Temper, Temper, Temper ...

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Despite the uproar last week, White House officials insisted President Bush has no intention of withdrawing Bolton's nomination. The President stoutly called Bolton the "right man at the right time" to badger a sclerotic U.N. into reform. "There is going to be a more forceful approach in the coming days to make this a debate about the United Nations and not John Bolton," says a senior White House official. "He has rough edges, but that's what you want right now."

In the meantime, Bolton's confirmation looks far from assured. That has not prevented the nominee, however, from moving through his to-do list. Government sources tell TIME that after he was nominated in early March, Bolton requested that all American employees of the U.S. mission to the U.N. submit their résumés for review. The move cast a chill over the operation, where some saw it as presumptuous. It may also have been premature. --With reporting by Massimo Calabresi, John F. Dickerson, Michael Duffy, Viveca Novak, Elaine Shannon, Mark Thompson and Adam Zagorin/Washington