DOCTOR CAMPAIGNS FOR INMATE.

Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer

In some ways, Edward M. Feldman and Manuel P. Babbitt could hardly be more different.

Feldman is a successful Thousand Oaks obstetrician. Babbitt awaits his May 4 execution on San Quentin's Death Row.

But what they have in common is 77 days of terror at the siege of Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War.

Although the two never met, the bond endures 31 years later, with Feldman with now helping lead a campaign to commute Babbitt's death sentence based on new evidence and the convict's record in Vietnam.

``This is about seeking out the truth,'' said Feldman, who gained notoriety last month for refusing to settle a malpractice suit for $1 in a trial he won. Babbitt, 49, who has a history of mental problems, was convicted of the 1980 murder and attempted rape of Leah Schendel, a 78-year-old Sacramento woman who died of a heart attack after Babbitt struck her during a burglary. Babbitt's conviction on that charge made him eligible for the death penalty.

But Feldman and some of the state's most distinguished gynecologists say there was no medical evidence to support the attempted rape charge.

A clemency plea, including a declaration from Feldman, is now on the governor's desk, and Feldman may be among those testifying at a clemency hearing set for Monday in Sacramento.

``This governor has no business burning this guy, and we're going up to Sacramento to see that doesn't happen. This is about justice,'' he said.

During the war, Babbitt operated a tracked vehicle equipped with recoilless rifles and last year, while on Death Row, was presented with the Purple Heart.

Feldman, a battalion surgeon at Khe Sahn, learned of Babbit through a fellow veteran who had been a bodyguard for the doctor during the war.