Bolton's days at U.N. are likely numbered

WASHINGTON — John Bolton's prospects for winning Senate approval to stay on as U.N. ambassador essentially died Thursday as Democrats and a pivotal Republican said they would continue to oppose his nomination.

On Thursday, the White House resubmitted Bolton's nomination to the Senate, where the appointment has languished for more than a year.

President Bush appointed him to the job temporarily in August 2005 while Congress was in recess, an appointment that will expire when the Congress adjourns, no later than January.

Bush could not make a second recess appointment of Bolton for the same job, though there was some speculation that the administration might try to keep the ambassador at the U.N. in some fashion.

If Bush is forced to find a replacement for Bolton, it would come as the administration is relying heavily on the U.N. in confrontations with North Korea and Iran over their nuclear programs and in trying to end fighting in Sudan's Darfur region.

"He has been extraordinarily effective up there at the U.N. and now is not the time to have a gap in your U.N. ambassador," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., who was defeated by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse on Tuesday, told reporters in Rhode Island that he would continue opposing Bolton. That would likely deny Republicans the votes needed to move Bolton's nomination from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the full Senate.

"The American people have spoken out against the president's agenda on a number of fronts, and presumably one of those is on foreign policy," Chafee said. "And at this late stage in my term, I'm not going to endorse something the American people have spoken out against."