WASHINGTON (Reuter) ExMassachusetts Gov. William Weld attended Spanish
refresher classes Tuesday to prepare to become U.S. ambassador to Mexico even
though his nomination has been blocked.

Weld has a ``pretty good working knowledge'' of Spanish, State Department
spokesman James Rubin said.

Nevertheless, he was at the State Department's school for diplomats the
Foreign Service Institute ``going through the normal drill of getting
himself briefed on the relevant issues, including, I suspect, some brushers
up on his Spanish,'' Rubin told reporters.

President Clinton nominated Weld, a Republican, last month, partly to build
more bipartisanship in foreign policy. The nomination fight has exposed
growing friction between moderate and conservative wings of the Republican
Party.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, a North Carolina
Republican and leading conservative, has repeatedly refused to hold a hearing
on Weld's nomination.

Contending Weld was soft on drugs, Helms has said he does not think he is
qualified to be ambassador to Mexico, where curbing drugtrafficking is a key
U.S. concern.

Weld, a possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in
2000, favors legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes and needle exchange
programs.

He recently resigned his post as governor of Massachussetts to work fulltime
on the nomination.

Rubin reiterated that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright believes ``Weld
is a man who could very successfully do the job as ambassador to Mexico, who
understands the issues, who was a federal prosecutor, who is a political
figure that would give some significance to our relationship.''

Weld ``ought to have a hearing, and we're hopeful that he will be able to get
one when Congress resumes,'' he said.

Privately, however, many officials say they doubt Helms will relent.

And adding a new twist to a feud, Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican,
said Sunday he was unaware of any administration efforts to bolster the
troubled nomination.

Lugar has been increasingly outspoken in his criticism of Helms for holding
up the Weld nomination.

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