DASCHLE: CENSURE MOVEMENT SWELLING.

Byline: Alison Mitchell and James Dao The New York Times

After a few days of sounding out sentiment among his colleagues, Sen. Tom Daschle, the minority leader, said flatly Tuesday that there were not enough votes for conviction in the Senate to remove President Clinton from office, but there was bipartisan support for censuring him.

Daschle, D-S.D., made his assessment as a flurry of phone calls and conversations took place behind the scenes among senators of both parties searching for a compromise that would bring the impeachment proceedings expeditiously to a close next year.

While many lawmakers have assumed the Senate would not convict the president, Daschle was the first prominent figure to canvass sentiment after the House voted Saturday to impeach Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Daschle said that he reached out to the 45 Democrats in the Senate and that he and other Democrats also sounded out some Republicans.

``There isn't support today for conviction. I do think there is a great deal of sentiment for a meaningful censure resolution on both sides,'' he said. ``There's a great deal of sentiment for some expeditious resolution.''

Daschle's comments were echoed Tuesday by Rep. James Greenwood, R-Pa., and three other moderate House Republicans who have sent a joint letter to Sen. Trent Lott, the majority leader, urging the Senate to consider censure over impeachment.

``I don't know of two people in the country who think you will get 67 senators to remove the president from office,'' Greenwood said in an interview.

Republican support

On Tuesday, a fifth Republican, Rep. Bob Franks of New Jersey who, like the others, voted for impeachment, also endorsed a censure plan outlined by former Presidents Ford and Carter.

President Clinton's press secretary, Joe Lockhart, said Tuesday that White House officials were not lobbying senators or trying to negotiate the terms of a censure proposal. But Lockhart said the White House is prepared to provide whatever information senators seek.

``I think the White House is willing to work with the Senate, and to the extent the Senate is interested in knowing what our position is on this case, what the president's views are, we will be happy to engage in discussions,'' Lockhart said.

But officials and senators familiar with the search for some solution said Daschle has been working as an unofficial liaison between the White House and Lott.

Several congressional aides said there was even sentiment for censure among Senate conservatives who think that option would be preferable to trying but failing to convict Clinton. ``The Senate is going to have to do something for true blue conservatives once the charges are dismissed,'' said one conservative Republican staff member.

Trial could be brief

While many Republicans have insisted that the Senate must begin a trial, it is conceivable that the trial could be ended in just a few weeks. One option, several officials said, would be to take no new evidence but simply let the White House and the House managers make their conflicting legal arguments about whether the offenses committed by Clinton amount to high crimes and misdemeanors that warrant his removal from office. The Senate could then take a quick vote.

One key variable in how things proceed in the Senate is the approach the president ultimately takes. The White House has adopted a two-track course to the pending trial, preparing to mount a vigorous legal defense while at the same time seeking a compromise on a censure resolution. A major question, according to several senators, is whether the president will try to tough it out and win acquittal or, in the interest of avoiding a lengthy trial, bow to censure.

The debate in the Senate comes as House Republicans who voted for impeachment begin in a small but growing group to speak out in favor of censure in the Senate.

Saying the time has come ``to heal the nation's wounds,'' Franks endorsed the Ford-Carter censure plan that would require Clinton to admit lying under oath but also stipulate that his admission could not be used in any criminal prosecution.

At the same time, the letter to Lott signed by Greenwood and three other Republicans - Reps. Michael Castle of Delaware, Sherwood Boehlert of New York and Benjamin Gilman of New York - is circulating among about three dozen moderate House Republicans.

Greenwood said he thinks many House Republicans who voted for impeachment also support censure, but have been unwilling to sign the letter because they fear ``being accused of trying to have it both ways.''