HOW WILL SENATOR TREAT NOMINEE FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL?

KENNETT, Mo. -- There is an interesting scenario taking shape in the U.S. Senate. With the announcement last week of Missouri's John Ashcroft as the designee for U.S. attorney general, a confirmation hearing is already shaping up in the Senate.

In bygone days there was a sense of decorum among senators that resulted in the treatment of a fellow senator, or former colleague, with kid gloves. That sense of restraint -- an institutional ethic, if you will , when it came to asking probing or difficult questions -- has gradually fallen by the wayside.

It is noteworthy that one of the best examples of the vestiges of institutional ethic being peeled away was when the late John Tower of Texas was nominated to be the secretary of defense by George Bush. During those confirmation hearings, Sen. Jim Exxon of Nebraska and Sen. Sam Nunn went after Tower, raising questions of alcohol abuse and marital infidelity during the hearing. The fact that many of the allegations were later, after Tower's defeated nomination, proven to be untrue was immaterial.

It is doubtful there are any such questions which can be raised against Ashcroft. Morally, he is probably one of the most upright men in Washington, D.C. And he has been through at least six statewide races without ever having his lack of morals become a political issue.

What Ashcroft does have is a record, a record on which he has run and voted on. Will Democrats go after him because of his conservative leanings? Probably. The extent to which Ashcroft is scrutinized will be worth watching.

Obviously, the naming of Ashcroft to one of the top-tier positions in the Cabinet is a concession to the stauncher conservatives in the Republican Party. That constituency had already raised an eyebrow about some of the first announcements of leadership positions in the new Bush administration, wondering if perhaps they were a little too moderate.

Ashcroft as attorney general will soothe any ruffled feathers from that quarter. A conservative of Ashcroft's stature may also preclude any challenge from the conservatives in 2004 such as Pat Buchanan launched against former President Bush.

There has been little love lost between the two camps, despite Ashcroft not pursuing the election in the legal system. The feelings between the two factions go back to the days when Ashcroft was governor and Mel Carnahan was lieutenant governor. According to pollsters, Ashcroft was actually leading the Senate race when the fatal crash occurred -- granted, the election was still two weeks away at the time, and the result might have been the same.

How will Missouri's junior senator, Jean Carnahan, vote on Ashcroft's confirmation? Will she demonstrate the graciousness she was the recipient of at the end of the election? Carnahan's actions could very well set the stage for the U.S. Senate race in 2002. She has at least as much at stake in the nomination process as Ashcroft. Nationally, some special-interest groups are salivating at the chance to go after Ashcroft's nomination and through him criticize the new president.

Senator Carnahan can go a long way to setting the tone for her predecessor's confirmation. Will she step forward as a voice of conciliation? She has an opportunity to establish herself and show Missourians she can work in a bipartisan spirit.

~Bud Hunt is the publisher of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.