`VITAL CENTER' SOUGHT IN REVAMPED CABINET.

Byline: Alison Mitchell The New York Times

Formally accepting the resignation of Secretary of State Warren Christopher, President Clinton said Thursday that his Cabinet selections for a second term would reflect his view that the election results were a call for him to ``create a vital center'' as he assembles his government.

Clinton spoke at a White House resignation ceremony for Christopher, 71, who was a presidential-transition adviser to him in 1992 before becoming his secretary of state. Christopher's decision to resign was just the beginning of a wide-ranging shake-up of the Cabinet and the White House staff, as numerous aides choose to leave and others are quietly pushed to do so.

After praising Christopher, the president said, ``I will be looking, in all these personnel decisions that I have to make, across a broad span of American people to try to get the best people to create that vital center.''

Aides described Clinton's remark as a broad signal that he would try to reach out to Republicans by naming a member of their party to a substantial government post, possibly secretary of state, secretary of defense or director of central intelligence.

``I think he'd like to if he can,'' one senior aide said.

Republicans who have been mentioned as possible candidates include Sens. William Cohen of Maine, who will leave Congress in January, and Richard Lugar of Indiana.

Clinton has acknowledged that the great emphasis he placed on his Cabinet selections at the beginning of his first term came at the expense of sufficient emphasis on picking his White House staff. This time around, he has had a transition process quietly under way for weeks, under the direction of the departing White House chief of staff, Leon Panetta, as well as of Vernon Jordan, a White House lawyer and close Clinton confidant, and Erskine Bowles, former deputy chief of staff.

The selection of the new chief of staff is the linchpin for the other moves in the Cabinet and at the White House, and Bowles, who left the administration late last year, is known to be the leading choice for the post. He has been asked to make a decision by today, one administration official said, and his selection could be announced at a presidential news conference later in the day if he decides to accept.

Friends said Bowles was considering the job but that a return to the administration was complicated by the fact that he recently created an investment banking concern in North Carolina and that his family was reluctant to see him return to Washington.

Other candidates, officials said, include Samuel Berger, the deputy national security adviser, and Harold M. Ickes, the current deputy chief of staff.

As Christopher was saluted at the White House, another Cabinet member, Labor Secretary Robert Reich, announced his departure Thursday.

``Although I love my job - it is the best one I ever had, or ever will have - I love my family more,'' Reich said in an interview.

Other Cabinet officers who have made no secret of their intention to leave are Defense Secretary William Perry, Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor, Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena.

In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday that David Hinson, its administrator since August 1993, would leave Saturday.

On the other hand, Attorney General Janet Reno told reporters Thursday that she wanted to remain, if asked by the president. ``As far as I am concerned,'' Reno said, ``nobody has been critical to my face, or critical as a source that I can trace.''

White House officials played down the extent of the turnover. ``You're seeing the natural churning of personnel as administrations go into a second term,'' said the White House press secretary, Michael McCurry.

To continue working on the shake-up, however, Clinton delayed a brief vacation in Hawaii planned for next week on his way to a trip to Asia and Australia.

The president also called a meeting of his current Cabinet for today, perhaps the last time that all of this group will be together.

Praising Christopher on Thursday, the president said he had accepted the secretary's resignation with regret. ``The cause of peace and freedom and decency have never had a more tireless or tenacious advocate,'' he said, hugging the buttoned-down official. He said the secretary would stay on until his successor was chosen.

People close to Christopher said that in a conversation with the president Tuesday, he recommended that George Mitchell, former Senate majority leader, be his successor.

But in an interview Thursday, Christopher would say only that he had gone over the strengths and weaknesses of various candidates with Clinton and that ``my recommendations to the president are private and will continue to be.''

Mitchell has been serving as a special envoy to peace efforts in Northern Ireland and played Bob Dole for Clinton during preparations for the presidential debates. But other advisers to the president are urging him to make a bolder choice, or one that could win him more goodwill with congressional conservatives - a choice like Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., who is retiring from Congress, or even the Republican Lugar.

Officials said Madeleine Albright, chief delegate to the United Nations, was another candidate for the post. She would be the first woman to become secretary of state.

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Photo

PHOTO Secretary of State Warren Christopher hugs President Clinton during Christopher's resignation ceremony.

Associated Press