"We hope that President Bush will come to see the mistake he's made and withdraw Mr. Paulson from consideration," declared Myron Ebell, research director at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank in Washington.

The reason? Paulson has strong views on the environment and is chairman of Nature Conservancy, a non-profit group dedicated to protecting endangered lands. That makes him the wrong guy for the top US economic job, some conservative advocacy groups say.

"The country doesn't need another Paul O'Neill, who will neglect his job in order to promote the Kyoto global warming treaty and other radical environmental causes," added Ebell, referring to Bush's first Treasury secretary.

Others joined the chorus. Larry Kudlow, a conservative commentator on financial news network CNBC, recently asked one of his guests whether Paulson was "an Al Gore in disguise" referring to the environmentally conscious former vice-president.

The trouble is, global warming is widely recognized as a pressing problem among the scientific community. Experts say the build-up of carbon-dioxide emissions is raising temperatures and could bring catastrophic changes including more heatwaves, droughts and melting icecaps that could raise world sea levels by almost a meter by 2100.

The issue pits Paulson against his would-be boss. Bush recognizes global warming as a problem but says the jury is still out on the timing of any possible effects from greenhouse emissions, calling simply for "more research."

To the dismay of environmentalists, Bush pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol to curb emissions in 2001, claiming mandatory cuts would hurt the economy and make the trade playing field uneven since the pact excludes developing countries like China and India.

Under Paulson's leadership, the Nature Conservancy and even Goldman Sachs backed quite a different course of action.

"The Kyoto Protocol is a key first step to help slow the onslaught of global warming and benefit conservation efforts," the Conservancy argued under Paulson's leadership.

"Until the United States passes its own limits on global warming emissions, innovative companies based here will lose out on opportunities to sell reduced emission credits to companies complying with the Kyoto Protocol overseas."

TOP OF THE BARREL

Whether or not his stance pleases administration insiders, Paulson has managed to please most of the left and right.

Predominantly conservative Wall Street bankers are relieved to have a Treasury secretary who understands markets while environmental advocates hope a Kyoto supporter could change Bush's mind on climate change.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman quipped in the paper that it was a testament to Bush's dire political standing that he was having to scrape the "top of the barrel."

Environmentalists also rejoiced. Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club in San Francisco, said he hoped Paulson could engineer a shift in the Bush administration's thinking on global warming.