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Washington gets ready for Bush inauguration

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January 15, 2001 

WASHINGTON-- (AP) - Six days before George W. Bush takes the oath of office, inauguration organizers held a dress rehearsal of the swearing-in at dawn Sunday.

Stand-ins for Bush, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who will administer the oath, and other dignitaries participated in the practice of the highly synchronized ceremony that occurs for real Saturday on the Capitol's West steps.

On a dark and cold morning, the thunderous sounds of trumpets and the echo of introductions from the 5:30 a.m. ceremony filled the National Mall's scenic vista toward the Washington Monument.

Police closed Pennsylvania Avenue, the route of the inaugural parade, to traffic for the procession of an empty motorcade. Military personnel lined the street at attention as they will during the actual parade.

Full of trumpets and thundering introductions, the sound of the rehearsal filled the long vista toward the Washington Monument.

Also this week on Capitol Hill, the Senate resumes hearings on the president-elect's Cabinet choices.

Republicans and many Democrats say that even the most controversial nominees - John Ashcroft for attorney general and Gale Norton for interior secretary - ultimately will win confirmation, but not until they face some hard questions.

Both Ashcroft and Norton are opposed by a strong coalition of labor, environmental activists, civil-rights leaders and other liberal groups who say the nominees' views are too right-wing.

Meanwhile, the Park Service and law enforcement agencies are preparing for the crowds and the street protests expected for Saturday's inaugural parade. A half-dozen groups have received permits to demonstrate along the section of Pennsylvania Avenue that Bush will travel. Protests were also planned elsewhere around the city.

Police say security will be the tightest in decades because they are expecting the largest turnout of inaugural protesters since President Richard Nixon's swearing-in ceremony in 1973, when tens of thousands of people marched against the Vietnam War.

Workers were installing bulletproof glass on the presidential parade-viewing stand in front of the White House and miles of six-foot- (two-meter-) high chain-link fencing has been erected around the Lincoln Memorial and large portions of the National Mall.

"There has been a general ratcheting up of security over the last four years, not just because it's an inaugural," said National Park Service spokesman Earle Kittleman.

Protest organizers say that as many as 20,000 demonstrations could mix with the 150,000 people expected to be on hand for the parade.