Washington ? Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined to rule out the possibility Sunday that President Bush would temporarily make John R. Bolton the U.N. ambassador if Senate Democrats continue stalling the nomination.

In a round of television interviews, Rice also gave no indication that the Bush administration would accede to Democrats’ demands for more information about Bolton’s requests for classified intelligence.

“What we need to do is we need to get an up-or-down vote on John Bolton,” Rice told ABC’s “This Week.”

Senate Democrats say they will continue to try to block Bush’s nomination of Bolton as U.N. ambassador. Although Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., plans to try today to end a Democratic filibuster, Democrats believe they still have enough votes to continue debate.

Asked on “Fox News Sunday” whether Bush would consider a recess ap-pointment of Bolton – a temporary appointment that does not require Senate approval – Rice said, “We’ll see what happens this week.”

The Senate plans to take a July 4 recess in two weeks. Under the Constitution, a president can make an appointment during a Senate recess without the chamber’s approval of the nominee. That appointment lasts only through the next one-year session of Congress – which in this case would mean until January 2007.

It was unclear whether Rice’s statement was an indication that the administration would seriously consider a recess appointment for the controversial nominee, or whether it was meant to increase leverage with Senate Democrats.

“Let’s find out whether, in fact, the Senate, in its whole, in its entirety, intends and wants to confirm him. That’s all that we’re asking,” Rice, who was interviewed in Jerusalem while on a Mideast trip, said on ABC.

Democrats say they want to check a list of 36 U.S. officials against names – initially blacked out – that Bolton received from national security intercepts he reviewed.

Democrats rejected a list of seven names offered last week by GOP Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Asked whether the administration would comply with the request, Rice said Roberts “has already spoken to the issue of the nature of those inquiries.”