CA-04: Brown Leads, McClintock Follows

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Calitics Match candidate Charlie Brown is facing California's Alan Keyes, perennial candidate Tom McClintock, in the most hotly contested Congressional race in the state. And I think the pressure is getting to McClintock.

He put together a website called "Vets for Tom" which has a page with a list of resources for veterans. There is substantial evidence that McClintock's team plagiarized the resource list from Charlie Brown's website.

Campaign manager Todd Stenhouse said that not only did a list of resources on the site exactly match what was on Brown's site, but one link that was broken on Brown's site had the same problem on McClintock's site.

When visitors clicked on the "AmVets" link on McClintock's site, Stenhouse said, the broken address took visitor to a site with an address from Charlie Brown's site, in what Stenhouse called "a smoking gun."

"Everything he's learned about veterans and the military, he's apparently learned from Charlie Brown," Stenhouse said, referring to Brown's criticism of McClintock, a state senator, for voting against legislation related to veterans. McClintock established the veterans' site late last week.

There's really not much more to say on that. Some people lead and others follow.

Meanwhile, Brown and McClintock are strating to meet in forums and debates. Last week Brown called into a Sacramento radio show where McClintock was appearing, and last night they discussed the financial industry bailout. As expected, McClintock favors the exact same failed solutions which brought us to this crisis in the first place, like suspending the capital gains tax. Brown's position is more nuanced, supporting enforceable standards on executive compensation and returning proceeds from selling assets to taxpayers, while concerned about the consequences of doing nothing (which is McClintock's specialty).

The larger point is that McClintock is an enthusiastic supporter of the failed policies of the past, while Brown would reliably represent the future and lead on key issues.