IMPEACHMENT THREAT LOOMING AMONG LEADERS.

Byline: Jim Abrams Associated Press 

Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman said he hopes President Clinton can serve out his term with nothing more serious than a congressional censure, but two fellow Democrats were talking Sunday about impeachment and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said mere censure is unlikely.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., also opposed censure, saying Congress should carry out its constitutional duty and decide whether Clinton should be held accountable for impeachable offenses in connection with his affair with Monica Lewinsky or other matters.

Moynihan said he did not know how he would vote on removing the president from office if the matter goes to the Senate for trial.

Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., said Clinton would be ``very fortunate'' if all he got was a congressional censure. ``I now don't think that that is really an option,'' Moran said. ``I think we're bound to go through with impeachment proceedings.''

``I don't think it's in the president's personality to give up,'' Moran said on ``Fox News Sunday.'' But Moran, who represents a suburban Washington district heavily populated by federal employees, said the president's credibility ``is severely diminished'' by the scandal.

Lieberman, who went to the Senate floor Thursday to discuss the president's ``disgraceful behavior,'' said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' that he believed Clinton, a friend of 28 years, could restore his credibility with the nation and successfully finish out his term in office. The Connecticut senator said he hoped that some kind of ``public rebuke,'' such as a congressional vote of censure, ``will be the maximum we will want to do to end this sad chapter in our history.''

But as Congress waited for prosecutor Kenneth Starr to submit his report on Clinton's sexual relationship with Lewinsky and a possible cover-up of the affair, there was no indication that many lawmakers on either side of the aisle felt censure would suffice.

Lott, R-Miss., said Clinton had committed perjury and possibly abuse of power in his handling of the affair. Lott, who again questioned whether Clinton now has the moral authority to lead the nation, said censure was ``not likely'' because ``I don't think the circumstances now call for something that could be interpreted by anybody as nothing.''

Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, said it was almost certain the House would consider articles of impeachment. ``I think we have passed the point where we might wish this away,'' he said on CBS' ``Face the Nation.''

Moynihan urged Starr to submit his report by mid-September so Congress can move ahead with impeachment proceedings. He said Congress, which plans to recess next month for the fall elections, should stay in session until it finishes with the matter.

``We have nothing more important to do in the nation's interest,'' Moynihan said on ABC's ``This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts.'' ``This is a distraction which is doubly dangerous because of the world situation.''

Moynihan said that beyond the legal issues involved ``there are the moral issues which are also relevant. An impeachment process does not turn on legalities.''

Lott was cool to the idea of dealing with the impeachment issue during an election campaign and said that as a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate hearings, he realized ``it's something that takes months, not weeks to do it right.''

Moynihan said perjury - Clinton's lying about relations with Lewinsky in the Paula Jones case - was an impeachable offense, but ``it does not follow that the Senate will vote for impeachment.'' He said he didn't know how he would vote or whether the Senate had the two-thirds majority needed to remove Clinton from office, ``But it is possible. We have to do our duty here.''

Starr's report goes to the House Judiciary Committee, which must decide whether to send the issue to the full House. The House then votes to approve articles of impeachment, sending it to the Senate for final judgment.

Asked about when a report would arrive from Starr's office, Lott said ``I assume certainly before the end of September,'' though he emphasized ``I haven't been briefed.''

Time Magazine, in its edition appearing on newsstands today, said that of 91 House members responding to a survey, 28 Republicans but no Democrats said they would vote for impeachment. Fifty-seven Republicans, but again no Democrats, said Clinton should resign.

Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., said on CBS' ``Face the Nation'' that ``at the moment'' the nation is still distinguishing between the president's personal problems and his economic and social accomplishments.

Torricelli said a decision by Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening to cancel a fund-raiser with Clinton was ``not indicative of what is happening around the country'' and that candidates for the Senate continue to seek appearances by Clinton.

Torricelli said ``I was skeptical'' of Clinton's denials of an affair with Lewinsky so that ``I cannot say I was enormously surprised'' by the admission, ``though I was enormously disappointed.''