Running away from home

State Sen. Tom McClintock, who will be termed out in December after serving 22 years in the Legislature, wants to extend his political career by winning election to Congress in a district more than 400 miles north of his home in Thousand Oaks, his base for the past quarter of a century. It may be a reach too far. The conservative Republican icon cannot even vote for himself for Congress in the June primary because state law does not allow him to register in the congressional district without giving up his seat in the state's 19th Senate District.

California rarely has an open congressional district, but Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Roseville) is stepping down in the 4th Congressional District because of an FBI corruption investigation into his relations with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Several local Republicans considered running for Doolittle's seat in the heavily GOP district, which includes suburban communities east and north of Sacramento. One of them, conservative Rico Oller, had represented the area for eight years in the state Senate.

But when McClintock, 51, showed up, after testing the waters in two other congressional districts and for the state Board of Equalization, the state's Republican right moved to clear the field of two conservatives candidates by forcing Oller out of the race. Oller's political contributions suddenly dried up, and the local GOP central committee shifted its support to McClintock.

The Republican right's infatuation with McClintock borders on a cult of personality. It simply cannot fathom the idea that he would not hold a public office in the state. Its fervent embrace of him sadly illuminates the dismal status of the once-powerful conservative movement in California.

No politician in modern California history has lost as many statewide races as McClintock. In 1994, the year of the greatest Republican landslide in the country since World War II, McClintock lost to Democrat Kathleen Connell for the open state controller's office. Eight years later, he sought that office again, losing this time to Democrat Steve Westly. In 2003, he ran for governor in the recall of Gray Davis, losing again when the GOP establishment rallied around Arnold Schwarzenegger. And in 2006, he ran for lieutenant governor, but Schwarzenegger, who was seeking a full term as governor, shunned him, and McClintock lost again.

Before his string of statewide setbacks, he ran for Congress in 1992 -- and lost to Democratic incumbent Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson in the 24th Congressional District.