BY CAROL ROSENBERG

 Much of the nation may see John Ashcroft as a classic conservative, a part-time
 lay Pentecostal preacher who opposes abortion and lost his Senate seat to a
 Democrat who died in a plane crash.

 But here in South Florida he is perhaps best known as author of The Ashcroft
 Amendment, legislation that sought to liberalize food and medical sales to Cuba
 at a time of anxiety over the Elián González episode.

 So Cuba watchers are wondering: If confirmed as President Bush's top law
 enforcer, how would he wield those portions of his authority that involve U.S. ties
 to Havana?

 ``In terms of setting policy, like any other area that he has to work in, you could
 have more or less zealous prosecution of different kinds of activities,'' said political
 scientist Max Castro of the University of Miami's North-South Center.

 For example, he said, an Attorney General John Ashcroft might ``cast a wider
 net'' to prosecute people who operate here as unregistered agents of Cuba.

 Or a law-and-order Ashcroft might ``try to get Congress to make changes in the
 Cuban Adjustment Act,'' and seek a ``more consistent policy'' than the so-called
 wet-foot, dry-foot interpretation.

 At his confirmation hearings, senators' questions focused on Ashcroft's views on
 civil rights and abortion. No Cuba questions came up, said José Cárdenas of the
 Cuban American National Foundation in Washington.

 But Cárdenas sees Ashcroft as a man with whom the powerful lobby can do
 business. ``He has an outward distaste for Fidel Castro,'' he said, weighing his
 words carefully.

 Even while Ashcroft was advocating erosion of the embargo, Cárdenas said, ``he
 had a very nuanced approach to the issues.''

 The senator maintained warm ties with the foundation, he said, and drew the line
 at opposing an effort to lift Cuba travel restrictions.

 ``We have the fullest confidence that Mr. Ashcroft will return to a vigorous
 prosecution of U.S. policy toward Cuba,'' Cárdenas said. ``We have every
 confidence that he will enforce the law in terms of the embargo and restrictions on
 travel to Cuba.''

 Experts on the office say the Cabinet member who presides over an estimated
 125,000 bureaucrats and border guards, attorneys and FBI agents, can have
 considerable influence over several key portions of Cuba policy -- notably some
 prosecutions as well as immigration issues.

 Attorneys general can arbitrate so-called discretionary issues, said Florida State
 Rep. Dan Gelber, a former deputy U.S. attorney and former chief counsel to Sen.
 Sam Nunn. But, more typically ``a certain level of these Cuba policies will be
 decided by the secretary of state, the president and by the Congress.''

 An example: Janet Reno said she followed ``the facts and the law'' last year when
 she decided to support Immigration Commissioner Doris Meissner's decision to
 reunite Elián González with his father -- and ultimately dispatched armed federal
 forces on April 22 to remove the 6-year-old child from his great-uncle's house.

 So, would an Attorney General Ashcroft act similarly?

 ``Would he have sent him back? I have no idea,'' said a veteran Republican staffer
 on Capitol Hill who has long worked on Cuba issues. ``I do know that when I read
 about it,'' -- that Bush had chosen the Missourian for Justice -- ``I thought, `Wow,
 Ashcroft's bad on Cuba' and that hurts.''

 Moreover, the staffer said, there are no early signs of a shift in Cuba policy:
 ``We'd like migration policy stopped,'' he said, a reference to the practice of
 interdicting Cubans seeking to reach U.S. shores illegally.

 It is, in fact, unclear where Ashcroft stood on the Elián controversy. No comment
 could be found in last year's Congressional Record.

 But he did tell the St. Louis Post Dispatch after the seizure stirred trash-burning
 unrest in Miami that he supported an inquiry into the raid.

 ``It tears at one's heart to see a young child at the center of such a controversy,
 that a boy is subjected to such a tragic set of circumstances. . . . I want to look
 at the outcome of those inquiries to see whether or not [the raid] was necessary,''
 he was quoted as saying April 25.

 More clear, however, has been his position on the embargo. Ashcroft offered the
 so-called Ashcroft Amendment in 1999.

 Although it has since been watered down, it sought to permit unrestricted food
 and medical sales to countries on the State Department's sponsors-of-terror list --
 a move that embargo advocates now characterize as simple pork politics, a sop
 to win reelection against a tough challenge from the now deceased Gov. Mel
 Carnahan in November.

 ``Agribusiness'' gave Ashcroft's campaign $283,837 for the 2000 election cycle,
 according to Washington's Center for Responsive Politics. Rival Carnahan's
 receipts were $79,270 from the same sector, which include agricultural services
 and products, crop production and basic processing, as well as poultry, eggs and
 tobacco.

 Holland & Knight attorney John Hogan, Reno's 1993-98 chief of staff, described
 Ashcroft as ``hard to read'' on how he might weigh in on the Cuba issue. ``Part of
 the reason . . . is because of the conservativeness I was somewhat surprised he
 offered the Ashcroft Amendment.'' Rather, he said, he expected that he ``would be
 somewhat in line with Jesse Helms on Cuba.''

 Furthermore, given his Republican credentials and Midwestern sensibilities, he
 might emerge as tough on protecting U.S. borders.

 Ashcroft, 58, has visited the island only once, Bush transition spokeswoman
 Mindy Tucker said Tuesday, in response to an inquiry. He was a child, she said,
 and traveled there with his father -- before the revolution.