Bush transition team up and working

From CNN's John King and Major Garrett

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- GOP vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney said Wednesday that the Bush transition team has secured office space in suburban McLean, Virginia, and he announced beefed-up staffing designed to accelerate the search for possible Cabinet picks and senior administration officials.

Republican vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney announces Wednesday that the campaign opened transition offices in McLean, Virginia

"Tomorrow, I will be traveling to Crawford, Texas, with General Colin Powell and our wives to spend the day with Governor Bush and Laura Bush. This will give us an opportunity for an extended discussion on the transition between General Powell, myself and Governor Bush," Cheney said, standing behind a podium adorned with a blue "Bush-Cheney Transition" sign.

Cheney said Michael Toner, who has been part of the legal team in Austin, Texas, would be joining him in Washington as the transition legal counsel. David Gribben was named as the direction of congressional relations for the transition team.

Bush's chief of staff designate, Andrew Card, was also expected to travel to the Texas governor's ranch in Crawford for weekend conversations.

Moving ahead with transition planning in a public way is part of the Bush strategy of trying to swing public opinion against Vice President Al Gore's continued contest of the Florida results.

Transition spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush has called the Republican leadership in the House and Senate to tell them he looks forward to working with them. Bush plans to make similar calls to the Democratic leadership, but is waiting for the election results to be finalized.

Sources familiar with the discussions gave CNN further transition details:

-- Alabama Democratic Rep. Bud Cramer is among the Democrats being looked at as a possibility for any Bush Cabinet -- in this case agriculture secretary.

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Election 2000

House GOP leaders have advised Bush to consider Cramer and other Southern House Democrats -- such as Ralph Hall of Texas, Gene Taylor of Mississippi and Ronnie Shows of Mississippi -- as potential Cabinet members or key players in a Bush administration.

Several top GOP sources say that House Republicans believe they could win seats vacated by any of these Southern Democrats in a special election. These leaders are looking to pick up seats to pad their razor-thin House majority, which now stands at 220 Republicans to 211 Democrats with two independents and two races still unresolved.

--Talk of former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia as a possible Bush defense secretary is misguided. Nunn opposed the Persian Gulf War and led the opposition to former President Bush's choice of former Texas Sen. John Tower to lead the Pentagon, and his views on missile defense also are at odds with those of the Texas governor. Nunn issued a statement Wednesday saying he was not interested, but several Bush aides said he was never under serious consideration. Former Bush administration official Paul Wolfowitz is viewed as a leading candidate for the Pentagon post.

--Top Bush aide Karen Hughes has agreed to be the communications director in any Bush White House, and campaign spokesman Ari Fleischer would become press secretary and handle most public White House briefings.

Some Democrats have criticized Bush for turning a public focus on his transition process at a time the election results are still being contested. Leading Bush aides and advisers say the governor is sensitive to the issue and would prefer to delay any major announcements until after the legal challenge is resolved.

At the same time, they note the inauguration is less than two months away, and that Bush has little choice but to press ahead with planning so that he is prepared to govern should he ultimately be declared the winner.

Several sources who are either directly involved in the discussions or who have been consulted by Cheney and Card said Bush appears to have delegated significant authority to his running mate in shaping the new administration and the management style of any Bush White House. One of these sources described an emerging structure of, "Bush as chairman of the board, Dick as CEO and Andy as COO."