| Bush picks loyalists for education cousel jobs Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6846792http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6846792
Bush Picks Loyalists for Education, Counsel Jobs Wed Nov 17, 2004 07:34 PM ET
By Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush picked two trusted advisers with roots in his native Texas to fill the jobs of education secretary and White House counsel on Wednesday, the latest additions to a second-term staff that includes key loyalists.
White House domestic policy adviser Margaret Spellings, 46, was selected to replace Rod Paige in the top education post. White House deputy chief of staff Harriet Miers, 59, succeeded Alberto Gonzales as White House legal counsel.
NATO ambassador Nicholas Burns emerged as a possible candidate for deputy Secretary of State or another top job at the department. Burns worked with Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice on Soviet affairs during the administration of Bush's father and also served in the Clinton administration.
In addition to Burns, Arnold Kanter, a former member of Bush's father's administration, was also said to be under consideration for the deputy job. But some sources were skeptical Kanter, viewed as a moderate internationalist Republican, would be selected.
Spellings became the third White House insider to be nominated for a top Cabinet position. White House legal counsel Gonzales was picked as attorney general and Rice, the White House national security adviser, as secretary of state.
Both Spellings and Miers arrived at the White House at the start of Bush's first term four years ago and have longstanding ties to the president.
Spellings was Bush's chief education adviser when he was governor of Texas and Miers once was his personal lawyer.
The revamping of staff is by no means over but the pace of change could slow over the next week with Bush on a foreign trip and then at his ranch for the Thanksgiving holiday.
One of the key decisions that remains is picking a deputy for Rice. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage announced he would be resigning along with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
It was unclear what new jobs, if any, might be offered to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a neo-conservative who was a leading intellectual force behind the Iraq war, and hard-liner John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control and non-proliferation affairs.
In the runup to the election, political sources saw Wolfowitz as a potential candidate for most of the top foreign policy jobs, but sources now say because of the controversy over Iraq, he would be unable to win Senate confirmation.
"Paul is likely to stay in his current job or leave," one Republican source said.
Bolton is a favorite of conservatives for his tough views on North Korea and Iran but some consider him difficult to work with.
Meanwhile, a replacement could be named within days for departing Commerce Secretary Donald Evans.
Contenders include Bush's election campaign chairman Marc Racicot and Deputy Treasury Secretary Sam Bodman.
Mercer Reynolds, finance chairman of Bush's re-election campaign, was widely considered the leading candidate. But sources close to the White House said on Wednesday he now appeared unlikely to get the Commerce job. (Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Carol Giacomo and Adam Entous)
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