Huck back again.  Sorry for the long time away, folks!  I thought I'd ramp this back up with some thoughts about the current goings-on in the race for Congress.

Jerry McNereney from Pleasanton is the Democrat candidate and Richard Pombo is the Republican incumbent.

Tonight I attended an AARP candidate forum at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.  McNerney was thoroughly unimpressive.  On three of the ten questions is answer was, "I don't really know" or "I really don't have all the answers."  I was a bit surprised by that.  I guess I just thought that candidates studied-up on these things before going to public forums.  Oh well.

Pombo, on the other hand, wasn't at the forum at all.  I obviously found this a bit curious too until I got home and my wife told me she had been on the phone with Pombo for over an hour.  (Okay - she wasn't on the phone with him personally, but our phone rang and she was invited to participate in a telephone town hall meeting he was hosting.) 

She even got to ask him a question and thought the whole thing was pretty innovative.

Both candidates have been sending a lot of mail to voters, it seems.  And I have heard Pombo ads on the radio while driving in my car.  The one I heard yesterday criticized McNerney for a weak stance on North Korea and its nuclear weapons development program - certainly a timely World crisis.

I have not heard any McNerney ads yet, unfortunately.  I'd like to know more about the guy.  However, when I was searching the Internet tonight I found a hilarious video some group called Neighbors4Pombo put on Youtube.com.  I don't care who you are, this is darn funny. 

Check it out here:

Pombo's choice beneficial to taxpayers

Larry Hite

Tracy Press

I’ve been following the recent allegations about Congressman Richard Pombo and ...   more »

Coach says he'll run for City Council

DAVID SIDERS
Record Staff Writer
Published Sunday, Jan 29, 2006

STOCKTON - Dodd ...   more »

Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, no longer can take for granted his re-election to the House of Representatives. His days of easy victories might be over.   more »

Pete McCloskey is one of the most unique - and quixotic - opponents Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, possibly could confront. McCloskey spent 14 years in Congress (1968-1982), he co-authored the Endangered Species Act (1973) that Pombo wants to rewrite, he ran for president against Richard Nixon (1972) and his political career began when he defeated the much-better-known Shirley Temple Black (1967) for the House seat representing the Peninsula south of San Francisco. Here are McCloskey's problems:   more »

Pombo could find himself crying in his beer come November, experts said. Pombo's district includes most of San Joaquin County and parts of Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara counties.   more »

Former Congressman Pete McCloskey pledged Monday to return the Republican Party to the center and improve ethical standards in officially announcing he will challenge Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, in the 11th Congressional District Republican primary. "To me, this man Pombo is an embarrassment," McCloskey said at a news conference Monday morning at Lodi Beer Co. on School Street. "We need to get back to honesty, fiscal responsibility and especially ethics."   more »

Ruminating on topics such as the favorite football team and his family history, Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, answered questions from Kelly School eighth-graders in a one-hour session Monday morning.   more »

Rep. Richard Pombo lashed back at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi late Thursday afternoon, just hours after the Democratic leader asked for an investigation into several Republican congressmen, specifically mentioning Pombo and three other politicians.   more »

Rep. Richard Pombo came to the weekly Rotary Club luncheon here planning to tout his efforts to overhaul the Endangered Species Act and expand domestic oil drilling.   more »

Rep. Richard Pombo said Monday that his effort to scuttle a federal investigation of a Houston millionaire was meant to counteract environmentalists and officials in President Bill Clinton's administration who were trying to obtain thousands of acres of redwood trees the man's company owned. In a conference call with reporters, Pombo R-Tracy, said the attempt by federal regulators to procure land owned by Charles Hurwitz was orchestrated by environmental groups bent on denying Hurwitz his private property rights.   more »

MANTECA - Rep. Richard Pombo will visit Manteca and Ripon today.   more »

SACRAMENTO - U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo of Tracy lashed out Monday against allegations he improperly compromised a federal investigation of the owner of Northern California's Pacific Lumber Co. - a major contributor to the indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.   more »

The atmosphere of nonstop campaigns and perpetual political action came to central California last year in the race for Rep. Richard Pombo’s congressional seat. His name didn’t appear on any ballots in 2005, but Pombo, a Tracy Republican in his seventh term, has spent much of the year battling critics’ attacks on his legislative agenda and ethical integrity. Three Democrats and one Republican are already running or laying the groundwork for campaigns in his district nearly a year from Election Day.   more »

A Dec. 23 Record letter writer made the standard liberal comment that Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, wants to "gut" the Endangered Species Act. This isn't based on fact. I remember when we had the big flood 10 years ago. The levees broke, and homes were flooded around Mossdale and along the Delta. The Endangered Species Act was protecting some gopher or mole that bored holes in the levees and was a contributor to the levees' failure.   more »

Lets see, a story on THE major water project impacting the Valley with quotes from on-again, off-again (on-again??) Congressional candidate Machado and that uses the always incendiary phrase "environmental justice." Can anyone say "campaign issue?"   more »

Extreme environmental groups do not like him.The liberal editorial page of The New York Times has attacked him. And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has made him a high-profile target in the 2006 congressional elections. Wow! Who is this guy? He must be doing something right.   more »

Environmental groups have whirled themselves into a froth opposing it. Pombo sees this as a sign his time may finally have arrived.   more »

Pete McCloskey was an icon of the anti-Vietnam War movement during the 1970s. He became a household name for his opposition to that war, for running against incumbent president Richard Nixon and, a year later, for giving a speech in the House of Representatives calling for Nixon's impeachment    more »

The Times is correct that Pombo is pure in his ideology and tough in combat. Conservatism is his strength, and his colleagues praise his work ethic. The Conference Steering Committee of 10 Republicans that appointed him Resources Committee chairman in 2003 recognized this....   more »