TRAVEL-WEARY CLINTON CONSIDERING HOW TO FILL REMAINING CABINET POSTS.

Byline: Associated Press

Tired and hoarse from his overseas trip, President Clinton went back to work Wednesday on his half-empty Cabinet. He pocketed a fresh list of candidates for a holiday weekend of rest and rumination.

Just back from Asia after 19 hours of flying, Clinton presided over a Thanksgiving eve ceremony, then ducked into a critical personnel meeting. Erskine Bowles, incoming chief of staff, gave the boss a 2-inch-thick binder jammed with recommendations for the meeting and the weekend at Camp David, Md.

An aide asked Bowles about copies of the top-secret binder.

``Ain't none,'' he replied.

Clinton, who returns to Washington on Sunday, will focus on his foreign affairs team before tackling the rest of the Cabinet vacancies. The first nominations are expected in early December.

The night before leaving on his 12-day Pacific trip, Clinton came close to naming retiring Republican Sen. William Cohen of Maine to replace Defense Secretary William Perry. Vice President Al Gore talked Clinton into waiting until he settles on the rest of the foreign policy team and knows how Cohen would fit.

Despite the president's weariness, Clinton and Bowles met for nearly three hours, with Gore and Chief of Staff Leon Panetta chiming in by telephone for part of the meeting. ``His thinking is pretty well developed'' on the foreign policy team, Mike McCurry, press secretary, said.

Cohen's candidacy cooled somewhat during the trip - if for no other reason than Clinton wanted to take a step back. But the retiring lawmaker conveniently ran into Clinton in Thailand, and aides said Cohen was still considered the front-runner.

Other candidates include CIA Director John Deutch, whose stock has fallen in recent days; retiring Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.; Deputy Defense Secretary John White and Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick.

Aides say the transition team also is focusing on executives from the defense industry, including Loral Corp. chairman and Democratic donor Bernard Schwartz.

The secretary of state picture has seemed even more muddled.

Before leaving on the trip, Clinton had narrowed to four his choices to replace Warren Christopher: former Senate Democratic leader George Mitchell; Richard Holbrooke, who helped negotiate the Bosnia settlement; U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright and Nunn.

But Holbrooke's standing declined a bit. Aides now say Thomas Pickering, former ambassador to Russia, is under serious consideration. Officials also say Nunn's chances have been publicly underrated and Mitchell's have been somewhat overrated.

Deutch, under fire at the CIA, could be replaced by National Security Adviser Anthony Lake - though Lake is balking at the idea. Strobe Talbott, an old Clinton friend and No. 2 at the State Department, could replace Lake. Another candidate to head the National Security Council is Sandy Berger, the trusted No. 2 to Lake.

Rep. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., would be front-runner for U.N. ambassador if Albright gets promoted.

Bowles kept the transition binder closed, knowing that hundreds of government employees and dozens of potential nominees were heading into the Thanksgiving weekend desperate for information about their futures. It was even a subject of dark humor at the White House.

Moments before Clinton pardoned the traditional White House turkey, McCurry joked, ``At least one turkey will be set free from the White House today. Depending on what's in that binder, maybe others as well.''

The binder contains recommendations from Clinton's transition team, which examined openings in the Cabinet, federal agencies and the White House staff while Clinton spent nearly two weeks on the road. Many of the names have circulated throughout Washington, but aides caution that the book also contains dark horses.