This weekend, about twenty-five of us met over bagels, juice and coffee with Charlie Brown, candidate for Congress in CA-04. Charlie came within three points in 2006 of ousting Republican incumbent and scandal-plagued John Doolittle, who has since announced he is vacating his seat at the end of the term. Charlie is running for the now-open seat, against a field of Republican challengers that, most notably, includes Thousand Oaks State Assemblyman Tom McClintock.
Charlie shared a little motto he likes to think gets across the theme of the campaign: "Patriotism before politics."
More below.
Charlie spent 26 years in the United States Air Force. He flew rescue helicopters during the last missions of the Vietnam War (his friends are among the very last names on the Vietnam Memorian Wall), and flew or supported missions in every major conflict from there through Desert Storm. Charlie raised his family in Roseville, a Sacramento suburb in the CA-04. And what do Southern Californians have in common with the 4th CD, which starts in Roseville and other Sacramento suburbs, goes West to Lake Tahoe and the Nevada border, and North through seven counties to the Oregon border? A whole lot, it turns out.
An LA Times opinion piece this weekend reports on Southern California's own State Senator Tom McClintock (R-Ventura), who is trekking 400 miles north to take his place as frontrunner in the Republican primary for CA-04:
State Sen. Tom McClintock, who will be termed out in December after serving 22 years in the Legislature, wants to extend his political career by winning election to Congress in a district more than 400 miles north of his home in Thousand Oaks, his base for the past quarter of a century. It may be a reach too far. The conservative Republican icon cannot even vote for himself for Congress in the June primary because state law does not allow him to register in the congressional district without giving up his seat in the state's 19th Senate District.
The LA Times has this to say about McClintock:
No politician in modern California history has lost as many statewide races as McClintock. In 1994, the year of the greatest Republican landslide in the country since World War II, McClintock lost to Democrat Kathleen Connell for the open state controller's office. Eight years later, he sought that office again, losing this time to Democrat Steve Westly. In 2003, he ran for governor in the recall of Gray Davis, losing again when the GOP establishment rallied around Arnold Schwarzenegger. And in 2006, he ran for lieutenant governor, but Schwarzenegger, who was seeking a full term as governor, shunned him, and McClintock lost again. Before his string of statewide setbacks, he ran for Congress in 1992 -- and lost to Democratic incumbent Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson in the 24th Congressional District.
But the most interesting part of the article is where plain old common sense may trump politics. You see, "McClintock's move north may not sit well with the 415,000 new voters he's seeking to represent" who are, to put it lightly, independent and often downright conservative-minded.
McClintock's supporters insist that ideology trumps local representation.
Anti-big government conservatives are in the odd position of arguing that
McClintock must remain on the public payroll where he has spent virtually all his adult life. That could be a hard sell to a cynical electorate in 2008.
A tough sell indeed. Maybe it's time that duty and representing a home district trump blind ideology and partisanship. Maybe it's time for patriotism over politics.
You can learn more about Charlie by clicking here.
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