CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : U.S. SENATE : Feinstein Protests Newest Huffington Ads : Incumbent says she again is falsely accused of being soft on crime. The challenger insists the senator’s record speaks for itself, while a poll calls the race a dead heat.

In chilling new political ads that graphically report details of a brutal Florida murder, Republican Senate candidate Mike Huffington on Thursday accused Sen. Dianne Feinstein of being soft on crime by supporting lenient judges.

Feinstein countered that the latest ads are further proof that Huffington’s campaign has been based “on character assassination and name-calling from the very beginning.” She also said her record as a tough crime fighter is backed by endorsements from most of the state’s major law enforcement groups.

Rep. Huffington (R-Santa Barbara) prompted the latest exchange by launching newspaper and radio ads throughout California on Thursday criticizing Feinstein’s votes last year to name former Florida Chief Justice Rosemary Barkett to the federal appellate court.

Huffington complained that Barkett voted against the death penalty in several Florida cases, including a 1974 murder in which one of the men convicted of killing a teen-age boy later boasted of his role in a tape-recording sent to the victim’s family.

Huffington’s ads include a chilling excerpt from the killer’s tape that said: “He was stabbed in the back, in the chest, and the stomach--it was beautiful. I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved watching blood gush from his eyes.”

The Florida Supreme Court in 1992 upheld Jacob Dougan’s death sentence for killing Jacksonville teen-ager Steven Orlando. Barkett, Florida’s first woman chief justice, joined a dissenting opinion that opposed the sentence because of Dougan’s troubled past.

Huffington’s attack came as tension in the U.S. Senate race increased again Thursday with the release of a new independent statewide poll showing the candidates locked in a dead heat.

Both Feinstein and Huffington were supported by 42% of the state’s registered voters in the Field Poll. Among those voters most likely to cast a ballot in November, the survey found both candidates favored by 43%. The results reflect a sharp drop in Feinstein’s support and an increase in Huffington’s since last spring.

A frustrated Feinstein complained Thursday that the poll finding is due to Huffington’s enormous campaign spending on television commercials attacking her record. Feinstein charged that Thursday’s ads are another example of the name-calling that has dominated her opponent’srace.

The senator argued that she has tried to run on her accomplishments in Washington. As evidence, she noted recent endorsements from Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block and about a dozen police groups representing most of California law enforcement.

“His campaign has really been based on character assassination and name calling from the very beginning,” she said. “. . . I’ve been endorsed by virtually all, if not the dominant majority of law enforcement in the state, and I’ve been there and I’ve performed. He has done nothing except what his script writers write for him to say. This is what is so frustrating about this campaign.”

Huffington, in his attack Thursday, sought to counter Feinstein’s claim that she has been effective at opposing crime. He also dismissed her support from police groups and individuals as political pay-backs that don’t represent the opinions of rank-and-file members.

“The reason I brought up the judge is because one of the most important things a Senator can do--perhaps the most important thing--is the appointment and the vote for a judge,” Huffington said in an interview. “They sit there long after the senator retires. I think (Barkett) is a travesty. And that’s where she and I differ so dramatically.”

Feinstein voted to approve President Clinton’s nomination of Barkett twice--once in her role on the Senate Judiciary Committee and again when the appointment passed on the Senate floor last year, 61 to 37.

Conservative opponents of Barkett, who complain that the judge has a reputation for sympathy toward criminal defendants with troubled backgrounds, raised the Orlando murder case as an example during a six-hour debate on the Senate floor. Feinstein declined to comment on Barkett’s decision in the matter since she has not reviewed details.

She noted, however, that Barkett voted to uphold the death penalty in more than 200 Florida cases she handled. The senator also said Barkett won election to the Florida court in 1992 and she was recommended for the federal bench by the state’s two death penalty supporting senators--Democrat Bob Graham and Republican Connie Mack.

Huffington’s campaign responded with a report listing 17 death penalty cases opposed by Barkett since 1987. Huffington also reached back in Feinstein’s past, as other Republican challengers have, to question her commitment to the death penalty because of her relationship with former California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird.

Huffington, who was living in Texas when voters rejected Bird because of her decisions against the death penalty, said in newspaper ads Thursday that the former justice presided at Feinstein’s swearing in three times.

“I think this is an old albatross,” Feinstein said. “Rose Bird is not on the Supreme Court. . . . This woman has retired. She is entitled to her retirement. My views on the death penalty and Rose Bird’s are very different.”

Political Scorecard

46 days to go before Californians go to the polls.

THE GOVERNOR’S RACE

* What Happened Thursday: Gov. Pete Wilson and state Treasurer Kathleen Brown continued to spar on debates, with Wilson accepting one invitation and Brown challenging him to respond to another. Brown visited a San Francisco high school to talk about her plan for elementary and secondary education. Wilson attended a San Francisco luncheon with fund-raisers and other supporters.

* What’s Ahead: Wilson plans to sign two economic development bills in Sacramento today. Brown will attend a luncheon in Santa Barbara, where she will discuss the economy.

THE SENATE RACE

* What Happened Thursday: Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Mike Huffington remained in Washington. Arianna Huffington spoke at a Republican Women Federated luncheon in La Habra.

* What’s Ahead: Feinstein plans to return to California tonight and attend a fund-raising dinner in San Francisco with Vice President Al Gore. Huffington is scheduled to return from Washington in the evening.

NOTABLE QUOTE

“When it was economically advantageous, many in California supported an open-door policy to immigration--to assure a plentiful supply of agricultural and industrial workers. . . . At the time, few in public office were even concerned about this problem.”

--Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, responding to Gov. Pete Wilson’s request that President Clinton declare an “immigration emergency”