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Bush Moves Fast to Set Cabinet, Heal Wounds

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TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Thirty-seven days after Americans cast their ballots for a new leader, President-elect George W. Bush took calls from more than a dozen foreign leaders Thursday, and the business of creating his administration began in earnest.

By the end of the day, Bush aides had moved aggressively to create the impression of a team shaking off the enforced delays of the postelection battle and working intensely on the new government.

President Clinton also called Bush on Wednesday night to congratulate him, officials said. The president promised a “smooth and successful transition.” Clinton, who had ousted Bush’s father from the White House eight years ago, was traveling in England.

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair called later in the day. So did the leaders of Mexico, Canada, South Africa, Argentina, Spain, Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Indeed, so many foreign leaders called the newly anointed president-elect, a spokeswoman said, that brother Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida, had trouble getting through.

Bush has “made several decisions” about Cabinet posts, spokeswoman Karen Hughes said. The first major personnel announcement is likely to be made at his ranch near Crawford, Texas, on Saturday, she added. The announcement is widely expected to include top White House jobs and the nomination of retired Gen. Colin L. Powell to be secretary of State.

At a news conference here, Vice President-elect Dick Cheney balked at committing the incoming administration to a specific timetable. But he said: “We’re going to move just as rapidly as we can.”

The vice president-elect, directing the transition, accepted the key--in the form of a plastic computer card--to the government office building two blocks from the White House that will house the transition offices. But he suggested that he was in no rush to move from the privately funded, temporary offices in which he has been working in McLean, Va., a Washington suburb.

“I live nearby,” he said. “It’s a great commute.”

FBI to Speed Up Background Checks

Clay Johnson, the transition’s executive director, said that the FBI had agreed to assign “additional resources” to investigate potential appointees to speed up background checks because barely five weeks remain until Bush’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

In Austin, Texas, Bush and his aides went through the initial steps that are part of the transition--some highly symbolic, others more prosaic.

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As if honoring his new status as president-elect, a black, armored Cadillac limousine was stationed for the first time at the Governor’s Mansion. Additional Secret Service agents were on duty too. Brian Stafford, director of the Secret Service, discussed security arrangements with Bush.

At campaign headquarters, senior-most aides who are likely to join Bush in Washington received what were described as ethics briefings--an outline of complex federal regulations governing personal financial conduct of senior-level public employees. They were also given thick notebooks prepared by Fred Fielding, a White House counsel during the Nixon and Reagan administrations.

The call from Clinton came Wednesday night--3:45 a.m. in England, where Clinton was nearing the end of a three-day trip--and lasted about five minutes.

“President Clinton said he looked forward to working with President-elect Bush,” Gordon Johndroe, a Bush spokesman, said. “President-elect Bush said he looked forward to working with the senator,” a reference to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, now a senator-elect from New York.

Clinton had stayed up to watch television coverage of Gore’s concession speech and Bush’s victory address.

Speaking later with reporters at Chequers, the country home of the British prime minister, Clinton said that “the essential unity of our nation was reflected in the words and values of those who fought this great contest. I was proud of both men.

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“All of us have a responsibility to support President-elect Bush and to unite our country in the search for common ground.”

Aboard Air Force One as he flew home, Clinton said that Americans would quickly shed the election’s rancor and “adjust very quickly” to Bush’s victory.

Potential Cabinet Candidates Interviewed

Meanwhile, names of potential Cabinet choices continued to circulate. Bush aides have talked to Rep. James M. Talent (R-Mo.) about the post of Labor secretary, according to Talent’s aides. Talent, 43, is a former labor lawyer who narrowly lost this year’s race for governor of Missouri.

Another person said to be a possible candidate for the job is Linda Chavez, 53, a former Reagan administration official. She said that she has not talked to the Bush staff.

Chavez writes often about Latino issues. She is president of the Washington-based Center for Equal Opportunity, which is sharply critical of bilingual education and opposes affirmative action.

Today, Bush is expected to meet at the Governor’s Mansion in Austin with Sen. John B. Breaux of Louisiana, a centrist Democrat who is well-positioned to be a power broker in the evenly divided Senate. No congressional Democrat has visited Bush since the election.

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The meeting represents an effort to reach out to Democrats following the bitterness of the election, Hughes said. She would not say if Breaux is being considered for a senior post.

She said that Bush would fly to Washington on Sunday evening after spending an abbreviated weekend at his ranch. In the capital, he will meet Monday with Democrats as well as Republican leaders in Congress. On Tuesday, Bush is to meet with Gore at the vice president’s residence. A Bush meeting with President Clinton is also being scheduled, Hughes said.

Bush plans to interview candidates for senior positions while he is here.

Bush spent most of Thursday on the telephone, talking with Cheney, aides and prospective staff and Cabinet members, Hughes said. He also spoke to Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, the Democratic leaders in the Senate and House.

Bush also received a call from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has vociferously denounced the conduct of the Florida vote count. Hughes described their talk as a “gracious” conversation and said that they discussed ways to heal the nation and conduct election reform.

Bush and His Wife Attend Prayer Service

The president-elect and his wife, Laura, attended a private prayer service at the Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin. The invitation-only service was attended by about 300 friends and staff members.

“You have been chosen by God to lead the people,” said the Rev. Mark Craig, who delivered the sermon. A Bush spokesman later distanced the president-elect from that remark, saying it was “the minister’s own reflections.”

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Vice President Al Gore, who conceded the election Wednesday night, stayed out of sight Thursday. But his running mate, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), returned to the Senate.

“In selecting me, a Jewish American, to be his running mate,” Lieberman said in an emotional speech, “Vice President Gore did what no presidential candidate before him had done. That required personal courage and confidence in the American people.”

The vice president and his wife, Tipper, plan to take an extended weekend vacation, his press secretary, Jim Kennedy, said. They hosted a Christmas party Thursday evening.

Gerstenzang reported from Washington, D.C., and Chen from Austin. Times staff writers Robert A. Rosenblatt in Coventry, England, and Aaron Zitner in Washington, D.C., also contributed to this story.

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