Tom McClintock, the 22-year Thousand Oaks lawmaker who earned renown by refusing to vote for most every state budget, said he is the best candidate to fight government excess based on experience working "in the policy area my entire life."

Charlie Brown, a 26-year U.S. Air Force veteran who was decorated for service in combat, said he is the best candidate to end partisan gridlock in Congress because "I learned in the military that pointing fingers was never an option."

In a spirited debate Thursday in Auburn, the two candidates seeking to succeed retiring 4th District Rep. John Doolittle clashed over the federal bailout of financial markets and whether construction of a hydroelectric dam in Auburn is an appropriate remedy to the energy crisis.

Above all, the two men differed over whose life experiences best prepared them to govern at a time when the country is reeling in financial troubles.

"I served this country for 26 years," Brown said at the debate sponsored by the Auburn Chamber of Commerce. "Tom McClintock has been a career politician for 22 years. If you want more of the same, elect someone who has been part of the problem."

But McClintock cast himself as someone who has long been part of the solution – if only the Legislature and former governors had followed his lead over the years.

McClintock said he consistently warned that California's budget process would leave the state on the brink of bankruptcy and promised to bring determined fiscal conservatism and smart, free-market principles to Washington.

"I have been warning of the direction this state was taking with its finances and in proposing solutions that could have averted this (budget) crisis," McClintock said. "I don't want the same thing happening to our country."

McClintock said he would have fought the $700 billion federal rescue package that "will be regretted as one of the most expensive follies in the history of our nation."

But Brown said steps should have been taken long ago to avert the financial crisis and faulted McClintock for pinning unfair blame on many homeowners facing foreclosure.

He said the vote to inject billions into America's ailing capital markets was needed to help the economy, struggling small businesses and average Americans.

"I know two people that had their homes foreclosed upon," Brown said. "It is not because they were risky or did something wrong. … The government should have been taking action 10 to 14 years ago. It's time to get some reasonable controls back."

On energy, McClintock strongly supported increasing offshore oil drilling. Brown said more investment is needed in alternative energy, and oil companies should lose tax breaks if they don't drill on current petroleum leases.

The issue extended to construction of a hydroelectric dam on the American River in Auburn, a stalled regional project that has been fought over for a generation.

McClintock said an Auburn dam "could produce the cheapest electricity on the planet." Brown said the $10 billion-plus project cost far exceeds potential energy benefits.

In the heavily Republican district, where he narrowly lost to Doolittle two years ago, Brown faced an audience question over whether he would "stand up to Nancy Pelosi" and her "liberal positions."

He answered by describing how he disobeyed "direct orders" by aborting a 1977 helicopter training mission in Florida to fly to the scene of an Air Force plane crash in hope of rescuing fallen pilots. He said the helicopter he was co-piloting was the first to arrive in what turned out to be a body recovery mission.

"I was told, 'You disobeyed an order, but you did the right thing,' " he said.

While Brown said he disagreed with the Democratic house speaker from San Francisco on rights of gun owners, McClintock went after him.

"This issue of marching in lockstep with her on every major issue in the campaign speaks to the fact that she has targeted your congressional district as one of those seats they want to cement a permanent Democratic majority," McClintock said. "And I think they're counting on your vote, Charlie."

Brown, a district resident in Roseville, answered back with a poke at McClintock for running in a district 400 miles north of his Senate seat in Thousand Oaks.

"Tom, if you want to run against Nancy Pelosi (in San Francisco)," Brown said, "that district is actually closer than this one to your home."

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