[Brian Nelson, Cnn Anchor:] And to talk more about the first week of the Bush administration and the performance of the new president, let's turn now to Washington, again, and to Ron Faucheux, who's the editor-in-chief of "Campaigns & Election" magazine, part of the "Congressional Quarterly." Mr. Faucheux, thanks for being with us.
[Ron Faucheux, Editor-in-chief, "campaigns & Election":] Thank you.
[Nelson:] How did George W. Bush do during his first week in your view?
[Faucheux:] Well, I think overall he probably got an "A" in just about everything. He was able, I think, to stay on top of all the issues. There was a lot of advancement on the tax issue with Alan Greenspan's announcement, with Senator Zell Miller, the Democrat from Georgia coming out so strongly and effectively in favor of it. I think the education plan looks like it's got momentum with Democrats saying nice things about it. Overall, I think it was a good first week and a good start.
[Nelson:] About that tax plan, that was quite a surprise to have those two endorsements. What do you think that's going to do now to the chances of a tax cut on the on Capitol Hill?
[Faucheux:] Well, I think there's a lot of momentum to have a tax cut. Of course, any time you have tax cuts there's always a lot of complications when you get into the details that have to be worked out. But I think that the chances of a having a large tax cut that's close to what Bush proposed are much greater today than they might have been a few weeks ago, not only because of those developments, but because of the surplus and because of the economy.
[Nelson:] Now, you mentioned we mentioned the tax cut and we mentioned education. But how much of any success we attribute to George W. Bush's first week comes from just having gotten through this week unscathed?
[Faucheux:] Well, it's tough to get through any week in Washington unscathed. I remember Alice Roosevelt Longworth once said, if you don't have anything nice to say about somebody, come sit next to me. And that's sort of the attitude in the city. People like to criticize. They like to pounce on people, whether it's a Democrat or Republican, whoever it is in office. So, to come through unscathed is certainly an accomplishment for him. He's going to have some bad weeks. There's no question about it. This is a tough job and...
[Nelson:] And one of the most difficult things to do in Washington is to stay on message, and he did manage to do that with the exception of abortion at the beginning of the week. Now what does that do to the president when he issued his abortion order?
[Faucheux:] Well, I'm not so sure he was off message as much as there are things that presidents have to do, whoever they are, to please their political base, things that they promised to do before the election and that their supporters expect and that was one of those things. It wasn't one of those things that's going to get him new support or reach out to the center of the political spectrum. It was one of those things he had to do for his political. But I think they did a pretty good job since then of getting the focus off of that onto some other issues.
[Nelson:] And my final question is do you think there's any worry within the administration now to the troubles that John Ashcroft is receiving and the and as we head into next week and the expected vote?
[Faucheux:] Well, unless there's some new revelation that we haven't heard of, it looks like John Ashcroft will be confirmed. The Republicans have 50 votes, plus they have at least one or two or a few Democrats who will vote. So, it seems to be pretty certain at this point that he'll be confirmed. And what I hear from a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill, they want him confirmed because they want to make him and Gale Norton radioactive so they have symbols to shoot at in the administration. So, I suspect you'll see that.
[Nelson:] For the upcoming Congress elections they'll be a target?
[Faucheux:] Sure. Absolutely.
[Nelson:] All right, Ron Faucheux from "Campaigns & Elections" magazine. Thank you for joining us.
[Faucheux:] Thank you.
[Nelson:] We appreciate it.