CLARK WINS CROWD FAVOR; `OPRAH' APPEARANCE FOCUSES ON SIMPSON TRIAL.

Byline: Janet Weeks Daily News Staff Writer

She may have lost the ``trial of the century,'' but former O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark won the battle for the studio audience Friday.

Relaxed and smiling in a soft pastel pantsuit, Clark got a standing ovation from a Television City crowd after an hourlong chat with daytime doyenne Oprah Winfrey.

The ovation was hard-won, considering that many showed up for the rare West Coast taping of Winfrey's show expecting to see Tina Turner, whose tour Winfrey is following around the country as part of a May sweeps promotion.

The announcement that Clark would be Oprah's sole guest was met with only a smattering of applause from the crowd of 300. Like the Simpson criminal trial jury, the majority were African-American women.

(One woman was overheard saying sarcastically ``Marcia for an hour? Gee, how lucky.'')

The weak response led a crew member warming up the crowd to admonish: ``I hope this means you're saving your energy for the show.''

But by the end, Clark had converted many detractors with humor, warmth and humility uncharacteristic of her courtroom persona.

For example, Clark first drew disapproving groans when she criticized defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. for ``playing the race card.'' Those groans turned to applause, however, after Clark criticized the unequal treatment African-Americans often face from the police and said she hopes the trial would help end that discrimination.

She also talked about the pain she experienced when African-American women interviewed after the verdict referred to her as a ``bitch.''

``That hurt really bad. I remember watching TV and just curling up on the couch,'' she said.

She also wooed the crowd with humor. When discussing evidence-collection errors, Clark giggled: ``We got Fung-ed,'' referring to police criminologist Dennis Fung. She also laughed when Winfrey asked her to comment on Simpson houseguest Kato Kaelin.

``He just goes whichever way the wind blows,'' she said.

Clark is promoting her new book, ``Without A Doubt,'' for which she received a $4.2 million advance. It is the 68th book on the Simpson case. In addition to Winfrey's show, which airs Monday at 3 p.m. on KABC (Channel 7), Clark appeared Friday night on ``20/20'' in an interview with Barbara Walters. She'll also be a guest Monday on former adversary Cochran's Court TV show and appear in person at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on May 20.

In the book, Clark asserts that public sentiments about celebrity and race cost her the trial - not prosecution errors.

``We all made mistakes,'' Clark told Winfrey. ``However, none of that mattered. We had enough evidence to convict O.J. 20 times over. But the jury was in denial.''

Clark also blamed a key mistake - the decision to ask Simpson to try on the bloody gloves - on co-lead prosecutor Chris Darden. Simpson struggled to slip on the gloves, which led Cochran to chant the refrain ``If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.''

``It was a trap and I didn't want to step into it,'' she said. ``But this was a co-lead situation and Chris felt like he had to do it.''

Clark said prosecutors omitted the infamous slow-speed Bronco chase from the evidence submitted because it would have opened the door to a slate of sympathetic defense witnesses.

During the chase, Simpson made several tearful phone calls to friends proclaiming his innocence, she said. Those friends would have been called to testify if the Bronco chase was brought up in court.

Also, Simpson's statement to police was omitted because it lacked information. Clark criticized cops who questioned Simpson for being too soft.

``At some point, push has to come to shove, but it never did,'' she said.

She said she knew Simpson would go free for the murders of his wife, Nicole, and Ronald Goldman even before opening statements began.

``I knew the case was lost when I read the questionnaires from the jury. They were very sympathetic to the defendant. He was their hero.''

She likened Simpson's public image to that of cartoon picnic basket thief Yogi Bear.

``How does that (image) match up to the scene of carnage at Bundy Drive? It doesn't and the jury wouldn't accept it.''

Clark said she feels no hatred toward Simpson, who was later found liable for the murders in a civil trial.

``I never hated him. It's not a personal thing. He committed heinous crimes. That's what I think. . . . He was killing (Nicole) for 17 years and he completed the act June 12, 1994.''

As to Detective Mark Fuhrman, whose use of racial epithets led the defense to accuse him of planting a bloody glove, Clark said she severed contact with him after he perjured himself on the stand.

``I abandoned him,'' she said. ``I dropped him big time. What was there left to do? He deceived us big time.''

Clark side-stepped questions about whether she slept with co-counsel Darden, although she admitted spending a weekend with him in Northern California during the trial.

Winfrey, who said she didn't care about the answer, never pressed for one.

After the trial, Clark said she became a recluse and was depressed. Writing the book helped her get over residual feelings about the case.

``I took me a long time to figure out I was depressed because a part of me was so elated to be at home. Then I became very reclusive. I felt like I'd let everyone down.''

Clark is now dating 36-year-old blues musician Mitch Kashbar. Now that she has finished writing the book, she is said spending her days with her two children and considering various job options as a media commentator.

However, Clark's proposed syndicated series about female law-enforcement workers, titled ``Lady Law,'' will not kick off this fall as planned.

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Photo: (Color) Marcia Clark smiles at the audience during an appearance on ``Oprah.''

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