IS LIEBERMAN NEXT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE?

Rummy exit rumored; Lieberman eyed for job.
WASHINGTON - White House officials are telling associates they expect Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to quit early next year, once a new government is formed in Iraq, sources said yesterday. Rumsfeld’s deputy, Gordon England, is the inside contender to replace him, but there’s also speculation that Sen. Joe Lieberman - a Democrat who ran against Bush-Cheney in the 2000 election - might become top guy at the Pentagon.

That’s not as farfetched as it might first appear. The Daily News has learned that the White House considered Lieberman for the UN ambassador’s job last year before giving the post to John Bolton, a Bush adviser said. “He thought about it for a week or so and finally said no,” the adviser recalled.