Bush Administration Rushes Regulatory Changes Before Time Is Up The Bush administration is hurrying to push through regulatory changes in politically sensitive areas such as endangered-species protection, dismaying opponents on the left, just as conservatives were irritated by rules rushed out at the end of the Clinton administration. Proposals now in final stages of review at various federal agencies affect mining, endangered-species protection, health-care policy and other areas. In some cases, the administration has set unusually short deadlines for the public to comment -- so short that one agency summoned employees across the country to Washington this week to help agency leaders vet 200,000 comments in the space of four days. The rush to cement new regulations is a common ritual at the end of a presidency. When President Bill Clinton left office in 2001, conservatives accused him of pushing through numerous "midnight regulations" -- last-minute changes intended to cement his legacy before Republicans took power. In one January 2001 action, Mr. Clinton barred logging and road building in 60 million acres of federal wilderness -- outraging logging companies and many Western state voters. Earlier this year, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten set a Nov. 1 deadline for federal agencies to take final action on new regulations, allowing an exception for "extraordinary circumstances." Mr. Bolten's directive was aimed in part at avoiding a repeat of the Clinton administration's last-minute rush. Now, with the date approaching, federal agencies in some cases appear likely to extend action past the Nov. 1 deadline....Two gutless "leaders" and we're about to elect another one (no matter who wins).