ABC - Among Ashcroft’s most vocal critics today was Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who said it was “a divisive not unifying nomination” even though Bush “has specifically said he is a unifier, not a divider.”
Kerry appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, said that Ashcroft has been “on the fringe of a number of different issues that really challenge the … minority community that the president-elect is going to have to bring together.”
Kerry said Bush could have selected a more moderate Republican just as qualified as Ashcroft, such as Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, or former Missouri Sen. John Danforth. But “they were vetoed by an element of the Republican party that only wanted a John Ashcroft,” Kerry said.
“John Ashcroft comes with a certain set of credentials. And those credentials fly in the face of your capacity to bring back to the center those people who have been alienated in this election,” Kerry added.
But some moderate Democrats continue to express support for Ashcroft. Sen. John Breaux of Louisiana said that while the nominee has taken positions with which many Democrats disagree, “We have to recognize that the president has a right to appoint those who agree with his philosophy to the Cabinet.”
<
>
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/ashcroft010107.html