considered highly likely in the weeks and months ahead.
 
Ashcroft was described as worn down by the intense demands of the job since the Sept. 11 attacks. He also was sidelined for about a month this year to have his gallbladder removed after a severe bout of pancreatitis.

But Ashcroft, a favorite of religious conservatives, was "energized" by the results of Tuesday's election, in which polls indicated that moral values were a dominant issue for Republican voters, one aide said.

The former U.S. senator and Missouri governor is a deeply polarizing figure at the Justice Department. He has drawn sharp criticism from civil-liberties advocates for his support of the USA Patriot Act, which gave the FBI sweeping new police and surveillance powers. Ashcroft also came under fire for rounding up and detaining thousands of mostly Muslim immigrants after Sept. 11, 2001.

Cabinet secretaries planning to leave have been told to inform the president in the next few weeks. "It's inevitable there will be changes," Bush said yesterday. "It happens in every administration."

Current and former administration officials said the departures will be staggered over nine months, because chief of staff Andrew Card believes Bush would not be able to pursue the aggressive legislative agenda he has planned with a Cabinet filled with acting secretaries and his nominees awaiting confirmation.

"Even people who really, really, really want to go have been told they may have to wait," said a former administration official privy to the conversations. "Andy will not let everyone walk out the door at once."

Powell and his deputy, Richard Armitage, long have been expected to leave when Bush's first term ends. Powell is highly popular among career diplomats at the State Department and publicly has remained coy about his plans, saying he "serves at the pleasure of the president."

But associates and friends say he often has expressed frustration with his limited role in foreign policy under Bush. Armitage, Powell's closest friend, has told associates he will stay at the State Department as long as Powell does, and not one day more.

The leading candidate to replace Powell appears to be U.N. Ambassador John Danforth, a former senator and ordained minister popular with the religious conservatives who helped provide Bush's margin of victory.

National-security adviser Condoleezza Rice, frequently mentioned as a possible candidate, has told associates she is not interested in handling the diplomatic tedium and bureaucracy. Dark-horse candidates include centrist Democrats, such as former Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia, or someone with bipartisan appeal such as Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.

Rice wants to head the Defense Department, according to several Republicans, but Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is lobbying to keep his job, hoping for progress in Iraq and some success with Bush's agenda of military modernization.

"Rumsfeld wants to restore the golden-boy glow before he leaves," a presidential adviser said.

If Rice moves to the Pentagon or leaves altogether, as some suggest, there would be a heated competition for her post. Her deputy, Stephen Hadley, could move up. But he faces tough competition from three important players: Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defense secretary and architect of the attack on Iraq; Robert Blackwill, a hard-charging former ambassador to India who now handles Iraq policy at the National Security Council; and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Libby appears more likely to continue in his powerful role as Cheney's chief aide.

There is no clear favorite to replace Ridge, although White House officials are looking for jobs for several loyal Republicans, including Racicot and Dan Coates, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, officials said. Thompson is another possibility, Republicans said.

Treasury Secretary John Snow is likely to be replaced but will be given plenty of time to make a graceful exit, administration officials said. Card is a possible replacement, although he is planning to stay in his job for now, friends said. One top administration official said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick is interested in the job but unlikely to get it.

Commerce Secretary Don Evans has not said he is leaving but has sent strong signals that he plans to return to Texas, administration officials said.