CENSURE OPTION WITHERS ON VINE.

Byline: Eric Schmitt The New York Times

Soon after the Senate failed to convict President Clinton on Friday, the alternative of censure died as well. The Senate in the end passed no negative judgment at all on the president.

There were 82 senators voting for one form of denunciation or another, but they could not agree on either one.

After the acquittal ended the Senate's role as a court of impeachment, a bipartisan censure resolution fell victim to Republican parliamentary roadblocks, thrown up by Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and to universal weariness with impeachment.

``Elvis will be coming back before censure does,'' Gramm said gleefully after the trial was gaveled to a close.

Censure supporters, led by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Robert Bennett, R-Utah, tried to bring their resolution to the floor Friday, but it would take a two-thirds vote of the Senate to do that. When it became clear the procedural motion was doomed - failing 43-56 - Feinstein agreed to drop it.

``The far right did not want this censure to come up,'' Feinstein said afterward. ``All we were asking for was a vote. Let it come to the floor, vote on it, have the debate, let people vote yes, let people vote no. That's our system.''

After the test vote succumbed, the best Feinstein could wring from Republican leaders was a promise for two hours of time to debate her statement. But in one final insult, a bomb threat forced the evacuation of the Capitol's Senate wing and, after a 80-minute delay, the post-acquittal debate on censure was canceled.

Feinstein entered the censure statement signed by 29 Democrats and nine Republicans - more than one-third of the Senate - into the Congressional Record and declared, ``It will stand on its own.''

The three-page statement declared that the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky was ``shameful, reckless and indefensible'' and asserted that Clinton ``gave false or misleading testimony and his actions have had the effect of impeding discovery of evidence in judicial proceedings.''

On one level, censure died Friday because most Republicans and a handful of Democrats said such a censure would violate the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, set a bad precedent for future Congresses, have no lasting impact and prolong the unpopular scandal.

``Censure will drag this issue on,'' said Sen. John Warner, R-Va. ``We've got to end the pain, heal the nation and get back to our work.''

Democrats had a clear incentive to vent their anger at the president's misconduct, lest their acquittal votes be construed as condoning his behavior. Indeed, Republicans accused Democrats of using censure as a political cover.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO FEINSTEIN