POLITICAL BRIEFING

BROWN VS. BROWN: Democratic National Committee Chairman Ronald H. Brown generally avoids criticizing his party’s presidential hopefuls, but at a recent breakfast with reporters he made an exception for Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. . . . At the end of the last candidates’ debate, the former California governor raised the subject of unsubstantiated adultery charges directed at Clinton. Ronald Brown, noting he had advised the candidates to avoid negative statements that the GOP later could use, said he was “not pleased that Gov. Brown raised that.” . . . The party chairman also said he expects the Democratic nomination to be nailed down quickly by one of the current contenders. He said a winner could emerge as early as April 1--before the primaries in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, California.