1.   Another administration nominee, Bill Richardson, was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday to be ambassador to the United Nations.

2.   As chairman, he gained widest notice for holding up the appointments of Clinton administration ambassadorial nominees.

3.   A spokesman for Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, said the GOP simply refused to hold hearings or votes on numerous Clinton administration nominees.

4.   Senate Democrats may block votes Thursday on two Bush administration legal nominees in a public display of mounting partisan and ideological tensions over expected judicial appointments.

5.   Senate Republican majority leader Trent Lott insisted this week that there had been no slowdown and promised a rapid-fire series of votes on Clinton administration nominees.

6.   While it would be an extraordinary move against a nominee, his detractors admitted, the tactic has been used by Ashcroft himself to defeat Clinton administration nominees.

7.   But there are no such agreements on any of the other administration nominees languishing in the Senate.

8.   His opposition to Clinton administration nominee James Hormel, the first openly gay U.S. ambassador, came under scrutiny.