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Clinton may name Brown successor by Sunday

WASHINGTON: President Clinton may nominate a successor to the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown before departing on a foreign trip Sunday night, the White House said.

Spokesman Mike McCurry said it was possible Clinton would be able to name a choice before he leaves Sunday night for South Korea, Japan and Russia. Brown died April 3 in a plane crash in Croatia that killed 34 other people. U.S. officials, who asked to be unidentified, made clear Kantor was a candidate for the position left open by the April 3 death of Brown, killed with 34 other people when their U.S. military jet crashed into a mountainside in Croatia while on a trade mission to the Balkans.

Kantor was evasive earlier when, during a news briefing to ballyhoo the new car export figures, was asked about the prospects of him being nominated for the job.

"I have known the president for a long time and I've never said no to him," he said. He said he would let the president "make any announcements" about the situation.-Reuter