Bush Plans to Announce More Cabinet Nominations This Week

President-elect George W. Bush is moving to fill out the second half of his Cabinet, aiming to nominate two additional members this week in Washington. On Wednesday, however, he went fishing off Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Boarding a boat with his father, Bush said he hopes to announce “a couple of Cabinet secretaries here in the next couple of days.”

He would not identify candidates. A news conference was planned for today, after Bush arrives in Washington from his Florida vacation.

Asked about his search for a Defense secretary, he said: “Nobody’s out of the running.”

Until late last week, former Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana was considered almost certain to head the Pentagon. Bush told aides last week that he needed more time, however, and the names of two former aides of Vice President-elect Dick Cheney--Paul Wolfowitz and Richard L. Armitage--were thrown into the mix.

During Cheney’s tenure as Defense secretary in the Bush administration, Wolfowitz was the Pentagon crisis manager as undersecretary of Defense for policy. Armitage was a major trouble-shooter in the administrations of Presidents Reagan and Bush.