[Jeanne Meserve, Cnn Anchor:] Bob Franken is up on Capitol Hill today. Bob, talk a little bit more to us, if you would, about the Tommy Thompson hearing and what we might expect out of that one today?
[Bob Franken, Cnn Correspondent:] The hearings that are going to be conducted here are going to be dominated by Ronnie White. Now, you are asking, who is Ronnie White? Well, he has been a significant figure within the last year or so in the political career of John Ashcroft.
[Franken:] He's a Missouri state Supreme Court judge, the first African American on that court. But Ronnie White did not become a U.S. federal judge. And now he's the main witness for the forces resisting the John Ashcroft confirmation as U.S. attorney general. They say Ashcroft engaged in death penalty politics when he led the '99 fight against White's confirmation, a fight that drew charges of racism. Ashcroft insists his issue was not race but White's so-called "pro-defendant" judicial record. Then-Sen. Ashcroft focused in particular on the case of James Johnson, who went on a rampage in 1991, murdering four, including the wife of county Sheriff Kenny Jones. Ashcroft cited White's Supreme Court dissent against the death penalty for Johnson. White wrote that Johnson did not have adequate legal representation. But for Ashcroft, that dissent represented a fatal flaw in White. [Begin Video Clip, Oct. 5, 1999]
[Sen. John Ashcroft , Missouri:] We don't need judges with a tremendous bent toward criminal activity or with a bent toward excusing or providing second chances or opportunities for those who have been accused in those situations.
[Franken:] Now, civil right organizations say that what happened was that when John Ashcroft decided to take this on, he was actually trying to take advantage of the fact that there might be racial prejudice, which could contribute to his reelection chances. Ashcroft and his supporter will say, again, today that it nothing to do with that, it had to do with judicial philosophy. And of course, there are other hearings, Jeanne. There is that Interior Department confirmation hearing with Gale Norton. She is really kind of a flashpoint too for the environmentalist to say that her philosophies, her conservative environmental philosophies could cause serious problems to the water and air and of the United States Jeanne.
[Meserve:] Bob, let me ask you a little bit more about Ashcroft. Yesterday, a Democratic senator, Zell Miller, said he will be voting for Ashcroft. Does that make these hearings virtually irrelevant? Are there now 51 votes for confirmation?
[Franken:] Well, only if, in fact, all the Republicans would vote for Ashcroft, which is considered a good possibility. But today's hearing is really going to determine a lot. If, in fact, Ronnie White would touch some sort of nerve and would cause an uproar over Ashcroft's conduct, that could change the equation. Of course, so far, Ashcroft has been quite successful in taking all these incendiary charges against him and maintaining his calm and, quite frankly, not losing any ground at all.
[Meserve:] And Bob, let me ask you also about the Tommy Thompson hearings, and what's likely to come out of those.
[Franken:] Well, Tommy Thompson is not of those who is considered really one of the most contentious candidates for being on the Cabinet. But he has been a very controversial governor in Wisconsin. He has various social policies that have offended the various interest groups, who have positions on these. And he is going to be the person, when confirmed, who would administer most of the social policies, as the head of the massive Health and Human Services Department. So there is going to be quite a bit of controversy. But everybody expects he will be confirmed.
[Meserve:] OK, Bob Franken, on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.