US: President George Bush is in a dilemma about how to fill the long-vacant post of US ambassador to the UN following the success of Senate Democrats on Monday night in blocking his nomination of former State Department official John Bolton.
Mr Bush could make a recess appointment when senators go home for the July 4th holiday, but this would mean sending Mr Bolton to the world body weakened by his failure to win bipartisan support.
Senate majority leader Bill Frist held emergency talks with Mr Bush in the White House yesterday and said on emerging he would try again to get confirmation of Mr Bolton, reversing an earlier confessions of defeat.
The prospect of circumventing the confirmation process was suggested by top administration officials following the failure of the Republican majority in the Senate to get enough votes to end blocking tactics by the minority Democrats.
The vote to end a Democratic filibuster on Monday night was 54 to 38, six votes short of the total needed under Senate rules.
The result is a setback for Mr Bush whose poll ratings have dropped to 43 per cent - the lowest of his presidency - and who is fighting to stave off the perception that he is becoming a lame-duck president less than six months into his second term.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan accused Democrats of being unwilling to compromise and "only interested in blocking this nomination from moving forward". They had worked in good faith "yet Democratic leaders continue to move the goal posts", Mr McClellan said.
During the bitter three-month controversy over Mr Bolton's nomination, Democrats accused him of exaggerating intelligence and bullying officials who disagreed with his hardline views.
Most Republicans however rallied round Mr Bush's choice as a strong voice for much-needed reform of the UN, which he had frequently criticised in scathing terms making him popular with conservatives.
There was some speculation in Washington yesterday that Mr Bush might consider putting forward instead a prominent senior figure - perhaps even his father, former president George HW Bush - who would be sure of Senate approval.
The vote on Monday night showed a slight erosion of support for Mr Bolton after a narrower vote last month. Republican Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, who voted in May to advance the nomination despite his deep reservations, switched sides and urged Mr Bush to consider another candidate. Three Republicans did not vote and three Democrats crossed party lines.
Republican senator John McCain said yesterday Mr Bolton's prospects of getting an up- or-down vote - which he could probably win - were not good.
There has been no US ambassador at the UN since John Danforth resigned and left the post in January and no US ambassador has been appointed to any post during a recess in nearly 10 years.
The setback for Mr Bush comes at a time when his support among his own party on several major issues, from changing social security to the war in Iraq, is fraying.
The deadlock over Mr Bolton could be ended by a compromise over Democrat demands for documentation, but this seems unlikely. Democrats had vainly sought administration documents to verify Mr Bolton's claim that he had no role in preparing disputed testimony about Syria in 2003.