She and the four other Democratic women serving in the Senate after the widely hailed 1992 "Year of the Woman" election used their newfound clout to come to the rescue of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy as reports of drunken debauchery threatened to sink his re-election bid.
At a Boston fundraiser on Nov. 15, 1993, Ms. Murray was joined by fellow Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California, Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland and Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois in what marked "the first time the five senators have traveled together on behalf of a fellow senator," according an Associated Press report.