CLINTON STAYS OUT OF GOP FRAY.

Byline: Alison Mitchell The New York Times

President Clinton steered determinedly away from an assessment of the Republican presidential field Wednesday, saying, "This country doesn't need another pundit." But his aides and advisers were as jubilant as if Clinton himself was the only victor in New Hampshire.

The president, after all, has campaign money in the bank. He is free from the Democratic Party's tradition of debilitating presidential primary challenges.

And now the White House is watching the Republicans tear themselves apart in a bitter battle that Democrats believe will weaken the eventual Republican nominee and give Pat Buchanan at the very least a strong role at the GOP convention that will play into Democratic attempts to paint the Republicans as "extremists."

"If you liked what you saw in Houston in '92, you're going to love what you'll see in San Diego in '96," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, the general chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He referred to Buchanan's 1992 convention speech in which he declared that a religious and cultural war was being waged in the nation.

For now, of all the Republican candidates, only former Gov. Lamar Alexander concerns the White House. "To have a moderate Southern governor with a huge wave of excitement behind him could be a problem," cautioned one of the president's advisers.

Publicly Clinton and the White House staff refused even to discuss the Republican field Wednesday, part of a concerted strategy of keeping Clinton above the fray and presidential, in sharp contrast with the mud-slinging Republicans.

"I'm going to be president and go out there and tell the people what I'm trying to do and what I will do if given a greater opportunity to do it," Clinton said, ducking questions about the Republican showing in New Hampshire. "I'm not going to get involved in their business."

In fact, the president's strategists see a two-phase campaign ahead and believe that the president may be waging the most important phase right now - an effort to pull his favorable ratings up so high that he will seem like the inevitable winner. That will, they hope, inoculate him for the second phase of the campaign that will come once the Republicans settle on a nominee.

To raise his standing before the campaign is engaged directly, Clinton plans to run what his aides have dubbed a "modified Rose Garden strategy" through mid-April. It calls for him to rise above the negative tone of the Republican race by using the trappings and majesty of incumbency and restricting his campaigning to weekend jaunts like his Saturday sweep through New Hampshire.

"Americans don't like politics these days," said Don Fowler, the national chairman of the Democratic Party. "The longer he can be presidential and not political, the more they will like him. It's that simple."

POLITICAL UPDATE

Here are Wednesday's developments on the campaign trail:

The candidates

Lamar Alexander: Hammered at "Buchananism," in Columbia, S.C., calling Pat Buchanan's ideas "an odd set of policies." Alexander, saying he was pleased with his third-place showing in the New Hampshire primary but in need of some first-place finishes, urged fellow Republican Southerners to support him.

Pat Buchanan: Was cautious about calling himself the Republican front-runner, despite his win in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night. "Senator Dole has the resources, and probably the polls. In the national polls, he's probably leading," Buchanan said while campaigning in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Bob Dole: Said his embarrassing second-place finish in New Hampshire was "a bump in the road," and promised to campaign more aggressively in the upcoming slew of March primaries. "You're going to see the real Bob Dole out there from now on," Dole said in Fargo, N.D. One change in approach: Dole will spend more time on the campaign trail and will make fewer return trips to Washington to attend to Senate business.

Richard Lugar: Said he would concentrate on the Yankee Primary on March 5, even though he placed only fifth in New Hampshire. Although New England does not hold a big electoral prize - only 107 Republican delegates are at stake in five states - a victory or respectable showing in any one of them would boost his campaign. "I think we'll do better under these circumstances," Lugar said in South Burlington, Vt. Lugar said he was forced by a shortage of cash to limit the campaign.

News of note

Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly endorsed Buchanan, naming him the only candidate who is staunchly anti-abortion. Meanwhile, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison endorsed Dole, a likely boost in the Texas primary next month. Dole also got the endorsement of Sen. William Roth of Delaware, whose state holds a primary Saturday, and Sen. Paul Coverdell of Georgia.

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Box POLITICAL UPDATE (see text)