Voters in the 4th Congressional District will fill the open seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville. They can chart a new course by choosing between two strong, but very different candidates.

Republican Tom McClintock has been in the California Legislature for two decades. He has run for lieutenant governor, governor and state controller.

Democratic candidate Charlie Brown is a career U.S. Air Force officer, now retired. During the Vietnam War, he flew helicopter missions in southeast Asia. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his helicopter rescue in the Mayaguez incident of May 1975 and coordinated Air Force surveillance flights over Iraq in the 1990s.

Brown, a 17-year resident of Roseville who ran against Doolittle in 2006, has worked hard the last three years to build a relationship with voters in the district. In the end, he would be the more effective voice on issues that matter to the district and the region.

The war in Iraq is one issue near the top of many voters' minds in this conservative district. McClintock was against the way we got into war (he favors war only when a country directly attacks us and Congress passes a declaration of war), but favored the surge. He quotes Gen. Douglas MacArthur: "In war, there is no substitute for victory."

He defines victory in Iraq as "pacification of elements still making war," a condition that could be a very long way off. He is vague on how to pay for the continuing occupation.

Brown's position is much clearer. He opposed the Iraq war from the outset as a diversion from efforts to deal with terrorism. He favors a conditional timetable to gradually remove U.S. troops to "put Iraqi politicians on notice that they've got to take control of their own country."

But as important as the war is in the 4th District, the state of the economy – both locally and nationally – is the top issue these days. McClintock has an "old economy" vision for the district, relying on increased timber production (which would require gutting environmental laws and hard-won compromises) and water. He sees an Auburn Dam as the "single most important project for the region."

Brown has met with wind and solar business owners and favors alternative energy tax credits and high-speed Internet access. He would fight for expansion of Interstate 80 and Highway 50, stream-bed restoration in Sierra Meadows, improvements to existing dams and Lake Tahoe restoration. He supports forest thinning to decrease fire hazards.

The candidates also offer contrasting views on national economic issues. Two Republicans and one Democrat from this region took the unpopular but responsible stance supporting the bipartisan rescue package.

McClintock opposed the package. Brown would have voted with the bipartisan majority.

McClintock believes the better route would be to put liquidity into the market. That was already tried but wasn't enough, which is why Congress acted.

Brown understands that the that the mortgage crisis, the collapse of the financial system, the credit crunch and the recession are real. He would have supported the rescue plan because doing nothing was worse than doing something, though he believes Congress has done a poor job of selling the package. And the final package assured taxpayers get any profits, required congressional oversight, banned golden parachutes.

This is telling. McClintock sticks to ideology; Brown pragmatically puts the nation first.

The nation and the 4th District need to find ways out of partisan and ideological gridlock. Elect Charlie Brown to Congress.