Durston hopes Lungren will debate

U.S. Rep.Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) should expect a tough re-election race regardless of whether national Democrats take notice or not, challenger Bill Durston said Thursday.

Durston, an emergency doctor from Gold River, said he plans to make campaign issues of Lungren's recent appearance on a television report that cast him in a poor light and his refusal so far to debate Durston.

"I think he's going to avoid debating as much as possible," said Durston, who challenged and lost to Lungren in 2006.

Durston said he is hopeful but realistic that he'll make the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's regular list of "Red to Blue" districts it has identified as possible pick-ups, and "Emerging Races" where it's identified a Democratic candidate creating energy and positive attention.

He noted that in 2006, national Democrats didn't become involved in the 11th Congressional District race in California until almost the end, though then-challenger Jerry McNerney had made a strong run that was ultimately successful against incumbent Republican Richard Pombo.

Durston said he has other advantages, such as the fact that by party registration, California's 3rd Congressional District has the narrowest lead for Republicans in a Republican-held seat statewide.

According to a May 19 report by the California Secretary of State' s office, Republicans have about a four-percentage point lead over registered Democrats in the district, 41 percent to 37 percent.

Lungren can also expect attacks on his appearance on an investigative report by ABC News, where he defended his attendance at a Hawaii fund-raiser sponsored by a business that could be affected by Lungren's votes in Congress.

In the piece, Lungren said he prefers to attend events in attractive settings like Hawaii, and avoided violating federal law on lobbyist-sponsored trips for lawmakers by counting the trip's costs as donations derived from the fund-raiser.

"It's not news to us," Durston said. "But it is news to the public, how much he's tied in with special interests."

Durston said he's also going to keep up pressure on Lungren, a former California attorney general and gubernatorial candidate, to debate him.

When Durston made the challenge publicly at a town hall Lungren hosted in his district earlier this year, Durston said, Lungren told him, "I debated you in 2006."