Former Seattle City Attorney Mark Sidran entered the primary race for state attorney general as a decided underdog to former insurance commissioner Deborah Senn. He's still trailing, but the race has tightened considerably, according to two recent polls. An Evans/McDonough Research poll from late July and an Elway Research poll from the same time showed Senn's once-huge lead slipping to six points. The results are unsurprising, says Senn consultant Karen Besserman: "This doesn't cause me any undue heartache. It's Democrats that are voting in this election, and Mark still has to convince Democrats that he's a Democrat." SANDEEP KAUSHIK

Critics Circle

Seattle Times TV columnist Kay McFadden, who moonlights as the president of the national Television Critics Association, prompted outrage recently among many of the TCA's 230 members when she and another TCA board member sought ads from the TV networks and major studios--the very organizations the critics cover--to help pay for the 20th annual TCA Awards, held in Los Angeles last month. The ads, which ran in a program that was handed out at the awards, prompted a mini-rebellion among the TCA's membership, which adopted a resolution declaring the incident "an ethical lapse" and demanding an apology. The flap, which made headlines in the Los Angeles Times, was not reported in either of Seattle's daily papers. NANCY DREW