Nov. 20, 2006 issue - The White House and the new Democratic majority in Congress are ready to play hardball. Already they are tussling over John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. President George W. Bush gave Bolton, an outspoken conservative, a temporary "recess appointment" to the U.N. post last year after Democrats and GOP moderates blocked his Senate confirmation. Bolton's interim job runs out at the end of the year, and minutes after the president's postelection lunch with presumptive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the White House asked the Senate to confirm Bolton permanently. But Joe Biden, the Senate Democrats' incoming Foreign Relations chair, signaled that the Dems will continue to block Bolton—unless the administration turns over a set of ultrasecret National Security Agency intercepts that Bolton requested. Bolton said he needed to find out the names of Americans mentioned in them; Bolton's critics want to be sure he wasn't spying on subordinates.

　　The White House is currently standing by Bolton. But speculation is already circulating that he could be replaced by Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, or Paula Dobriansky, an under secretary of State.