ASHCROFT ALREADY CLOSE TO FILLING TOP POSTS

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 -- John Ashcroft, sworn in quickly by Justice Clarence
Thomas after being confirmed by the Senate as attorney general, is close to
filling senior posts at the Justice Department, having conducted interviews
with several candidates in recent days, Bush transition officials said today.

The leading contender for deputy attorney general, the chief operating
officer of the department, is Larry D. Thompson, who was a United States
attorney in Georgia during the Reagan administration.

Mr. Thompson is a veteran of partisan warfare in Congress. In 1991, as an
informal adviser, he helped manage the Thomas nomination to the Supreme
Court through a particularly contentious Senate confirmation battle.

The selection of Mr. Thompson, an African-American, would serve as a signal
that Mr. Ashcroft intends to respond to Democratic criticism that he is
insensitive to racial issues.

Mr. Ashcroft also appears close to naming his choice for solicitor general,
the government's chief appellate lawyer, who argues before the Supreme
Court and plays a major role in shaping the department's approach to cases.

The top candidate for the job so far is Theodore B. Olson, a well-known
Republican lawyer who represented the Bush campaign in the fight over the
presidential vote in Florida. Mr. Olson argued that case before the Supreme
Court twice, ultimately winning it and ensuring a Bush victory.

Like the nominee for deputy attorney general, the choice for solicitor
general is subject to Senate confirmation.

With his own confirmation today, Mr. Ashcroft's private efforts to ready
himself for the job will become public. This afternoon he moved to the
Justice Department from his office at Bush transition headquarters.

That trip followed a private ceremony at the Supreme Court in which he was
sworn in by Justice Thomas, with whom he has some shared experiences. Not
only did the two men emerge confirmed after brutal Senate battles, they
worked together as young lawyers for a Missouri attorney general, John C.
Danforth, who later, as a senator, became a champion of the Thomas nomination.

Aides, noting that the ceremony today was a private one, declined without
further comment to release any photographs. Mr. Ashcroft will be sworn in
later in public ceremonies at the White House and the Justice Department.

In recent days Mr. Ashcroft jump-started his selection of a team by
engaging in a series of what associates termed "pre-interviews," meeting
quietly with some candidates for senior posts. He wanted to move quickly
after a confirmation process that took more time and involved far more
controversy than that of any other Bush cabinet nominee.

The interviews reflected what associates said was a trademark of Mr.
Ashcroft's managerial style, adopted during his two terms as Missouri's
governor, in which he undertakes careful, hands-on selection of top
deputies, then operates as a chief executive and leaves day-to-day issues
to those aides.

Mr. Ashcroft has also had several conversations with the F.B.I. director,
Louis J. Freeh, about cases pending at the bureau. After the inauguration,
with an extended battle over the Ashcroft nomination already a prospect,
Mr. Freeh's aides mentioned him as a possible acting attorney general. But
the idea quickly faded, and Mr. Freeh's associates say he never took the
idea seriously. Eric H. Holder Jr., the deputy to Attorney General Janet
Reno, served as acting attorney general until today.

Mr. Ashcroft has not yet met with either Ms. Reno or Mr. Holder, but
expects to talk to both about issues facing the department. He has already
conferred with three predecessors: William P. Barr and Dick Thornburgh, who
were attorneys general in the administration of President Bush's father,
and Griffin B. Bell, who headed the department under President Jimmy Carter.

In addition, the Bush transition team has begun work at the Justice
Department in anticipation of Mr. Ashcroft's arrival, keeping him informed
of activities and briefing him on several pending cases. The Bush group has
been led by Paul McNulty, a former top aide to Mr. Barr.

In recent years, Mr. McNulty has served as an aide to two Republican
congressmen: Representatives Bill McCollum of Florida, defeated two months
ago in a run for the Senate, and Dick Armey of Texas, the House majority
leader. He is considered likely to land an important job in the Bush
Justice Department, possibly United States attorney for the Eastern
District of Virginia.

Although Mr. Ashcroft's nomination attracted controversy in part because of
his strong conservative views and record, some of his earliest decisions
may not involve the most hotly contested social issues. The department must
soon decide whether to adopt the Clinton administration's aggressive
tactics in an antitrust case against Microsoft and whether to continue a
broad civil suit against the tobacco industry.

In addition, Mr. Ashcroft is expected to act on some of the anticrime
proposals that Mr. Bush announced during the presidential race, among them
expanded enforcement against violent gun-related crimes and drug offenses.

Bush transition aides said today that the effort to win Mr. Ashcroft's
confirmation had involved a carefully executed strategy to persuade
senators to vote for him while trying to avoid confrontation with Democrats
on the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearings.

Mr. Ashcroft himself telephoned Republican senators as well as Democrats
who seemed disposed to consider voting for him. In the end, eight Democrats
did so.

"Strategically, we had the votes going in," one Bush transition official
said. "John went out and got the votes, aggressively working the phones
even from Austin after he was named." As for the nominee's demeanor before
the committee, this official said, "We thought it was important for him to
be measured, judicious, friendly and reasonable," an approach that Ashcroft
advisers hoped would provide a contrast with that of senators who sought to
question him aggressively about his conservative record.

As a result, Mr. Ashcroft was careful to answer questions with polite
statements couched in general principles. "He was no longer a senator who
was engaging in a debate," the transition official said. "He was becoming
an attorney general who lays out principles."

Mr. Ashcroft told his advisers that at times he was eager to respond more
fully to some of the critical questions about issues like race, gay rights,
abortion and gun control. But, the advisers said, he resisted the
temptation to engage in debate.