POLITICAL BRIEFING

TIGHT RACE: California’s Barbara Boxer is not the only female Senate candidate to find a once-large lead dwindling. In Washington, new polls have shown that Democrat Patty Murray--ahead by 19 points in one survey last month--is now in a virtual tie with GOP Rep. Rod Chandler, who Sunday was endorsed by the Seattle Times. . . . Chandler, a 10-year House veteran, had put Murray, a freshman state senator, on the defensive by charging that her policies would cost the state thousands of timber- and defense-industry jobs. But Chandler caused some head-scratching during a recent debate when, in apparent response to barbs from Murray, he quoted the entire refrain from Roger Miller’s song “Dang Me,” ending with the line: “Woman, would you weep for me.” . . . He has since apologized and said it was “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done.”