Clinton Narrows List of Attorney General Candidates : Cabinet: President says that the renewed search has produced ‘three or four’ contenders. Officials insist that the search is not limited to women.

President Clinton said Saturday he has narrowed his search for a new attorney general nominee to “three or four” candidates as he sought to replace Zoe Baird, who withdrew over her controversial hiring of undocumented immigrants as household workers.

“I did some work on it yesterday afternoon, had several extended conversations with people about potential nominees and gave my staff some instructions to go do some work on three or four folks,” Clinton said during a photo session in the Oval Office.

The President offered no specifics about the candidates under consideration, but White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos insisted that Clinton would not limit his choices to women, even though women’s groups are again lobbying heavily for him to appoint one of their own.

He is “going to look for the best candidate for attorney general,” Stephanopoulos said, adding that a decision is likely this week.

One White House official said Clinton’s primary concern now--based on the Baird controversy--was to find someone who was “squeaky clean.” He said he would not be surprised if Clinton named another woman, although he also said the White House was considering men as well.

“The thing that would surprise me least would be if (Clinton) went back to Pat Wald,” said the White House official, who declined to be identified.

However, a second official argued that the choice of Wald would be unlikely. “I think it’s very difficult to go back to someone who turned you down,” that official said.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Wald, who was Clinton’s first choice for the job, turned it down in December for personal reasons, but sources say she has reconsidered.

She has considerable backing from both the Clinton Administration and numerous liberal advocacy groups that have supported Clinton.

Clinton also had been considering two other female judges, New York State Appeals Judge Judith Kaye and U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amalya Kearse, also of New York.

Others said to be under consideration this time around include Peter Edelman, a Georgetown University law professor who is running Clinton’s Justice Department transition team. Edelman, a former aide to the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is the husband of Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund and a close friend of Hillary Clinton.

Also considered to be possible candidates are Richard Arnold, chief judge of the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in Little Rock, Ark., and an old friend of Clinton’s; Drew S. Days III, a Yale Law School professor who was the first black to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division, where he served during the Jimmy Carter Administration; Charles F. C. Ruff, the fourth and last of the Watergate special prosecutors and now a defense attorney here; and Virginia Atty. Gen. Mary Sue Terry.

Baird, the first woman nominated to become attorney general, acknowledged to Clinton transition officials before she was nominated that she had violated immigration laws by hiring two illegal immigrants--a couple from Peru--to work as a nanny and chauffeur in her home. She also acknowledged that she had failed to pay Social Security and other taxes for them.

As attorney general, she would have been required to enforce the immigration laws she had violated.

Baird asked that her name be withdrawn after it became clear late last Thursday that Senate support for her confirmation was rapidly crumbling.

Outwardly unperturbed by the first embarrassment for his new Administration, Clinton chatted with reporters Saturday during his first photo session in the Oval Office, where he was meeting with Robert E. Rubin, whom he has designated as head of his National Economic Council. The two discussed defense cutbacks and taxes.

Clinton, who has moved the desk used by President John F. Kennedy back into the office, said of his surroundings: “It’s a wonderful office,” and offered that he had enjoyed his first few days as chief executive.

“So far I’ve liked it very much,” he said. “We just got started, you know, and I’ve got a lot to do.”

Asked about the contents of a personal note left for him by former President George Bush on Inauguration Day, Clinton said: “I think we should leave it between the two of us, but it was a very generous note and a very encouraging one.”