Sunday Morning News

Bush Expected to Announce More Administrative Appointments

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MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: Politics now. George W. Bush is preparing for his first trip to Washington as president-elect. But before he leaves he is expected to announce more appointments to his administration.

Mr. Bush's first cabinet selection came as no surprise. Retired general Colin Powell is expected to win easy confirmation as secretary of state.

CNN national correspondent Tony Clark joining us once again from Austin, Texas, with more on how the Bush White House is taking shape. And it looks like national security adviser is next on the docket, right, Tony?

TONY CLARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is indeed. In fact, there are a lot of similarities here. This is not a surprise. Condoleezza Rice expected to be named national security adviser, and also because of her background, probably not going to be a problem going through any kind of confirmation.

Condoleezza Rice was an international affairs adviser to the Bush campaign, long ties to the Bush campaign. She is a Soviet specialist. She was on the National Security Council under President Bush. She is a former Stanford provost. And she has often been seen at the governor's mansion, during especially the weeks since the election, briefing the president-elect on foreign policy. And so that is not a surprise that she would be named today.

Also possible announcement today, Al Gonzales being named White House counsel. This is another move by the president-elect to show diversity in his future administration. Gonzales, 45 years old, a Texas supreme court justice. He's Harvard-educated. He -- his ties to the president-elect go back. He was general counsel for Governor Bush, and then later secretary of state under the Bush governorship here in Texas, so ties there as well.

The Bush administration in the making, trying to show with its first appointments an effort to reach out to African-Americans, both with Powell and Condoleezza Rice, and also to Hispanics with the naming, expected today or in the days ahead, of Al Gonzales. We may also get some other announcements of White House positions.

The president-elect and Mrs. Bush are at their ranch right now. They're expected back in Austin around 2:00 Eastern time. The announcements of the cabinet -- or cabinet-style position, national security adviser position, 2:30 Eastern time today -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Tony, a lot of talk about Mr. Bush potentially picking a Democrat for a cabinet post, an important one at that. And I'm gathering he's going to have a hard time recruiting in the U.S. Senate because of the tight split there, a lot of senators would rather just stay put.

Is he having some difficulty recruiting Democrats? Do you have any sense of that?

CLARK: Well, you know, he met with Senator John Breaux this past week, and Breaux was touted as a possible secretary of energy. There was some suggestion that Senator Breaux, because he didn't want to leave the Senate and because that could, if he departed, hurt the 50- 50 split, that he might have suggested Bennett Johnston, former senator from Louisiana, a Democrat, for chairman of the Senate Energy Committee.

And so there are efforts, there are people that he can reach out to. But, you know, he's also making contact with Democrats so that even if he doesn't get one in the Senate, he's trying to show that he's willing to reach out to them.

You know, every time he talks, he talks about -- mentions the word "bipartisanship," and so I think that's going to be the theme. And just how he's able to do that, maybe we'll see a little bit more in the days ahead. He is going to be interviewing some potential cabinet members when he's in Washington, leaves here this afternoon for Washington for the next couple of days in Washington. So we may get more of a sense while he's in D.C. -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Our man in the Lone Star State is Tony Clark. Thanks much, we'll see you later.

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