Gesture to black voters from Bush as inauguration week opens on unity note

Inauguration week began on a note of national unity as the nation marked Martin Luther King Day, a public holiday in most states, a theme that President-elect George Bush hopes to make central to Saturday's ceremony.

In a gesture to black voters, who voted overwhelmingly against him, Mr Bush visited a Houston school to stress the civil rights leader's work and to talk about the importance of education.

President Clinton, in a message to Congress, pleaded to legislators to continue policies of racial reconciliation, setting out a programme of reforms that range from penalties for "hate crimes" to the ending of racial profiling by the police and the extension of programmes encouraging investment in the ghettos. On electoral reform, Mr Clinton called for the establishment of a non-partisan commission to examine disparities in voter turnout.

He also spoke of the struggle for racial equality as one that "became a driving force in my life". The recommendations reflect many of the demands of the civil rights movement.

Martin Luther King Day was observed throughout the US by marches and memorial services, and most notably in South Carolina where it was marked for the first time by a controversial public holiday. The state legislature, already embroiled in a dispute about the flying of the Confederate battle flag, last year agreed to honour King with a public holiday but in the interests of "impartiality" also declared a Confederate Day.

The flag controversy is also live in Georgia and Mississippi where votes on its continued official use are planned.

Senate hearings on Mr Bush's nomination of Mr John Ashcroft as Attorney General, which begin today, are likely to be stormy over his hard-right views, although there is growing confidence that Mr Ashcroft will be confirmed. Republican leaders say they do not expect their members to break ranks in the Senate, which is divided 5050, and they expect the support of several Democrats. But yesterday the Washington Post raised new claims, suggesting he had used state employees to campaign for him during working hours.

"Advise and consent doesn't mean advise and rubberstamp," said Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Judiciary Committee's senior Democrat and temporary chairman.

"Right now we need a healer in Washington, in the form of our president," Senator Barbara Boxer (Democrat, California), said on ABC's This Week. Ms Boxer, who has announced her intention to vote against Mr Ashcroft, said: "This is an extremist, not a healer."

But the Utah Republican, Senator Orrin Hatch, who will return as Judiciary chairman once Mr Bush takes office, said Mr Ashcroft knows "there's a difference between being an advocate . . . and being the attorney general where you have to enforce the laws".