SANDY MAY BE DANDY

By MICHAEL DUFFY

After White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles made it perfectly clear that he was tired of Washington, it took all of a New York minute for people to begin wondering about his replacement. O.K., the chief of staff and First Buddy will stick around at least until Congress puts the finishing touches on the budget in the fall, but the person upon whom most of the speculation has devolved is Sandy Berger, the National Security Council chief who missed getting the job last year by a whisker of his perpetual five o'clock shadow. Aides say Berger is much more of a disciplinarian than Bowles or Leon Panetta, and unafraid to give Clinton bad news with the bark off. An Asia specialist who enjoys the support of the First Lady, Berger is also intensely political and was one of Clinton's first backers in 1988. What Berger lacks is the chumminess and personal chemistry that Clinton enjoys with Bowles. Clinton might also be reluctant to shuffle his foreign policy team now that it is clicking. The other candidates remain long shots. Al Gore's guy, Jack Quinn--his former chief of staff--has gone into the private sector and is likely to remain there. And deputy chief of staff John Podesta has tangled with Hillary Clinton in the past. All of which makes Berger the early front runner.

--By Michael Duffy