In many congressional swing districts, seniority is falling by wayside

By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 15, 2010

TRACY, CALIF. -- For 14 years, Richard W. Pombo was the congressman for the San Joaquin Valley district here. In that time, he built a cowboy persona - George W. Bush dubbed him "The Marlboro Man" - and amassed power, rising to chairman of the House Resources Committee.

From that perch, he was able to steer a disproportionate slice of federal money to this sprawling agricultural and suburban district and become a fierce protector of property rights.

But the Republican also got wrapped up in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and used campaign money to hire family members. By 2006, voters in California decided that he had become more beholden to the ways of Washington than to them and opted for a change.

So out went Pombo, with his cowboy hat and ostrich-skin boots, and in stepped Democrat Jerry McNerney, a soft-spoken mathematics PhD and windmill entrepreneur.

(More here.)