Democrat Charlie Brown, a 26-year Air Force veteran who flew rescue helicopters in combat, campaigns for Congress in a stoutly Republican district by donating 5 percent of his campaign funds to veterans groups and calling for "patriotism before partisanship."

Republican Tom McClintock, a veteran state lawmaker and conservative lion, campaigns for oil drilling and against gay marriage. He assails Brown for opposing the troop surge in Iraq and participating in "radical" anti-war protests.

Depending on the outcome, the race in the 4th Congressional District will either redefine or reaffirm the partisan nature of the district long dominated by retiring GOP Rep. John Doolittle.

The Democrat seeks to cultivate a nonpartisan appeal. The Republican is betting on partisanship in a district where the GOP holds a 17 percentage-point advantage in voter registration.

Brown, whose wife is a retired Air Force nurse and whose son is an Air Force transport pilot with four tours in Iraq, is running television ads promoting the family's military service and his work on behalf of returning veterans.

McClintock, who didn't serve in the military, accuses Brown of insulting U.S. troops.

McClintock's commercials assail Brown for appearing in his camouflage Air Force jacket in 2005 as pro- and anti-Iraq war activists were drawn to a Sacramento man's provocative protest depicting a dead U.S. soldier.

"His campaign theme is patriotism over partisanship when in fact he has engaged in some of the most radical activities in our region," McClintock said.

Brown, an 18-year Roseville resident who has never held elective office, portrays McClintock as a do-nothing career politician looking for a job in the district as his term expires for his state Senate seat from Thousand Oaks.

"Show me one thing he has accomplished in 22 years in state government other than being an obstructionist," Brown said of McClintock.

In 2006, Brown ran hard against Doolittle over the incumbent's ties to disgraced Washington, D.C., lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He sharply criticized pre-war intelligence failures in calling for a timetable to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, a position at odds with a majority of Republicans. He lost by three percentage points.

Now he seeks to prevail as the Doolittle probe – and its taint of scandal – continues, and voter frustration grows over the economy.

McClintock can't vote for himself in the congressional race because his state Senate seat requires him to maintain his voter registration in Southern California. But he hopes to win by reconsolidating Doolittle's once-unbeatable GOP coalition in the region.

He is actively embracing Doolittle's careerlong obsession – construction of the Auburn Dam, a project that has been stalled for a generation and is opposed by Brown.

At a campaign barbecue in Roseville, McClintock ripped Brown as someone who will raise gas prices by taxing oil companies and blocking new drilling and refinery construction. He hailed a "Republican brand" resurging over "platitudes of the left" due to a "huge spike in skepticism over Al Gore's view that your SUV is causing the planet to warm."

That helped lock in Nancy Peffley. Two years ago, the Sun City Roseville resident voted for Brown because she was disgusted with Doolittle over "ethical issues."

Now she says: "I think (McClintock) is a white knight. He is a straight shooter."

At his speech to a Rotary Club in Rocklin, Brown won over Orley Anderson, a Republican who voted for Doolittle.

Anderson was impressed at the event by Brown's pledge to work in Congress to secure needed infrastructure funding for water, sewage treatment and highway improvements.

Brown stakes out positions to the left of Doolittle and McClintock, calling for health care coverage for all Americans and taxing oil profits to pay for energy alternatives.

He assails partisan politicians "firmly entrenched in the status quo" for resisting change to protect "wedge issues" for the next election.

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