1 of 2 Women Most Likely for Top Justice Job

As President-elect Bill Clinton struggled Wednesday to meet his self-imposed Christmas deadline for choosing his Cabinet, he was said to be nearing selection of a woman as attorney general. He remained buffeted by intense lobbying on behalf of other remaining Cabinet vacancies.

Sources close to the transition said Washington attorney Brooksley E. Born was the most likely nominee for attorney general but that one other woman, Zoe Baird, the general counsel of the Aetna Life & Casualty Co., was still under consideration as of late Wednesday. Either would be the first woman to occupy the post.

Born is a partner at one of the capital’s largest law firms and a longtime activist in liberal public-interest legal organizations.

Because neither Born nor Baird has much experience in criminal law, Clinton aides have been searching for a lawyer with a strong background in that area to serve as either deputy or associate attorney general--the department’s No. 2 and No. 3 jobs. Sources said Norman Early, the former district attorney of Denver, had emerged as a strong candidate for that role.

Early became Colorado’s first black district attorney in 1983 when Gov. Richard D. Lamm appointed him. He was then elected in 1984 and served until 1991 when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor.

Clinton has scheduled a press conference for early afternoon today and is considered likely to announce at least the attorney general’s job.

But on the remaining posts, “it’s really a juggling thing right now,” said a senior transition official. “I don’t think there are any new names getting into it,” the official added, “but he’s juggling the names he has, there are lots of ways of arranging them.”

And Clinton advisers were at pains to at least open the possibility that the process might not be completed today.

“There’s a chance it’ll be finished by Christmas. There’s a chance it might go a little later,” Vice President-elect Al Gore told reporters.

“It’s more important to get the right people than meet the right deadline,” said Clinton communications director George Stephanopoulos.

In addition to the attorney general, Clinton has three more Cabinet secretaries to name--agriculture, Interior and transportation--as well as a special trade representative, a job that has had Cabinet status in the Bush Administration.

Rep. Mike Espy (D-Miss.) had been seen as the front-runner for the agriculture slot for over a week, in large part because he publicly proclaimed that he was in line for the job. But that public talk has not pleased Clinton aides, who have put a premium on discretion for all jobs in the new Administration.

On Wednesday, the former governor of North Dakota, George Sinner, arrived here to talk to Clinton about the agriculture post. Sinner said he had talked with Clinton by phone about the job a week ago and that the President-elect had only recently asked him to come to Little Rock for an interview.

Former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt also met with Clinton. He has sought the trade job, but has also indicated to Clinton aides that he would be willing to accept another post if Clinton wished. Hattie Babbitt, a prominent attorney, accompanied her husband here. She has been discussed as a possible assistant secretary of state, but could be considered for other jobs as well, transition officials said.

As the juggling continues, Clinton aides said, Bruce Babbitt might yet end up as secretary of Interior--the locus of the hottest fight of the week.

Latino organizations have pushed Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), but many environmental groups have raised questions about him. They question both Richardson’s commitment to taking on the powerful mining and ranching interests--groups that have prospered under Ronald Reagan and Bush Administration policies--and his willingness to fight for his positions in inter-agency disputes.

Latino and environmental groups have spent the last few days in a fierce lobbying campaign--calling on supporters to send letters, telegrams and phone messages to Clinton advisers and deluging reporters with faxes and statements.

Some environmental activists in Washington have pushed for alternative candidates, including Rep. Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii) and Jim Bacca, New Mexico’s land commissioner. Bacca is a statewide elected official who, like Richardson, is Latino but who also has compiled a strong environmental record on public lands issues.

Picking either of those candidates, however, would require Clinton to put off a decision for days while new background checks were completed. As a result, transition aides said Clinton might turn back to Babbitt.

Another possibility, however, would be Sen. Timothy E. Wirth (D-Colo.), a strong Clinton supporter who was passed over for energy secretary in favor of utility company executive Hazel O’Leary.

Naming either Wirth or Babbitt for the Interior post, however, would anger Latino leaders, who have argued that Latinos should be represented by more Cabinet members than simply the one nominated so far, Henry A. Cisneros for secretary of housing and urban development.

And that, in turn, could unsettle Clinton’s calculations on the transportation job. Chicago banker and political strategist William Daley has been the leading candidate for that post. But some Latino organizations have pushed former Denver mayor Federico Pena, who heads the transportation section for Clinton’s transition.

Staff writers Gebe Martinez, Ronald J. Ostrow and Robin Wright contributed to this story.