McClintock joins race for Doolittle's seat

Tom McClintock, the veteran state lawmaker from Thousand Oaks and former candidate for governor, lieutenant governor and state controller, came to Auburn on Tuesday and declared his candidacy for a congressional seat 400 miles from his home district.

With the demeanor of an invited house guest, the renowned conservative hero for many California Republicans gathered with enthusiastic local political supporters at the historic Placer County Courthouse. And he insisted he is the candidate to lead a district dominated for nearly two decades by retiring Rep. John Doolittle and his potent regional political machine.

"I've heard your voice. I've heeded your advice, and I'm here today to ask for your consideration for United States Congress," McClintock said. He later added: "If you'll have me, I would be proud – very proud – to take your message to Congress."

With Doolittle retiring under the cloud of an FBI investigation into his ties with disgraced Washington D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff, McClintock's entry into the 4th Congressional District race elevates what is expected to be a nationally watched Republican primary contest.

He will face off against former Rep. Doug Ose, a wealthy developer who served three terms in the Sacramento-area 3rd Congressional District and is known as a formidable campaigner with a political war chest to match.

To pave the way for McClintock, former San Andreas state lawmaker Rico Oller announced Tuesday he was dropping out of the race. In a statement, Oller said his decision was "a bitter pill indeed for me to swallow."

But he said he was endorsing McClintock to prevent the election of Ose, "an unarguably liberal Republican."

Though both McClintock and Ose portray themselves as tax-cutting conservatives true to Republican principles, Ose was part of a moderate GOP group, the Main Street Partnership, when he served in Congress from 1999 to 2005.

"McClintock is a conservative icon and that's why he is able to be an incumbent state senator from Ventura County and actually be the front-runner for a congressional seat in Placer County," said Republican political consultant Kevin Spillane.

"He has enormous credibility, good will and appeal in the Republican primary." But Spillane added: "Ose is an extremely driven and competitive campaigner. Doug is very politically astute and should not be under-estimated."

Ose campaign spokesman Doug Elmets left little doubt Tuesday that this will be a spirited race when he parked a rented U-Haul truck in direct sight of the McClintock announcement ceremony. Hanging from the truck was a banner depicting McClintock in a chicken suit and lampooning him as a political carpet bagger.

"Termed out – Tom feathering his nest again!" the banner said of the veteran lawmaker who isn't eligible to run for re-election in the state Senate. "All the way from L.A."

"He's a politician from L.A. who is registered to vote in Ventura County, who lives in Elk Grove and who needs a GPS system to find the district," Elmets said.

Neither Ose nor McClintock lives in the district. But Elmets said Ose will move from Sacramento to Placer County so that he can vote in the June 3 primary.

McClintock acknowledged Tuesday that he won't be able to cast a ballot for himself because he is obligated to maintain a residence in his state district while serving in the Legislature. However, neither the U.S. Constitution nor state law requires that candidates for Congress live in the House district they represent.

"During the campaign, I still have my responsibilities to my constituents in Ventura County, McClintock told reporters. Yet in his announcement speech, McClintock asserted that "people of the 4th District know me and know me well."

He said he is running to represent the district by championing conservative policies and restoring principles of the late President Reagan. He assailed a free-spending "Republican Congress and a Republican president" that "squandered Ronald Reagan's legacy."

State Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Penn Valley, who served with McClintock in the state Senate and Assembly, endorsed him as a legislative leader "who instructed and educated and cajoled and tried to keep Republicans acting like Republicans."

Local political figures who also showed up to publicly back McClintock included former 4th District candidate Eric Egland and state Assemblyman Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, who earlier formed a political committee to contemplate a run for Doolittle's seat.

McClintock is expected to gain many supporters of Oller, who was endorsed by the Placer County Republican Central Committee. Meanwhile, Ose has key regional endorsements, including all five members of the Placer County Board of Supervisors.

On Tuesday, the Ose campaign received the endorsement of former Gov. Pete Wilson, who said in a statement: "Doug Ose is an outstanding conservative who has spent his entire life in this region."

Ose's campaign is greeting McClintock's candidacy by unleashing a $150,000-a-week radio and television advertising blitz that will feature endorsements by Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner and other regional officials, Elmets said.

Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Charlie Brown, a Roseville resident who narrowly lost to Doolittle in the heavily Republican district in 2006, announced a drive to raise $41,800 in contributions by March 31. Brown said the goal is to collect $100 for each mile of the 418-mile distance from McClintock's Thousand Oaks state district to the 4th Congressional District.

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• Call Peter Hecht, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5539.