The emerging Bush administration includes prominent holdovers from the Reagan years, but with one clear and important difference: The new team is tilted far more toward pragmatists than ideologues. Bush filled three more key positions Monday and his choices were sure to set off cries of anguish from the right. Dick Thornburgh will remain attorney general and Lauro Cavazos will stay on as education secretary. Both men were late-comers to the Reagan administration and both replaced leading ideologues, Edwin Meese III and William Bennett. The third Bush choice was Richard Darman to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget. ``He's put together an Eastern establishment Republican administration,'' said conservative activist Richard Viguerie. ``That's discouraging.'' High-profile jobs in the next administration are rapidly being filled, and only one Bush choice has drawn applause from conservatives _ Gov. John Sununu of New Hampshire who will serve as White House chief of staff. The voting machines had hardly stopped humming with Bush's 40-state Election Day victory when the president-elect made the most obvious choice for his new administration _ friend, adviser and campaign chairman James A. Baker III to succeed George Shultz as secretary of state. During his tenure as White House chief of staff Baker earned a reputation as a quintessential pragmatist, a savvy insider who repeatedly gave low priority to the initiatives of the more ideological elements in the Reagan administration. Calls on Reagan to fire Baker were always sure applause lines at conservative gatherings. Baker's deputy was Darman. Quick to follow the Baker selection was that of another old Bush friend and adviser, Nicholas Brady. He will remain treasury secretary. In fact, another characteristic of the Bush appointees is how many have long-standing ties to the president-elect. When Ronald Reagan was filling out his administration eight years ago, he was meeting many of the top officials for the first time. The same was true of Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976. Not so with Bush. His relationships with the people he has appointed goes back many years. That should not be surprising, considering the years Bush has served in governmental and party posts. The long resume he touted during the presidential campaign put him in close contact with other up-and-coming Republicans. No one ever described Bush as an ideologue and, clearly, the people he feels most comfortable with are as pragmatic as he. It's always tough to get the jump on a new president and name his Cabinet for him. But so far there have been no big surprises, no choices from other than the names subject to the most speculation. The names being mentioned for the remaining national security jobs are former Texas Sen. John Tower for Defense and Brent Scowcroft for national security adviser or CIA director. Scowcroft was national security adviser to President Ford and is an establishment figure. One conservative favorite whose name is frequently mentioned for a Cabinet post is former New York Rep. Jack Kemp. But Kemp is most often mentioned as either Labor or Housing secretary, the two areas where he is least-stringently ideological. The former Buffalo congressman has always enjoyed good relations with traditionally Democratic unions and his major urban initiative is a proposal for enterprise zones to encourage businesses to locate in neighborhoods with high unemployment. Neither post would make Kemp a major player in areas where his more ideological views on monetary and tax policy would have influence. Bush may yet come up with some appointees who will please hard-line conservatives, but there is no sign of a Bennett, a James Watt or a Donald Hodel waiting in the wings.
