NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on the second day of confirmation hearings for Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft. Today's hearing was not as combative as yesterday's, when Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy lashed into Ashcroft's civil rights record. The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee continued pressing Ashcroft on how his personal views on laws might differ from having to enforce them. But one Democrat, Wisconsin's Herb Kohl, conceded that Ashcroft is likely to win confirmation.

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