From the House Race Hotline for Monday, June 2, 2008

No Longer A McClint-Lock?

Mon. Jun 2, 2008


When state Sen. Tom McClintock (R) entered the CA-04 race, many assumed it was "lights out" for ex-Rep. Doug Ose (R). But Ose's been the one in this race that's been on the offensive. McClintock may well win 6/3, but he'll come out of it looking a bit less invincible. -- He's seemed unprepared for almost every shot Ose has dished out. First, it was the residency issue. Then he was hit on taking a per diem from while living in Sacramento. Lastly, Ose brought in ex-Gov. Pete Wilson (R) to portray McClintock as a fringe GOPer who couldn't be effective. McClintock never seemed to grab the offensive. While it may have been inevitable that he'd take hits considering his presumed frontrunner status, this race certainly hasn't gone as McClintock had planned. -- But McClintock knew what (and who) he was getting in this contest. He allegedly shopped several CDs for the right race and decided this was his best bet. The AP this weekend defined his contest against Ose as "conservative versus pragmatist," and he was perfectly willing to bet his career on that matchup in this right-of-center CD. -- Of course, the CD already voted, barely, for a pragmatist over a conservative in the 2/08 WH primary, picking McCain over Romney. Will history repeat itself? Probably not, but McClintock's not the Goliath he once was thought to be.

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