Several months after praising McNerney for introducing a research-and-development tax credit, the software company's executives are downloading thousands of dollars into McNerney's re-election campaign. The last-minute contributions are helping the first-term Democrat financially outpace Republican Dean Andal... Between Monday and Thursday, Federal Election Commission records show, McNerney collected a total of $22,150 from Oracle's political action committee and 11 of the company's employees. This was a big share of the $56,800 McNerney raised overall during the four-day period.

"Leadership gave me a pass on that," McNerney said. He told The Chronicle that Democratic leaders would have understood if he voted no on that first vote, but that he decided to cast the difficult vote because it was the right thing to do. He also voted yes the second time the measure was before the floor - when leadership would have pressured him to do so.

The freshman lawmaker paints Andal as a hand for big business and extreme on such matters as birth control and rape, and the Stockton Republican accuses McNerney of trading favors for campaign contributions in the state's most-watched House race.

Before a packed and vocal crowd perched on folding metal chairs in a middle school gym Saturday night, the 11th District candidates came down on opposite sides of nearly every major national issue: the Iraq war, immigration, taxes, stem cell research, market bailout, same-sex marriage, universal health care and expanded domestic oil drilling... Yet, McNerney found himself on the defense throughout most of the 90-minute debate.

But Andal says he would never do what McNerney has done: Submit earmarks where private firms are the direct recipients of the dollars and whose employees or political action committees have contributed to his campaign.

In the 11th District, where McNerney and Andal are battling, voter registration is closer: 41% Republicans and 38.6% Democrats.

("It's too bad neither Jerry McNerney nor Dean Andal either understand, care or want to touch the most important subject that Congress has its hands on in terms of how it impacts Manteca, San Joaquin County, the 11th Congressional District, California, and the United States.The issue? Water. More specifically there are three extremely major areas of concern you haven't heard a peep out of from either McNerney or Andal.")

A Democrat who came close to pulling off an upset in 2006 is trying again this year, while a Democrat who accomplished the feat last time around is aiming to extend his incumbency.

Those are the two hot contests out of 53 House races in California, where congressional districts are drawn to protect the incumbent party. While lawmakers face voters every two years, incumbents usually are assured of success.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Dean Andal, the Republican challenger in the CA-11 race, must have a pretty healthy self-image.

Although this week's $700 billion Wall Street bailout is arguably one of the most significant issues members of Congress will vote on this year, Andal spokesman Richard Temple told Lodi News-Sentinel reporter Ross Farrow this that his boss wasn't going to comment on the funding bill designed to stabilize the wildly bucking American economy.

Jon Fleischman, a political consultant and state GOP vice chairman who runs the conservative FlashReport.org blog, has launched a “One Term is Enough” Web site characterizing Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, as “the poster boy for special interest hypocrisy.”