Duncan Hunter represents the 52nd district of California (eastern San Diego suburbs.) He is also chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
Rep. Hunter (along with Rep. Sensenbrenner of WI) spearheaded the move to block the 9/11 intelligence bill from blocking Congress.
Beyond blocking the 9/11 bill, Hunter is a real wingnut, prone during the Cold War to rants about "commies." He has a 0% rating from NARAL, 7% from the ACLU, and an A+ from the NRA. He recently has gotten a lot of good publicity for having a son serving in Iraq.
But blocking the intelligence bill is a disgrace, and should serve as a wake-up call to "moderate" Republicans.
Now, this is not an easy district. Like most California districts, it was drawn to be "safe." But a lot of San Diego area Republican voters are moderates leftover from a bygone era.
Data:
Party ID: 32% Dem, 46% Rep, and 22% Ind
Ethnicity: 74% White, 14% Latino, 7% Asian, 5% African-American
Cities: El Cajon, Spring Valley, La Mesa, Ramona
I can't find data yet on 2004 presidential results in the district. The Dems ran Brian Keliher against him in 2004. Keliher seems like a very progressive candidate from his website and newspaper quotations running in a moderate/conservative district. Fighting the good fight, I would add.
http://swdb.berkeley.edu/info/caljournallinks/congress_aug2003.html
But the bottom line is that almost single-handedly blocking the 9/11 bill is a watershed decision, and it seems like a risky move for any politician from California. If we could field a strong moderate candidate (Dick Cheney is to the left of Duncan Hunter, so anyone is an improvement), maybe we could have a chance in this district.
Also, there have been a lot of "rumors" in recent years about Hunter's personal spending, and his ties to defense contractors.
And, while we are at it, what about Darrell Issa in the 49th (North County)? That guy is both a wingnut and missing a few marbles, as he showed during the recall election. I notice from the same data that his district was 30% Latino, 6% African-American in 2000, and trending more Latino over time. Time to Loretta Sanchez him?