ASHCROFT CONSIDERS RUN FOR PRESIDENCY

News that U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri, a Republican, is testing the waters for a presidential race continues to stir interest. Recent weeks have found Ashcroft traveling through New Hampshire, site of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, along with treks to Georgia, South Carolina, New York, Michigan and Louisiana, among other points. His stop in New Orleans was as keynote speaker at a luncheon of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a bipartisan group of state legislators. Ashcroft gave a fine and speech and received generally high marks from the assembled state lawmakers.

Ashcroft knows going in that the odds against the success of a national campaign are long. Though a successful, two-term former governor, the senator is in his first Senate term and has a long way to go in national name identification. As a Missourian, he isn't from a state known -- like California, Texas or New York -- for huge population, automatic media attention or great reserves of wealth.

Ashcroft nonetheless starts the most wide-open GOP nomination race in decades with formidable strengths. A former chairman of the National Governors' Association, he has been a player on the national scene for nearly 15 years. A favorite of the Christian Right that is so influential in GOP politics, Ashcroft nonetheless has never had any trouble uniting all factions of the Republican coalition behind his campaigns. There is something about his moderate style, and ability to listen, that seems to soothe and reassure more moderate voters and contributors. Since 1976 he is a consistently big winner in Missouri, a swing state and a bellwether in national contests. His gubernatorial wins were 57 and 64 percent, the latter the fattest winning margin of any Missouri governor since the Civil War, and he won his Senate seat three years ago with 60 percent.

In the Senate, Ashcroft has been a leader on innovative approaches to welfare reform, juvenile crime, curbing the litigation explosion and flex-time for working families. If he decides to formally enter the presidential race, Ashcroft will likely be a competitive candidate with much to contribute.