Anxious Gonzales courts the right

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Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has been making the rounds of conservative groups in Washington lately, but key leaders remain opposed to putting him on the Supreme Court.

"If Mr. Gonzales is nominated, I will neither support nor oppose him," said Paul Weyrich, chairman of the conservative Free Congress Foundation. "I can't support him because of my constituency, and I can't oppose him because I can't hurt this presidency. I think it would be an unfortunate choice."

As speculation swirled in recent weeks about a vacancy on the Supreme Court -- and the potential that Mr. Gonzales might be nominated -- the attorney general has met with numerous conservative organizations that have expressed reservations about him.

Although several conservatives said privately that Mr. Gonzales appeared to be lobbying for support, no one agreed to say that on the record and several people said flatly that Mr. Gonzales' visits with conservatives are unrelated to the Supreme Court opening.

"Mr. Gonzales came at our invitation to discuss reauthorization of the Patriot Act," said Todd F. Gaziano of the Heritage Foundation. "He's the attorney general, and we were honored to have him."

In addition to the Heritage Foundation, Mr. Gonzales appeared recently at a weekly lunch hosted by Mr. Weyrich, a weekly meeting hosted by Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform and other gatherings of conservatives. Mr. Gonzales also appeared on the conservative radio talk show hosted by Laura Ingraham and took a high-profile trip to visit troops in Iraq for the Fourth of July.

Although Mr. Weyrich said he'd intended to invite Mr. Gonzales to one of his lunches, it was Mr. Gonzales' office that initiated the invitation to his weekly meeting. But, he said, Mr. Gonzales did not appear to be lobbying for anything.

"He said he felt an enormous sense of gratitude to people in the conservative movement," Mr. Weyrich said. "He said he knows that they -- the president and himself -- would not be there without the conservative movement."

President Bush again defended Mr. Gonzales to reporters in Copenhagen yesterday.

"I don't like it when a friend gets criticized," he said. "I'm loyal to my friends. And all of a sudden this fellow, who is a good public servant and a really fine person, is under fire. And so, do I like it? No, I don't like it at all."